People

At times in this whole reauthorization process, it’s been hard to see the way forward. House Republicans refuse to deficit-spend their way out of the funding conundrum, and Democrats haven’t gotten behind a coherent plan to come up with more revenues, though they’re still arguing for a bigger bill. Still, I’ve been reporting on the bill as if it’s bound to happen, one way or another. Secretary Ray LaHood has been unflinching in his optimism that a bill will pass this year. But the more I talk to experts, I realize: this thing probably isn't going to happen.

Originally Stephen Villavaso of the Los Angeles County Bicycle Coalition was scheduled to be the guest speaker at the Southern California Transit Advocates May 14th meeting, only to have a conflict force him to request to be rescheduled to our June meeting. As I scrambled to seek a replacement Nick Matonak who handles the Facebook page for SO.CA.TA suggested we have Stephen Box as a speaker. And upon being contacted Box with great enthusiasm said yes.

A motion by County Supervisor and Metro Board Member Mark Ridley-Thomas would grade-separate the planned Crenshaw Light Rail Line for twelve blocks from 48th Street to 59th Street along the Crenshaw Corridor and would require the construction of a station at Leimert Park.  Both grade-separating the Crenshaw Line and the Leimert Park Station are listed as "optional" in Metro's most recent corridor studies.  To pay for the grade-separation and new station, Ridley-Thomas asks Metro to identify funding sources "including but not limited to" Measure R funds for the Expo Line and for the Green Line to LAX, the Arbor-Vitae interchange project and sales of "surplus property" along the right-of-way that won't be used.  The Crenshaw Line will run below-grade for the rest of the route along Crenshaw Boulevard.

What a difference a few years makes.  For the fourth time since Streetsblog has been publishing in Los Angeles, Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa gave a "state of the city" address to talk about where the city is and where he hopes to lead it in the coming years.  When we first covered this annual speech in 2008, the Mayor barely mentioned transportation other than a promise to ask the MTA Board to work on ways to build out the transit system.  He didn't even call the agency Metro.

President Obama just finished his speech at George Washington University. He drew a sharp line between the Republican budget proposal and his own vision for reducing the deficit while preserving the social safety net.

Yesterday, over a hundred thousand Los Angeles residents turned out for the second-ever cicLAvia.  Envisioned as a way to get busy Angelenos out of their cars and into the streets together, cicLAvia opens up a 7.5 mile route along our city streets, allowing cyclists, skaters, and pedestrians to enjoy a car-free LA.

With the Mayor's proposal to lease out the maintenance, revenue collection, and profits of the city garages killed by the City Council earlier this year, the city has begun to move forward with other plans to maximize the revenue and efficiency of the city's publicly owned parking spaces and lots.

(Sorry guys, I can't help myself.  For previous April Fool's shennanigans, check out last year's piece on Rita Robinson's speech in New York or 2008's announcement of LADOT's "Be Safe or Be Roadkill" P.S.A. Campaign - DN)