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This week on SGV Connect, Chris brings us two lighter features on some fun outdoor events in the San Gabriel Foothill communities. On Saturday, July 11th, the city of Azusa will host a Twilight Criterium race in its downtown. It's an exciting race weekend for Californian cyclists, with the state championship happening the next day in Manhattan Beach, and the continuing celebration of 100 years of Route 66 in Azusa. Racers can register here. Here's the transcript for Chris' interview with Patrick Caro of Go Fast Andiamo and Jose Jimenez from the city of Azusa. Happening this Saturday is the Monrovia Pride Book Festival, put on by Underdog Books. The event will feature dozens of authors, discussion panels, drag storytellers, and even a pet parade. You may remember we spoke with the previous owners of Underdog a few years back. Now the shop has new leadership, and has expanded operations into a more active non-profit and community safe space. Read a transcript of Chris' interview with Underdog's director, Kealie Mardell, here. Streetsblog's San Gabriel Valley coverage is supported by Foothill Transit, offering car-free travel throughout the San Gabriel Valley with connections to the A Line Stations across the Foothills and Commuter Express lines traveling into the heart of downtown L.A. To plan your trip, visit Foothill Transit. "Foothill Transit. Going Good Places."
In this special World Cup edition of SGV Connect, Damien Newton talks with Foothill Transit Communications Director Felicia Friesema about how transit agencies across Los Angeles County are preparing for the 2026 FIFA World Cup. Friesema explains Foothill Transit's role in supporting Metro's operations at SoFi Stadium, including lending buses for shuttle service between Union Station and the stadium. She encourages San Gabriel Valley residents to use the Silver Streak and other transit connections to reach World Cup matches, noting that transit will play a critical role in moving tens of thousands of spectators. The conversation also explores the behind-the-scenes planning required for a global event, with Friesema describing months of coordination, training, and security preparation involving Metro, Foothill Transit, and other agencies. The discussion then shifts to broader transit topics, including rising gas prices, ridership growth, long-term budgeting challenges, and Foothill Transit's proposed changes to commuter express service. Newton and Friesema also discuss recent improvements to the regional fare system, including contactless credit card payments, the impact of the A Line extension into the eastern San Gabriel Valley, and the surprising success of Foothill Transit's temporary "Line 6-7" shuttle connecting the La Verne A Line station with Fairplex during the Los Angeles County Fair. Throughout the conversation, Friesema emphasizes the importance of flexibility, regional coordination, and adapting transit service to changing travel patterns across Southern California. Damien Newton: As mentioned in the intro, I'm here with Felicia Friesema of Foothill Transit. This is our unofficial, quasi-official World Cup edition of the SGV Connect podcast and Streetsblog coverage. This podcast is going up on Friday, the day of the first World Cup game in Los Angeles: the United States versus Paraguay. There's been a lot of press about how people are getting to the stadium, the cost of parking, and all of those sorts of issues. But we wanted to highlight that it is easy and possible to take transit to the games, no matter where you're coming from. As we've mentioned before, I live in West Los Angeles. On Monday, we're planning to go to a parking lot in Santa Monica and take the bus directly to the game—a game that I still only give about a 50 percent chance of actually happening. But we're not talking about Santa Monica today. We're talking about the San Gabriel Valley. So again, I'm here with Felicia. Why don't we talk a little bit about service from the San Gabriel Valley to SoFi Stadium in Inglewood? How is that all going to work? What's the expectation, and what are we hoping to see? Felicia Friesema: Well, I think it's really important that people understand how critical transit is going to be for making these matches work. When you start seeing Caltrans signs on the freeway encouraging people to take transit to the matches at SoFi, it tells you how important transit is to making the whole experience happen. FIFA has some very strict rules about tailgating—as in, you're not allowed to do it—so it takes away some of the benefits of driving to the stadium that some people enjoy. Foothill Transit is lending 10 buses to Metro to help operate the shuttle trips originating from Union Station and heading to SoFi Stadium. The best way to get from the San Gabriel Valley to Union Station and then take those shuttles is to ride the Silver Streak. It runs very regularly—every 15 minutes during the week and every half hour on weekends. It's a pretty reliable service. You can visit foothilltransit.org and get all your trips itinerized. I don't know if that's a word. Did I just make up a word? Damien Newton: I don't know. All words are made up. Felicia Friesema: I'm only the communications director, you know. Damien Newton: Doesn't Thor say that in one of the Marvel movies? Someone tells him he made up a word and he responds, "All words are made up." Felicia Friesema: Right. One thing I do want to note, though: for the shuttles going into SoFi, there won't be fare collection on the buses themselves. Spectators can pay in one of two ways. They can purchase parking online in advance, which includes shuttle service, or they can pay on site using mobile fare-payment validators that will be stationed near the shuttle boarding queues. Passengers will pay before they board the bus. It's a little different from how we're normally doing things, but it's something people should be aware of. Damien Newton: We've seen Metro do this for other major events, and even private shuttle operations. When you're trying to move 30,000 people by bus for a special event, sometimes there are different procedures for boarding and exiting. It's good for people to know ahead of time so they can plan accordingly. Do you know of other Foothill Transit employees who are planning to attend the games? Is this something people have talked about at the staff level? Like, "I'm going to the game and here's how I'm getting there." Felicia Friesema: Honestly, the biggest thing is that we all have our favorite teams, right? But most of our participation is making sure the service happens without a hitch. Our role is making sure service is delivered safely and securely, and that coordination with Metro is clear, concise, and effective. It's more about enabling other people to have a great experience. We'll mostly be listening from the sidelines while making sure everyone else can get there. Damien Newton: One thing I've always wondered about these major events, where your agency has such an important support role, is whether there's an extra level of excitement in the planning process—or whether it's more intense because there are so many additional details to work through. Felicia Friesema: FIFA—and subsequently the Olympics—are really their own category when it comes to this kind of planning. We've been meeting with Metro weekly for months to work through the logistics of serving the matches. The level of preparation, planning, security awareness, and training for operators, dispatchers, and security staff is well beyond what would normally happen for something like Rose Bowl shuttle service. We have the Rose Bowl service down to a science. We know exactly how it works. But the World Cup requires a much more detailed operational plan. I don't know that I'd call it anxiety, but it's definitely more intense. Damien Newton: That was probably the wrong word. Felicia Friesema: Yeah. Damien Newton: I should have made a word up. Felicia Friesema: Exactly. It's more intense. When you have an event as visible and heavily attended as the World Cup, everything operates at a different level. Not that we don't pay attention to those things for local events—we absolutely do—but this is bigger in every way. More people, more excitement, more moving parts. The good thing is that Metro has done a phenomenal job laying the groundwork for all of us to succeed. We're really grateful for that.
