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Streetsblog LA
Voices From The National Bike Summit
Last week, hundreds of bike advocates descended on Washington D.C.
for the tenth annual National Bike Summit -- the largest one yet.
Hosted by the League of American Bicyclists, the summit is always a
great opportunity for advocates to share ideas and make the case for
cycling on Capitol Hill. This year attendees encouraged their senators
and representatives to sign on to several key pieces of legislation,
including the Active Community Transportation Act, Safe Routes to
School Act, and the Urban Revitalization and Livable Communities Act.
March 15, 2010
LaHood Reaches Out to Transit Industry, Lamenting ‘Lousy Economy’
Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood sought to commiserate with the
cash-strapped transit industry today, declaring the Obama
administration an ally of local rail and bus agencies even as the
"lousy economy" clouds prospects for passage of a new long-term federal
transportation bill.
March 15, 2010
Mr. Villaraigosa Goes to Washington to Pitch 30 in 10
Senators began searching today for new strategies to connect local
planners with an ever-dwindling pot of federal infrastructure dollars,
even as a senior U.S. DOT aide declined to say whether the White
House's upcoming principles for the next long-term transportation bill would include funding specifics.
March 12, 2010
Washington Post Columnist: Measure R a National Guide to Economic Recovery
In a sure sign that the "30 in 10" plan to accelerate all Measure R transit projects to be completed within a decade, national media is picking up the story and praising Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa for providing a new model of federal stimulus for America.
March 10, 2010
Fight Brewing Between Council and Mayor Over Street Furniture Funds
With all the bleak news about the City of Los Angeles' budget woes, and the ridiculously poor state of the same city's Transit Oriented Development program; the last thing one might expect to hear out of city hall is a fight over how the city spends its "Street Furniture Revenue Fund." Yesterday, when Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa announced a veto of Councilman Tony Cardenas' request to use street furniture funds to pay for his office staff, that's exactly what we got.
March 9, 2010
Enviros, Villaraigosa Slam Out of State Oil Companies for Threatening CA Greenhouse Gas Laws
(editor's note: This is Part I of a two part series. Next week we'll look specifically at how the repeal or delaying of this legislation would effect transportation and Livable Streets. - DN)
March 5, 2010
A Review of the Metro Sector Governance Council’s Meet and Confer
(Author's note: this write-up was delayed when I was hit with a particular vicious bout of flu that made me bed ridden for 9 days. But since no one in the media (including Metro's own bloggers!) attended it is still timely and informative as the sole coverage of this event. - DG)
March 5, 2010
LaHood Faces Off With GOP Senator Over High-Speed Rail, Livability
When Cabinet secretaries appear in front of Congress' appropriations
committees, which control the annual budgets for each federal agency,
the proceedings tend to be dry affairs dominated by local concerns and
arcane fiscal debates.
March 5, 2010
Senate Starts Work on New Transport Bill, With House Version as a Guide
The Senate today took its first steps towards voting on a new
long-term federal transportation bill, with environment committee
chairman Barbara Boxer (D-CA) vowing to take up a successor to the 2005 infrastructure law before 2011 and indicating she would use the House's already-introduced version as a framework.
March 4, 2010