Word on the Street

A couple weeks ago, I was asked to sit in on a panel reviewing and critiquing undergraduate design students' visions for the future of Los Angeles transportation. The location was Otis College of Art and Design, located near LAX. Lecturer and Architect Matt Gagnon had given his product design students a simple, but far reaching, assignment: design for the future of mobility in L.A.

Reader Erik Griswold noticed something outside of what was originally intended. While the media's full-court press coverage of the tragic shooting of police officers and the ongoing manhunt have certainly captivated the media, the press frenzy in front of LAPD headquarters also tells a different story.

Friends,

Rumors have been swirling that the Metro Board is actually going to do a final vote on the 2009 Long Range Transportation plan, less than 24 hours after it was first released to the public, to head off opposition that was planning to make a stand at the June 25 Metro Board meeting.  I repeat, these are only rumors at this point, but it bears watching. It does say on the agenda that the Board could adopt the LRTP this afternoon, but for a Board already under fire for the contempt it showed the public two weeks ago, it's more than disheartening see them rushing the process again,

While almost all of the races in yesterday's city-wide elections were foregone conclusions before the ballots were counted, there are still a couple of important races yet to be decided.  Ironically, the races that are yet to be decided are the races between Fifth District City Councilman Jack Weiss and Carmen Trutanich for City Attorney and the race to replace Weiss in the Fifth District which has been narrowed down to Former state Assemblyman and West Hollywood City Councilman Paul Koretz and Century City area homeowner activist David Vahedi.

Last month, the LA County Board of Supervisors issued an edict that all taco trucks would now have to move every hour taking a firm stand against the free market and for increased vehicle miles traveled.  Hilariously, the first taco truck that was ticketed was actually owned by the same people that owned the adjacent restaurant and used the truck as a takeout window. 

Earlier this week I posted an article on the reforms coming to the city's official Bike Advisory Committee which implied that the BAC was out of touch and didn't do very much.  Not surprisingly, some members of the committee took exception to that characterization.

Today is the last day to register online for Los Angeles’ most popular bike event, the 8th Annual Los Angeles River Ride.  You can register at the event, but due to the popularity of the River Ride and limited space it’s probably best to register online today if you’re interested but not already signed up. … Continued

Yesterday morning the Times’ Bottleneck Blog made its re-debut with Times’ transportation writer and “Road Sage” Steve Hymon at the wheel.  Now I’ve been somewhat critical of some of Hyomn’s writing in the past, so I wanted to give it some time before I reviewed his online efforts.