What does it take to make a street safer for everyone? In the US, it typically requires a combination of tragedy, grassroots organizing, and political leadership. Even when these ingredients come together, success is never guaranteed, as so many projects become battles about more than just bike lanes. Changing Lanes, a new documentary from director Ben Wolf, covers the fight to make McGuinness Boulevard in Greenpoint, Brooklyn, safer following the tragic death of a beloved teacher at the hands of a hit-and-run driver. Featuring interviews with such notable figures as Janette Sadik-Khan and former Talking Heads frontman David Byrne, Changing Lanes moves beyond bike lanes to tell a story that's very much made for this political and cultural moment. Wolf joins us along with advocates Bronwyn Breitner and Kevin LaCherra, as well as New York State Assemblymember Emily Gallagher, to talk about how they fought to make McGuinness safe and the broader lessons they learned along the way. ***Join The War on Cars on Patreon and listen to ad-free versions of regular episodes, Patreon-only bonus content, invitations to live events, merch discounts and free stickers!*** SHOW NOTES: Stream Changing Lanes on Amazon or Kanopy. Watch the film's trailer. Learn more about the film and request a screening at ChangingLanesDoc.com. Read more about the Make McGuinness Safe campaign and learn about where the project stands today. Catch up on the corruption that led to a powerful family's downfall and the indictment of a top aide to Mayor Eric Adams, via Streetsblog. Order our book, Life After Cars: Freeing Ourselves from the Tyranny of the Automobile, out now from Thesis, an imprint of Penguin Random House. Buy a certified, pre-owned e-bike from Upway and save $100 off any purchase of $800 or more with code TWOC100. Visit Upway.co to get rolling. Thanks also to Cleverhood. Listen to this episode for the latest discount code and get 15% off the best rain gear for walking and cycling. TheWarOnCars.org
First, Damien Newton and David Diaz discuss the Living School Yards program in El Monte, which aims to transform school yards into greener, safer spaces. The first completed project includes planting 46 new trees, creating outdoor classrooms, and installing play areas. Student input was crucial in the design process. You can read a transcript of the podcast, here. You can find out more about this weekend's Green School Tour, here. Next, Chris talks with Dr. Bri Serrano, a candidate for Covina City Council District 5 in the 2026 election, emphasized his commitment to affordability, transparency, and safety. He criticized the city's use of Flock cams and proposed a ban on city employees serving as federal agents. Serrano highlighted his slate's commitment to grassroots funding, with an average donation of $206. He addressed mobility issues, advocating for better bus routes and safer bike lanes. Serrano also criticized the proposed battery energy storage system's proximity to residential areas and recreational facilities. You can read a transcript of the podcast, here. Streetsblog's San Gabriel Valley coverage is supported by Foothill Transit, offering car-free travel throughout the San Gabriel Valley with connections to the A Line Stations across the Foothills and Commuter Express lines traveling into the heart of downtown L.A. To plan your trip, visit Foothill Transit. "Foothill Transit. Going Good Places."Sign-up for our SGV Connect Newsletter, coming to your inbox on Fridays!
In this week's SGV Connect, Damien Newton speaks with Habib Balian, CEO of the Foothill Gold Line Construction Authority, about the recent extension of the A Line into the San Gabriel Valley and plans for the next phase to Claremont. Since opening in September, the extension has seen steady ridership and strong community support, restoring passenger rail service to parts of the valley for the first time in decades. Balian said the project has provided a much-needed alternative to the congested 210 Freeway and has improved transit connections, including better bus integration with Foothill Transit and easier access to major colleges along the corridor. The conversation then turns to the proposed Pomona-to-Claremont extension. After high bids under the traditional design-build model, the agency shifted to a Construction Manager at Risk (CMAR) approach to reduce contractor risk amid economic uncertainty. Parsons has been hired to complete final design, with construction anticipated to begin in early 2028. Beyond mobility, Balian emphasized economic impacts, including transit-oriented development, job creation, and an estimated $500 million in economic output during the first three years of operations. Cities along the corridor are planning housing and development near stations in anticipation of the extension. A lightly edited version of the transcript can be found below. Streetsblog's San Gabriel Valley coverage is supported by Foothill Transit, offering car-free travel throughout the San Gabriel Valley with connections to the A Line Stations across the Foothills and Commuter Express lines traveling into the heart of downtown L.A. To plan your trip, visit Foothill Transit. "Foothill Transit. Going Good Places." Transcript Damien Newton: Welcome to our annual update. I'm joined again by CEO Habib Balian. Thank you for being here. When we spoke last April, the latest extension of the Gold Line — now the A Line — hadn't yet opened. Since then, it launched in September and has been operating for several months. Let's start with how the rollout and handoff to Metro have gone. Habib Balian: Since April, we've held station dedications and worked closely with Metro to transition the line into full service. The opening ceremony drew hundreds of officials and supporters. Ridership has been steady, and the response has been very positive. It's been nearly 75 years since passenger rail served parts of the San Gabriel Valley, so this offers a real alternative to the 210 Freeway. Metro has operated the line since September, and we're pleased with how things are progressing. Newton: Turning to the next extension, from Pomona to Claremont — bids came in high under the design-build model. Why change approaches? Balian: Design-build has served us well for two decades, but contractors are increasingly risk-averse, especially given tariffs and market uncertainty. That risk translated into higher bids. We've pivoted to a Construction Manager at Risk model. Parsons will complete the design to 100 percent over the next 18 months. A contractor will then review constructability and pricing, allowing us to move toward construction in early 2028 with greater cost certainty. Newton: Rail projects aren't just about transportation. We've seen improved bus coordination and major transit-oriented development along the corridor. You recently released a report on the economic benefits of the Claremont extension. Balian: Yes. Development around stations in Pasadena, Monrovia, Azusa, and beyond has been significant. Cities are planning housing and mixed-use projects near stations, often years in advance. Beyond development, construction has created thousands of jobs. During operations, we project nearly $500 million in economic output within the first three years. The line also uniquely connects numerous colleges — from Pasadena City College to Azusa Pacific and the Claremont Colleges — making it an important educational corridor. Newton: What happens first once construction begins? Balian: The corridor is about 100 feet wide and currently includes Metrolink and freight tracks. Early work will involve relocating those tracks to make room for two new light-rail tracks, along with bridge construction and right-of-way improvements. Track installation will follow. Newton: Final thoughts? Balian: Awarding the design contract is our immediate priority. We expect to select a CMAR contractor this summer and begin construction in January 2028. It's a billion-dollar project with four bridges and significant regional impact. Cities want this line, and we're eager to deliver it. Newton: Thanks again for the update. We look forward to talking next year as construction moves closer.
