People

A quick note on the changing of the transportation guard at the Los Angeles Times. Ari Bloomekatz, who has covered the beat for the past several years, is moving on to the healthcare beat. He will be replaced by Laura J. Nelson.

The long process of reconfirming Ara Najarian to the Metro Board of Directors has come to an end with the Glendale City Councilman still standing. Flying in the face of tradition, a group of cities that support the 710 Big Dig Project, allegedly at the direction of Supervisor Mike Antonovich, attempted to squash Najarian's nomination from the North County cities he represents.

Last Thursday UCLA hosted its third annual Complete Streets Conference in Downtown Los Angeles. I was excited to have had the opportunity to attend with such a packed line up for the all day event, with a few big names in the mix including the esteemed Janette Sadik-Khan.

When California created a "cap and trade" system to reduce greenhouse gas emissions statewide, it was widely agreed the funds raised would be spent on programs that reduce these emissions in their own right. With nearly 40% of the state's greenhouse gas coming from the transportation sector, it makes sense for a hearty investment in active transportation and transit.

Two years ago, Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa and a host of city officials stood at the podium announcing a new day for cyclists in Los Angeles. Today, he was back in the same place, at the same time, to announce that the city is making progress.

(Over the next couple of weeks, Streetsblog L.A. will strive to cover all of the City Council elections that are not part of the Streetsblog TV schedule. Our next piece of election coverage will be Live Streaming the LACBC/Occidental College CD 1 Candidate Forum on Streetsblog TV this Sunday.)

Moments ago, Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa signed a new bicycle parking ordinance into law which requires more bicycle parking at new developments and even allows a small swap of car parking for bike parking in certain approved development plans. The ordinance was on the verge of being signed last year before a series of small technical changes were added and the legislation had to go back through the City Council Committee structure.

This article is cross-posted from the blog of former Streetsblog SF editor Bryan Goebel, who's aiming to launch a new website "devoted to sustained coverage of biking, walking and transit issues in Sacramento, both at the Capitol and locally." You can also follow Bryan on Twitter.

As national press sharpens their focus on Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa's cheat sheet, there's been way too much discussion of Charlie Sheen and other assorted scandals. What's too often missing is a discussion of the Mayor's own transportation record. To try and help our friends in the legacy media, L.A. Streetblog proudly presents the two-part, "Mayor Villaraigosa Transportation Cheat Sheet." Today we'll look at policy and project accomplishments. Tomorrow we'll look at some narratives including a look at the story on whether a broken elbow changed the city's bike policies, tomorrow.