People

Sarah Palin is no longer the governor of Alaska, but a project long championed by the 2008 vice-presidential nominee -- and staunch earmark critic -- stands to benefit from an earmark inserted into the transportation spending bill that cleared Congress over the weekend.

By the time the bike portion of the "Bike-Only" City Council Transportation Committee hearing began at 3:45, one hour and forty-five minutes late, it was clear that the bicycling-love-fest that we've seen at past "Bike-Only" meetings wasn't going to happen.  Not only did the meeting start late because of an over-run of the City Council meeting, but Councilman Richard Alarcon had already stormed out of the room because Councilman Bill Rosendahl had caused the full Council to lose quorum and Councilman LaBonge had already snapped at the audience for talking during public comment.

Monday Dec. 14 at 6:30 p.m. Move LA and the Los Angeles County Museum of Art are co-sponsoring a public meeting on Strategies to Accelerate the Development of the Wilshire Subway and Other Measure R Projects in Los Angeles County--What You Can Do to Help Implement the Measure R 30-Year Plan in 10 Years!  The meeting will be held at the Museum's Brown Auditorium, in the Art of the Americas building off the Central Court. The Museum is at 5905 Wilshire Bl. just east of Fairfax.

Addressing a packed house in Washington last night, Rep. Earl Blumenauer (D-OR), founder of the Congressional Bike Caucus, posed a Zen-like 'universalist cyclist question'.

President Obama today threw his weight behind significant new transportation spending as part of a broad jobs bill taking shape in Congress, with $50 billion slated for transit, roads, bridges, and ports and the administration endorsing "merit-based infrastructure investment that leverages federal dollars."

When Streetsblog spoke with Councilman Bill Rosendahl about his priorities as Transportation Committee Chair, he promised a number of sweeping changes and regular "bike themed" committee hearings.  Next week he is going to make good on some of his projects when he chairs his first "bike-only" City Council Transportation Hearing.  You can read the full agenda here, or just read on as we'll preview each issue that will be discussed.

Via the Los Angeles County Bicycle Coalition, next Wednesday at 2:00 P.M. will be another "bicycle heavy" Transportation Committee Hearing.  There's some new and interesting stuff on the agenda, such as a "bicycle anti-harassment ordinance," and some old friends such as an update on the Draft Bike Plan.  Below is the LACBC's email, and once the agenda items are posted tomorrow we'll have a full review.

On the issue of clean transportation, from transit to bike paths to water quality, few members of Congress are as knowledgeable or active as Rep. Earl Blumenauer (D-OR). Chairman of the Congressional Bicycle Caucus and founder of the new Livable Communities Task Force, the Portland lawmaker is on the front lines of Washington's biggest infrastructure debates. Streetsblog Capitol Hill spoke with him yesterday about the prospects for transportation in the coming jobs bill, which he has said could be paid for in part with Wall Street bailout money. Below is a lightly edited transcript of the discussion.

It seems that every year when the car show rolls into town that there's at least one moment that makes me want to bang my head into a cement wall.  Remember when the Sierra Club and other environmental groups named an SUV the "green car of the year" in 2007?