Sophia Lebowitz, reporter for Streetsblog, explains the new 15 mile-per-hour speed limit in effect for all vehicles in Central Park, including bicycles and e-bikes, designed to make the drive safer for pedestrians, while Neile Weissman, cycling advocate and contributor to Streetsblog, argues that more options for cyclists would be a more effective strategy.
LA Public Press reporter Phoenix Tso joins us for our first podcast of the year. Tso covered mutual aid efforts immediately after last January's Eaton Fire in the Altadena area of the San Gabriel Mountains. Marking the anniversary of the 14,000 acre fire that destroyed 10,000 structures and took at least 19 lives, Tso checked in again with small business owners rebuilding their lives back from the disaster. Struggles are plenty: insurance claims, fire remediation, lost income, lost neighbors and customers, and real estate development. The stories Tso shares with us are somber, but remind us why the community needs support from the San Gabriel Valley at large. A lightly edited transcript of the conversation can be found below. Streetsblog's San Gabriel Valley coverage is supported by Foothill Transit, offering car-free travel throughout the San Gabriel Valley with connections to the A Line Stations across the Foothills and Commuter Express lines traveling into the heart of downtown L.A. To plan your trip, visit Foothill Transit. "Foothill Transit. Going Good Places."Sign-up for our SGV Connect Newsletter, coming to your inbox on Fridays! Chris Greenspon - This is SGV Connect 145. I'm Chris Greenspon. This is our first podcast of the new year. We hope you all had a good break. Quickly, before we begin, though, I just want to remind you that Streetsblog's San Gabriel Valley coverage is supported by Foothill Transit, offering car free travel throughout the San Gabriel Valley with connections to the A Line Stations across the foothills and commuter express lines traveling into the heart of downtown LA. To plan your trip, visit Foothill transit.org. Foothill Transit "Going good places". Today, we're looking back at the one year anniversary of the Eaton Fire and recovery efforts to keep the community intact. Here as our guest, we have Phoenix Tso reporter for LA Public Press. Phoenix, welcome back to SGV Connect. Phoenix Tso - Thank you for having me. Chris - So earlier this week, you filed a story checking in with business owners in Altadena who've been able to reopen a year after the fire. How are people holding up now, a year later? Phoenix - Yeah, I just did a story on small business owners whose businesses were affected by the Eaton Fire in Altadena one year later. I think it's kind of a mixed bag. I talked to a bunch of people who were able to reopen. Some, like, just a couple months ago, reopened. One person actually, technically never closed. She said she was the only person in her shopping plaza, without a working air conditioning and a patchy roof, all burned up. But the building was luckily intact, and her store was luckily intact. She runs a print and copying shop. So, yeah, it's a mixed bag. Some people, their businesses burned down completely. It's a total loss. One person I talked to runs a martial arts studio, and she actually bought the land that her studio was standing on. She's trying to rebuild, trying to raise the money, and she says that, like, it'll probably take three to five years for her to come back and for the community to really come back. Yes, there's businesses that have reopened, but there's just not as many people back in Altadena one year later. Chris - And what's the mood? Phoenix - It's somber. I would say. I think there's still a big community feel, though. A lot of these businesses were pillars of the community, and they're where people gather still…or gather even more. For example, Fair Oaks Burger, they closed during the fire, and they didn't reopen until June, basically because of smoke remediation issues and debris and everything like that. But they kept doing mutual aid operations in their parking lot. They worked with the World Central Kitchen to distribute food, and they ended up partnering with different groups to do grocery distributions. So they've still been around in Altadena, and there are a lot of community events there, and a lot of the community really gathers there. Business is slower than before, but people did come back after Fair Oaks Burger reopened. Chris - What kind of community is this and why do people want to preserve it? Obviously, every time a community has a tragedy, we hear some of the same descriptors. But what makes Altadena Altadena? Phoenix - I think Altadena is special because it's technically urban. It's close to LA but it really does have a small town feel. I wonder if Altadena residents would agree with me…of like a Gilmore Girls type of feel. It's right by the mountains. It's beautiful up there. It's a little isolated and out of the way. People who like a quiet, sort of nature…very close to nature, type of community that still is also close to urban amenities. I think they love that. As has been said it's a historically black community. It's one of the few communities where black people are allowed to own homes for a long time, and that community has been affected heavily by the fire.There's a big question whether they'll be able to make a comeback, especially with a lot of corporate developers buying up lots that have burned down. So it's actually a very diverse working class community as well. It's kind of unique in that sense, very different from the Palisades fire. Where the Pacific Palisades is one of the wealthiest communities in LA County. The diversity, the mix, but also like a very tight knit community. I think when you go out to community events, there is a small business fair on Small Business Saturday, right after Thanksgiving, you could definitely see a lot of the community out there, and people knowing each other, and really breaking bread together. Chris - And it still has a little bit of that 'Dena' cultural feel with the hippie stuff and the art galleries. Phoenix - Yeah, definitely. And in fact, I talked to an art gallery owner who started dedicating his gallery to artists affected by the fire in Altadena and Pasadena. And he said, "Yeah, the support that people are showing those artists is really amazing." Chris - So you spoke to a range of different types of businesses. You spoke to the gallerist. You spoke to somebody who's trying to get a martial arts studio back up and running, hopefully in a few years. You spoke to somebody who owned a print and copy shop and I think a restaurant or two. Overall, what are the challenges that they spoke about in getting reopened? Phoenix - Yeah, I think their insurance companies were a big challenge. I interviewed a lot of business owners at Mariposa junction, which is one of the few shopping areas where one of the buildings burned down, but one did not burn down. So those businesses have come back. So I think that's a big challenge. Oh, the gallery owner I talked to. His name is Ben McGinty. He said that the biggest challenge for him is being back when everybody else has lost everything and it's a very like sobering thought, for sure. But also, people said that the challenge was getting their shops remediated in a timely manner, they had to wait months for that to happen. I think some of them did it themselves and still need to get reimbursed by their insurance company. I guess some insurance companies were understanding. Some, just gave an attitude, like, "why are you