Blogroll

For the past six months or so, Joel Epstein has been writing away about transportation issues at the Huffington Post's Los Angeles page.  Originally, Epstein's pieces were almost exclusively promoting and explaining the 30/10 initiative.  While his Huffington Post profile  says that he likes to discuss Los Angeles' "maligned but extensive" transit system, it's clear if you read some of his pieces that he certainly doesn't think the system is extensive enough and is not above criticizing agencies for their shortcomings.

There are two projects of the Los Angeles County Bike Coalition that haven't received as much attention on Streetsblog as they should, although CicLAvia did get a belated review last week after reviews in the Times and television.

I usually don't pull story ideas directly from The Metro Library's daily headlines page, but this one was just too good to pass up.

When Metro first announced it was going to open its own blog, the first questions everyone had were "who will be writing it," and "will they be independent or just Metro public relations officers." Given the choice of the writers they selected, the same two writers I would have picked if i were them, I think we have our answer. From the press release:

"Where the Sidewalk Starts" a relatively new blog focusing on pedestrian safety issues is a welcome addition to the local blogosphere.  Writer "Katie" an urban planner and suburban Southern Californian opened the blog because "The most downtrodden mode of transportation deserves a step up."

Back in late May, the City of Los Angeles released the maps that will be the backbone for the city's newest Bike Plan on a Friday afternoon.  Before the weekend was over, members of the bike community throughout the city responded with anger and frustration that the new maps appeared to be a rollback of the existing plan and was anything but visionary.  Knowing that Alta Planning, the consultants for the project, are considered some of the most visionary bike planners in America; accusations that the City heavily edited and redacted Alta's work were common.

Last month, the Bus Riders Union quietly opened its own blog to further push its advocacy efforts online.  While there's nothing that is technilogically amazing about the blog, if anyone remembers what the BRU's website looked like two years ago when I first arrived or last year during the "No on the Six" campaign, it's nice to see a more professional looking website with regular updates.

Before moving to Los Angeles, I talked to some of my friends in advocacy and did some research on my own and made a list of people I needed to meet.  The list included some of the people you'd suspect, Liz and Shay, Joe and Ron, Stephen and Enci, Bart Reed, Fred Camino, the BRU and many more. 

All too often, transit blogs tend to focus on the negative of riding the bus or taking the train.  Experienced riders come off as jaded and veteran activists are just ornery because of the splitting headache earned from years of banging your head into the concrete divider known as the Metro Board of Directors.  I admit to being as guilty of this trap as anyone.  But if you're looking to read something completely different than the griping and moaning, try reading Booking It Bus Style.