People

(The LACBC's 4th Street Campaign has an open meeting tonight at the Halal Indian restaurant at 4th and Highland at 7:00 P.M. Just got word that the location has moved to Larchmont Bungalow, 107 Larchmont Blvd. Sorry for the last minute change.)

Last week, Patch reported on a speech given by Senator Dianne Feinsteinin Century City.  The resulting article quoted the Senator, "Right now, no one knows where that [money] is," implying that federal funding for the Westside Subway was in serious doubt.  The headline "Feinstein: 'No One Knows Where' Federal Funds for Subway Extension Will Come From" touched a nerve with both supporters and critics of the Westside Subway.

This week marked the 109th anniversary of the first presidential motorcade, starring Theodore Roosevelt. If you've ever wondered why TR's successors so rarely ditch their limos in favor of human-powered transport, read on. Staged photo op or no, it seems being elected president is a great way to spoil a family outing.

This morning, Mayor Villaraigosa's last term as Chair of the Metro Board of Directors got off to an efficient and relatively controversy-free start as Supervisors passed motions on studying the impacts of Metro's bus cuts and Bus Rapid Transit expansion, a second study on the costs and benefits of a bike share program, the approval of a green construction program and even a preferred route for California High Speed Rail.  The only real debate among the Board Members came when Director Diane DuBois challenged Supervisor Mark Ridley-Thomas on the definition of "local" in the local jobs program and on whether or not to give free Metro passes to uniformed Girl Scouts during the group's 100th birthday party.

Last week, Metro staff responded to a motion by Supervisor Mark Ridley-Thomas to create a community benefits plan for the Crenshaw Community, especially in the area where the line is scheduled to run at-grade, during construction and operations of the line.  The response was a power point presentation showing where the agency currently is in its thinking about community benefits and while some community activists are unhappy with the presentation, Ridley-Thomas' office seems to think it's a good first step.

Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky's answers to our reader questionnaire were so detailed that we decided to break the questions in to two parts.  There is just so much to chew on in this section, such as Zev's views on the Westside Subway Station Debate, the importance of a subway and the future of the I-405 Transit Corridor.  We've said enough about Zev over the years, so now it's his turn.  As always, all questions came from you, the readers, and the Supervisor's staff assures me that all answers came from Zev himself.

Parts two and three of your questionnaire with Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky focused mainly on what I'm referring to as "People Powered Transportation" (the Alliance for Walking and Bicycling's chosen term for traveling without a car and not by transit) and a separate section with two tongue-and-cheek questions.  Sadly, he didn't take my bait and announce his candidacy for Mayor.

At first, it looked like a pretty innocuous motion on a Metro Board Planning and Programming Committee Agenda.  Item #19, passed quickly and unanimously by the committee, shuffles $170 million in funds dedicated towards Red Line expansion, partially from Measure R, to cover the "unmet costs" to complete the rail yards for Expo Phase II light rail cars.  (Note: As was pointed out in the comments section, the staff report says that the Southwest yard is for Green/Crenshaw Line cars, not Expo cars.)