asking?" It's like, "oh, I'm a policyholder. Like, why wouldn't I ask for this, for, you know, this to be paid out?" Yeah, I think having the money to be able to reopen and rebuild, having a good landlord who would like not charge rent while you're not in the store and an insurance company to help with repairs. Those are all challenges. Chris - So how are folks surviving, or is it? Are they getting grants? Are they getting help from the city? Are they getting community buyouts? What's going on? Phoenix - Yes, there are a lot of grants. Fair Oaks Burger, it's kind of interesting. You know, Rick Caruso, the billionaire businessman, his foundation has issued a good amount of grants. Interesting to see his name in the mix there. There are a lot of grants from corporations, different chambers of commerce. There are low interest loans, or no interest loans that people have been able to get another challenge is the red tape it takes to reopen in LA County. The owner of Fair Oaks Burger talked about that a lot, and she said that, if they make the process easier with a little less red tape. She thinks more businesses will be able to come back more easily. Chris - So where are we seeing real estate movement? You alluded to this a little bit. Phoenix - Oh, yeah, I haven't looked at this in a lot of detail, but I've seen a lot of reports.A lot of the lots, I think it's several hundred residential lots that have a lot of people have put their lots up for sale because they aren't able to rebuild. That's a similar challenge. The insurance companies have not come through for people who lost their homes, which is really horrible to hear. So they're selling their lots. And a lot of corporate developers, LLCs, are buying up those lots. It remains to be seen what they're doing with them. I saw a report where one of them is being constructed right now, and it's kind of interesting. The home they're building is for sale for at least a million dollars, or something like that. I don't know how a lot of people can afford that. So, there are a lot of community groups who are really tracking that and are really trying to advocate for community land trusts and for community minded people to buy up these lots and to be able to sell or rent them to working class folks, just to preserve the diversity of Altadena, to let allow people to be able to come back. I read last year, groups had asked for, maybe $500 million from the state, which they didn't get. I wouldn't be surprised if they're trying again. But so far, I think there hasn't been a lot of support from, you know, from the state to actually do something to preserve Altadena as it was and has been. Chris - Yeah, it sounds like an uphill struggle. So what should we keep an eye out for as we're wrapping up this interview going forward with LA Public Press, with Altadena and your reporting? Phoenix - Oh, I'll keep covering Altadena. I'm covering calls for a state investigation into the evacuation response by LA County. I will be looking into who's buying these residential lots and what they're doing with them as a whole. We are still covering everything LA County, especially the immigration raids, police accountability, housing, organizing, you name it. Chris - So thanks for joining us once again on SGV Connect. Phoenix - Thanks for having me again. Chris - That's Phoenix Tso reporter for LA Public Press covering all things Eaton, fire, mutual aid, Chinatown and more. Check out hers and all the other fine work from LA Public Press, and if you can donate, they do good work. And if you have anything left over, donate to Streetsblog. I'm Chris Greenspon. Thanks for listening.
Bicycle Talk. Episode 466 December 24th 2025. Ron's Rant: U.S bike imports were down 24% in units and 16% in dollar value through September this year, according to new data released this week. On a positive side: Five Million Rides and Counting: Paris's Busiest Bike Lane Sets Record. Streetsblog's ‘Car-Free Carolers' Bring the […]
Very excited to share this episode with the two leading generals in the War on Cars, Sarah Goodyear and Doug Gordon. They joined us at Bike Happy Hour last night during their visit to Portland to promote their new book, Life After Cars: Freeing Ourselves from the Tyranny of the Automobile. Sarah is a writer and former editor at Streetsblog and Doug is a bike advocate extraordinaire who joined with Sarah and (Streetsblog founding editor) Aaron Naparstek to create The War on Cars podcast in 2018. That pod is now a huge success and this book is an extension of their efforts to mainstream a low-car world. We had a wonderful conversation, made even more special in front of the energy of the live audience. Thanks for listening and please support and subscribe to BikePortland if you value my unique brand of community-building journalism. I rely on individuals like you to support this work! Subscribe today here.Link: Life After Cars book website with links to purchase!*BikePortland - Community Journalism Since 2005*Latest news on our website (aka "blog"): https://bikeportland.org/ Subscribe and support: https://bikeportland.org/supportBikePortland on IG: https://www.instagram.com/bikeportland/ BikePortland on Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/bikeportland.bsky.social BikePortland Podcast: https://bikeportland.org/cats/podcast
Become a paid subscriber to our newsletter/podcast, The Climate Weekly, to help support this show! It's fun. All the cool kids are doing it! This week, we dive into the transformative potential of a world less reliant on automobiles and ask the question: "why aren't we more honest about the harms caused by our car dependency?" We're joined by the amazing Sarah Goodyear and Doug Gordon, co-hosts of "The War on Cars" podcast and co-authors of the new book, "Life After Cars," to explores the deep-seated cultural and economic ties to car dependency and the urgent need to change it. We look at how car culture became intertwined with the American dream and the historical and societal factors that have perpetuated this problem. Sarah and Doug discuss the environmental and social costs of our car-centric infrastructure, including pollution, social disconnection, and the harms on children's development. We delve into the challenges and opportunities of transitioning to electric vehicles, acknowledging their benefits while cautioning against simply replacing one form of car dependency with another. Finally, we look at very real examples of change like the bike bus movement in the United States and the transformative policies implemented by Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo to reduce car use. We talk about how these stories illustrate the power of grassroots activism and political courage to create more livable, car-free spaces. Sarah Goodyear is a journalist and author who has covered cities and transportation for publications such as Grist, CityLab, and Streetsblog. Doug Gordon is a TV producer and writer who is also a neighborhood safe streets advocate, better known online as Brooklyn Spoke. Read Life After Cars: Freeing Ourselves from the Tyranny of the Automobile By Sarah Goodyear, Doug Gordon and Aaron Naparstek Please consider becoming a paid subscriber to our newsletter/podcast, The Climate Weekly, to help support this show. Your contributions will make the continuation of this show possible. Our music is "Gotta Get Up" by The Passion Hifi, check out his music at thepassionhifi.com. Rate, review and subscribe to this podcast on iTunes, Spotify, and more! Subscribe to our YouTube channel.
This week's SGV Connect features a pair of interviews by Damien Newton. Don't worry Chris fans, the next podcast has already been recorded and it has a pair conducted by Chris Greenspon. The first interview this week is with Felicial Friesema about the big changes that have occurred in September with Foothill Transit Coverage. Of course, the SGV's bus agency had to create new routes for the A-Line stations that opened in Glendora, San Dimas, La Verne, and Pomona; but the transit agency also opened a new bus line, Line 295, to serve Cal Poly Pomona and Mt. San Antonio College (Mt. Sac). A transcript of that interview can be found below the podcast embed. Our second interview is a rebroadcast of last week's StreetSmart podcast from Streetsblog California. The episode features Transform CA's Zack Deutsch-Gross and we break down the recently concluded legislative session. To listen to that episode by itself, or for a transcript of the interview, click here. SGV Connect is supported by Foothill Transit, offering car-free travel throughout the San Gabriel Valley with connections to the new Gold Line Stations across the Foothills and Commuter Express lines traveling into the heart of downtown L.A. To plan your trip, visit Foothill Transit. “Foothill Transit. Going Good Places.” Sign-up for our SGV Connect Newsletter, coming to your inbox on Fridays! Damien We're here with Felicia Friesema from Foothill Transit. There have been a few big changes since the last time we talked—outside of the regular route adjustments—especially with the… I was going to say Gold Line. Am I allowed to say “Gold Line” here? Felicia Friesema Not anymore, dude. It's the A Line. Damien When I'm with the Construction Authority, they still let me call it the Gold Line. Felicia Well, because “Gold Line” is still in their name. But yeah, it's the A Line now. Damien Fine. The new “A Line” stations opened, and you also launched a new bus route. Let's start there. What can you tell us about the 295? It opened last week. And while it serves a Gold Line—uh, A Line—station… I'm going to let people in on something Chris Greenspawn knows well: I mess this up in our ad copy at least once a month and we have to re-shoot it. Felicia (laughs) Damien So if you ever hear Chris say, “Why don't you read that ad copy, Damien?” It's usually because I've already messed it up. Anyway, you launched a new bus line serving an A Line station, but you opened it before the A Line station opened. Tell us about Route 295. Felicia Yes! Congratulations to us. I'm really happy about it. Line 295 is one of our shorter lines—it only serves three stops. It runs between San Dimas Station, Cal Poly Pomona at Temple, and the Mt. SAC Transit Center. Service is Monday through Friday, 6 a.m. to 7 p.m., with 20-minute intervals. We opened on the 15th to introduce people to the new line. We honestly didn't expect much ridership at first—and we were proved wrong very quickly. On the first day alone, we had over 200 rides. We weren't expecting that at all, which means we've got a lot of non–light rail-oriented riders on that line. Damien Just to be clear: you weren't expecting ridership on day one until the rail station opened, right? Felicia Correct—thank you for clarifying that, Damien. We weren't expecting ridership to really kick in until the A Line opened on the 19th. We started the service early to get a sense of traffic patterns, especially on Temple between Cal Poly and Mt. SAC. That area can get pretty hairy at certain times of day when school's in session. We wanted to see how the schedule would run. Little did we know it would become really useful to a lot of people right away. And then, of course, ridership picked up again when the Gold Line—see, I just did it— Damien (laughs) Felicia —when the A Line opened on Friday. Damien This line mostly serves the college campuses. You're expecting students, professors, and people accessing the campus from farther away. It's not quite a first-mile/last-mile connection—it's a bit longer than that—but it's both a rail connector and a local route now. Felicia Exactly. Cal Poly Pomona and Mt. SAC have long been commuter campuses. Cal Poly does have dorms, but a significant number of students drive or take transit from far away—some from downtown L.A., some from Fontana. Having a smooth, easy transit option is definitely a plus for them. Damien As my kids get older, we're starting to look at colleges for my son, who's a sophomore. We've heard: don't sleep on local schools. People undervalue them—especially if they're used to traveling for college. I live in West L.A. and have heard plenty about people commuting to Cal Poly Pomona. I'm not as familiar with Mt. SAC—my kids' interests don't line up with their specialties—but I've already noticed the rail connection. My kid (or I) would only have to transfer twice to get there by train instead of driving. Felicia Exactly. Damien The big transportation story in the San Gabriel Valley right now is the four new A Line stations that opened on Friday. Joe did a Streetsblog story about it. We're going to go out and ride it together soon. How does this impact what you do? It's not just providing connections to stations—you've probably got some bus lines that can be almost replaced by rail. I imagine it's a lot of work every time a new station opens. Felicia It is, but it's good work. When the A Line—then the Gold Line—first started opening in the San Gabriel Valley, we had one line across the Foothill corridor called the 187. We've since split that into the 187 and 188, with Azusa as the midpoint. We thought we'd lose significant ridership along that corridor when the A Line opened… And—see, I'm going back and forth, too. Damien Yeah, it's not easy. Felicia Gold Line for history's sake; A Line for now. Anyway, we found that while travel patterns changed, our ridership wasn't heavily impacted by the opening of the Gold/A Line. Splitting the 187 into two lines also improved schedule adherence. We learned some people needed to get into Pasadena and others into Claremont, so having a transfer in the middle made the line more efficient. We still watch the area very closely. That earlier experience became our blueprint for how service might be affected by these new stations. We're not anticipating major shifts, but we're keeping a close eye on it. We've also worked to get our service closer to the stations for first-mile/last-mile connectivity. For the most part, it's just another great way to make sure people are getting on transit. Damien There's a post on your website—we've been linking to it in the SGV Connect newsletter. It's literally foothilltransit.org/article/foothilltransit-and-metrorail. It shows all the connections to the various stations for people who want to access them. And your website always does a little extra—like highlighting local businesses around the stations. I always appreciate that. Felicia Yes. Damien So it's probably too early to see how 295 has been impacted by the station opening. Friday was a special day, then you had a weekend. We're recording this Monday the 22nd—the second weekday the line and station are both open. Any interesting early observations from the A Line stations and your transit service? Felicia Yes, actually. We're very excited about this and keeping track of where ridership is growing. Fridays are usually low ridership days—people take off early or make it a three-day weekend. But we had really solid ridership on the 295 out of San Dimas Station the first day the A Line was open. We expect that number to grow. We're partnering heavily with the schools and relying on a lot of word of mouth. We're also looking at how other lines are impacted. It's hard to tell exactly how much ridership is shifting because you can't always tell if a boarding is from the street or a transfer from the A Line. We're sending people out to make sure connections are smooth and to help riders with questions. These are still early days, but we're keeping close tabs. Damien I was talking to a friend over the weekend—he's in the industry—and he suggested I ask: Do you think these new stations will mean more overall ridership, or less on the bus lines? I always assumed people would ride the train instead of the bus. His hypothesis is that you'll more than make up for that with people who weren't riding transit at all but will now ride the train and need the bus for the last leg. Felicia I think in the short term, yes. With something like this, you have to take a long view. Our surveys consistently show: the more transit service is available and frequent, the more people ride—period. Any new transit service—more connectivity, more frequency, more access—is good for all transit. In the short term, there may be some shifts as travel patterns change. But long term, anything that makes transit more familiar, accessible, and easy to use is good across the board. Damien All right. Any closing thoughts, or anything I didn't ask that you think listeners should know? Felicia Just one thing about the La Verne Station. We've seen a lot of chatter about accessibility—specifically about having a stop closer to the station or buses going directly into the station. Unfortunately, they weren't able to make the adjustments needed for a proper bus turnaround. We were hoping they could. The Construction Authority is turning the project over to Metro, so it'll be in Metro's hands going forward. We'll partner with them to make it more accessible. For now, bus service will be across the street rather than directly in the station. Damien I did notice on the map that there's a new stop on the 197 significantly closer than the previous ones. Felicia Correct. Damien But the hope is you'll be able to go directly into the station in the medium-term future? Felicia Correct. We'll say the “hopeful” future. Damien Obviously it's not happening next month, but hopefully Metro can make that fix reasonably soon. Felicia We hope. We hope, we hope. But yes, we've adjusted the line as much as possible to make it more accessible. Damien All right. Thank you so much for your time. We usually do an end-of-year check-in around November or December—let's plan on that. Felicia Those are fun. Let's make it an AMA. Damien Oh, we could do that. That'd be fun. Felicia Yeah, let's do an AMA. I loved the last one we did. Damien I always like when people send me questions anonymously, even though you and I can almost immediately guess who sent them. Felicia For sure. We know you guys. We do. Damien Anyway, thank you so much for this. We'll check in again. I've gotten more interested in how bus and rail work together—after watching the last Gold Line extensions and even locally with the Expo (excuse me, E Line) here—how that impacted Big Blue Bus and Metro Bus service. I started as a bike guy, but this has become fascinating to me. Felicia Yes, come to the dark side, Damien.
In SGV Connect 138, Streetsblog talked to Benito Flores and others in the Reclaimers movement that were helping him resist eviction in the Caltrans owned property he was living in. The Reclaimers are a group of formerly unhoused people who moved into Caltrans-owned properties in 2020 to both put a roof over their heads during a public health crisis and draw attention to the amount of publicly owned housing that was not being lived in during a nationwide housing crisis. After losing several court cases, Flores and other reclaimers were given a choice: move out of their house and work with the homeless authority to get new housing or stay and risk forcible eviction. Flores chose to stay, and sadly passed away after falling from a treehouse he built as a hideaway when the sheriffs or state police came. In this episode, we interview two reclaimers who chose the first option: leaving their reclaimed homes and working with HACLA. The interview takes place in Councilwoman Jurado's El Sereno office with Marta Escudero and Cecilia Lopez, members of the Reclaimers movement. In 2020, during the COVID-19 lockdown, they occupied vacant Caltrans-owned homes in El Sereno, inspired by the Moms for Housing movement. Both describe how displacement and the housing crisis pushed them to act, with support from groups like ACE, Eastside Café, and HACLA. Initially granted two-year leases, Marta and Cecilia later faced eviction efforts and legal battles. Marta negotiated with HACLA to secure Section 8 housing in Boyle Heights, where she now lives with her daughters. She emphasizes the importance of staying in her community for family support and schooling needs. Cecilia, however, remains unhoused, still couch-surfing despite promises of permanent housing, and expresses frustration with HACLA's delays and broken commitments. For Streetsblog's complete five-year coverage for the Reclaimer movement, click here. A transcript of the interview is available below. SGV Connect is supported by Foothill Transit, offering car-free travel throughout the San Gabriel Valley with connections to the new Gold Line Stations across the Foothills and Commuter Express lines traveling into the heart of downtown L.A. To plan your trip, visit Foothill Transit. “Foothill Transit. Going Good Places.” Sign-up for our SGV Connect Newsletter, coming to your inbox on Fridays! Marta - Hello. My name is Marta Escudero. Cecilia - Hello. My name is Cecilia Lopez. Damien - ...and I'm Damian Newton. Nice to meet you. We should have done that when we got here instead of waiting for the recording. Anyway, we're in the El Sereno office of Councilwoman Jurado, and we're talking today with two of the Reclaimers. This is mostly for me when I'm listening to it five years from now, going, "Wait, what? It was in the office?" So let's start the interview how we've started most of the interviews by just sort of recapping the beginning for anyone that's listening for the first time, because and for anyone that's listened before. I always think this is such a dramatic and unique story. It's always worth repeating in the words of the people that lived it. So why don't we just start with what a Reclaimer is and what happened in 2020 Marta - So at least for my side of the story, because there's multiple sides, I found out that ACE and LACLA, LATU, DSA were meeting months before. Well, during that time, I was couch surfing with my daughters, and I was falling into despair because there was no housing. And then I saw Moms for Housing on the TV, and I wanted to do something similar, inspired by these black moms that took housing up north, and so I started reaching out to people and letting people know what I wanted to do. And my friend Colleen, which she's amazing, she's the one that, like, really motivated me to do this. She gave me the contact for Amy Scherer from ACE, and that's when I found out they had been planning this for a while. And then at the same time, Angela from Eastside Cafe put something on Facebook, and I reached out to her, and then they linked together. At that same time, Ruby Gordillo was doing canvassing of empty houses through ACE, and found these houses in El Sereno as well. So it was just all kind of meshed together. And we began planning, I believe in December I joined and we began planning more thoroughly, like in January, and then covid hit, and it was right in the lockdown. We were even thinking, "Should we do it? Should we wait?" And then we said, "let's just do it." And it was right. It was just pure luck. It was right on the weekend of the lockdown. And so everything was in chaos, and the governor just let us slide. I think if it wasn't for that, I believe if it wasn't for that, we probably would have been taken out. Cecilia - Definitely... all hog tied. Damien - So with the support of all these groups, the two of you moved in separately to different houses in El Sereno, both in El Sereno, because I know there were other places that ... okay... both in El Sereno. You moved into houses during the first weekend of the lockdown. I don't think I ever put that together in my head that it was, Cecilia - It was March 14, I believe. Damien - Yeah, yeah. So you moved in. I know there was some, some action to try and get you out, but the governor's office actually stepped in and said, you know, let them stay. There's a crisis, and… Cecilia - We had sent letters first, because we were having a rough time in the beginning with CHP. Damien - That'd be the Highway Patrol, because these were Caltrans owned properties. Caltrans owned these properties because they were in the right of way of a freeway expansion that they wanted to do the 710, which was canceled in 2017, or 18, I believe. And then they still own the properties, although they're starting to divest the ones in Pasadena, I know they're being - and South Pasadena - those are being turned into the properties are, I believe, being demolished and turned into affordable housing, but the people that moved into them are not they may have an option to rent into the affordable housing, but there's no homeowner option that had been discussed when Caltrans bought these houses, like way back in the 70s. The 1970s. Okay, so the originally you were given one year leases, if I remember correctly, Marta - two-year leases. Damien - And so you stayed in there, then through 2022, and then there were legal efforts to evict and not evict, and tenants rights were claimed, and all that stuff went to court. Right? Marta - Yes, because we were given a two-year lease and the HACLA was not providing the housing we needed and were asking for, because people have individual needs, I especially requested to be geographically close, because I'm a single mother and I have all my support system here, plus my daughters, go to special schools. They're unique. There's people from Santa Monica, from South LA. They go to these schools from the valley, because they're so unique that I can't find them anywhere else, and I didn't want to have to go through that commute. It's exhausting, and so I really fought for that to be included in HACLA. They think that anywhere is okay, and I don't agree with that. I feel that people have unique needs, and housing should provide that for us as well. Cecilia - I feel the same way, except I don't have kids, but my roots are here. I was born here, and so that's all I know. I am used to the area. I'm comfortable being here, and I feel safe here. Damien - So the legal actions around that I know went on for a couple years with eviction efforts, efforts to oppose in court, as I understand it, the legal efforts were sort of exhausted sometime in 2024. One of the reasons we're doing this interview is we did the one with Benito and Roberto a couple months ago. Benito, when offered something after the court cases expired, chose to stay in his house and fight eviction. Other people made different decisions when HACLA made offers to them for housing. So I guess I'm get both of you, I'm assuming, took the HACLA offer -- Cecilia -- but I think we're bypassing a place here because the first two years we were living in the house that we began... Damien - The reclaimed house? Cecilia - Right and then during that time, after the two years, we were asked to move because the houses supposedly needed to be inspected. And then were given another lease for another two years into the new home, which was still in the Caltrans homes. Damien - So you moved from one home to a different one. It's still that Caltrans owns properties in 2022ish. Cecilia - But that was only because they needed us to sign the lease, the agreement that none of us were really happy about, but we really didn't have a choice to not sign. Damien - Okay. So the original two years, and then there was another two years in a different house. And so it was when that expired. And the legal options were out. And then HACLA came to you guys with a new offer, which I'm guessing, since we're here, you both took, could you describe sort of what that offer was like? You know, when we talked to Benito, he was not happy with the offer, but it was for, I believe, four years. A four year lease? Marta - We all had different-- Damien - Okay, everyone was offered a different lease Marta - Based on our circumstances. Cecilia - I think they offered him four years to live in a hotel, and he was not happy about that. Mart - I wouldn't have taken that deal either, but I do think there was room for negotiation, because that's what I did with HACLA. I was offered some housing at first, and I said, No. I kept saying, No, this is what I want, and you need to look for this. And I also sought outside support so I could push what I wanted, and I got something fairly good in the end. The eviction process is horrible, and I already knew I wasn't gonna win legally. We didn't get these houses legally in the first place, we weren't gonna get them through the legal system. I already had that in mind. I was going to get evicted at some point, and so I needed to prepare for that. And it was a very stressful time, and I couldn't be in despair for my daughters. And so I needed to be in a place where I could be able to think and just keep going. I felt I couldn't stay. I wanted to avoid as much as possible, doing eviction defense. I already had a plan to do it, if that was the last resort. First of all, I didn't want to bring violence to my community. Second of all, I also have a lot of vulnerable people in my life that are immigrants that need more care, and so I want to be well because I can't pour from my empty cup, and also because of my daughters. And so I was really pushing for HACLA to do something that was good for us, in order for me and my daughters to be well. And I had supporters that pushed because first they kept, like giving me less money or trying to locate me in different areas, and I kept with supporters, phone banking, emailing, and I was able to get a pretty decent deal. It's in Boyle Heights, which is close to me, and I've lived in Boyle Heights. Before it's section eight, we actually have more room inside. And it's, yeah, amazing public housing, which I think needs to be more of, and that's why I took that deal. Damien - So this is an open ended lease, though it doesn't expire in a certain number of years. Cecilia - That's what we were promised, exactly. Marta - I got what HACLA had promised me in the first place, and I couldn't say, No, my daughters are thriving there, and I really like that place, and now I'm able to offer more support. I'm also part of another organization, J Town Action and Solidarity, that works with unhoused communities and anti gentrification work. And I want to, I want to be there for the most vulnerable people, and now I'm able to do that, that I'm better. I know I was spiraling during that time, and 50 knows I was in grad school, I was working. I'm a single mom. I was facing eviction. I was like, in this or I was just like, it was too much. That's a lot. Damien - I've done many of those things, but not all at once, and mercifully, have never had to worry about eviction. But that's, that's that's a full plate, and now you feel like you're on the other side the HACLA came through with it, with the promise that a print gave to you, and as a result, you're able to now start giving back to or continue giving back to your community in a different way. Marta - Yeah and HACLA shouldn't just do this to be because I'm not special. HACLA should do this to everybody, because everyone deserves not to be displaced, to stay in their community and to have equitable housing. Damien - And I think that's a big point about staying in the community. When we've done homelessness coverage. We did a series back before the pandemic. The goal of that series was to go and interview and visit different places that offered different steps in the process for someone who was experiencing homelessness to fully house. So we visited, you know, temporary shelters and interim housing and that place up in Glendale, Ascencia and stuff like that. And what we heard when we talked to the people, was like, Yes, I'm very grateful to have this roof over my head. But you know, the people I know are 20 miles away and 20 miles away in LA County is a real barrier to being able to have any sort of interaction, much less still be part of the community. Marta - They're isolated. They're a lot of them are in carceral states in shelters as well, and so and displaced from their communities is very isolating, and people with mental health issues, Cecilia - They don't feel safe, and they pass. Marta - So we need better alternatives, for sure. Damien - So what's your experience with your current housing situation? Cecilia - I am still unhoused. I was also promised permanent housing. I was offered. We started to go through the paperwork, and then, for some reason, it just stopped. I continued with my eviction and, well, that was not easy, like she says, and that was just an awful long experience. But I'm glad it's over, but I also am not housed since, since then, I've been couch surfing again, like I was in the beginning, and so I'm very displeased, but I'm still working on it. Damien - Is HACLA still involved? Cecilia - Yes, because they're the only ones that I could be reaching out to, but I believe, also not to go back on what Benito was offered. And I think that was why he was so very upset, is because we all were promised and offered permanent housing. So when they offered him four years in the hotel, of course, he was upset. Damien - Benito challenged us to reach out to HACLA to see if we could get a response as to what happened, and we got a very legalese - we did - We got a very legalese response. I imagine if we reached out on your behalf, it would be the same thing we can't discuss. You know, you know exactly. Cecilia - That's their good excuse. Damien - Yeah, I imagine it might actually be almost the same statement with, like, two or three, you know, things where they changed pronouns and changed his name to your name. But do you, I guess, regret or the decision not to go the same route he did as far as, like, a physical resistance of eviction? Or do you--- Cecilia - I would have never gone that route. I would have never, ever gone that route, ever, and I feel bad that he did. Damien - So what do you see as a potential next step? Is it hoping the HACLA process works out? Cecilia - Exactly, I still have hope. Damien - Yeah, and so we talked to someone. I talked to someone last night on the phone, before this, and she can't be with us today for the interview, and when she was. It gave a very similar story to the one we've heard today. And she was saying that she is in housing now. She took a HACLA deal, but she misses her old place and preferred it. And she actually was saying, like, if my message, if we were to do the interview, my message would be, you know, put me back in my old house, if that were and it's probably not an option, because they probably have plans for that area, but if there was, area. But if there was an option to go back to the house that you had been in-- Cecilia - I knew they would come to my house to do inspections and tell me, would you please stop doing, you know, like renovations and repairs on the house? And I said, Well, I'm here. I want to enjoy my house, and I want to make sure that it's safe and that it's livable and presentable, if anything. And they would just continue to tell me, you know you're never going to live here forever. And I said, I know that, but while I'm here, I want to enjoy my house. Marta - Another option is that these houses are going for bidding, and El Sereno Community Land Trust would want to purchase these houses. The problem is, like, last year, the land trust got like, probably one of the worst houses and just one. And the people, the agencies, entities that are getting more of the houses are Habitat for Humanity... is one, I don't know Cecilia - That's one of the main ones. Marta - That's one of the main ones that's getting that, and they're basically just flipping the houses because we tried to apply, and it's not at our income level, so it's not for deeply affordable housing. The Land Trust would like to bring the Reclaimers back, especially like Cecilia and other people that have roots in El Sereno. I think it's very important for them to come back to these houses. And so we're trying to get Caltrans to realize this and prioritize Reclaimers to come back to these houses. I know I have a friend that's doing work in Altadena also trying to get Caltrans houses for the people that were displaced during the fires. Like those are people that we need to prioritize. I feel, Cecilia - I feel that if it wasn't for our movement, then these homes would have still been vacant and rotting and going to waste also. Damien - Well, I think that's one of the reasons this story has captured people's imagination in a way that a lot of other stories that deal with issues around the unhoused haven't the direct action and the focus that was done on it, and how that really changed the conversation in this area around those housing and those issues. And I know when we're traveling for work, I'll have people in other parts of the state, if, when I say, you know, Streetsblog, oh, and I do our San Gabriel, they're like, Oh, you did the Reclaimers podcast. And then they'll ask for updates. And sometimes I have them right at my fingertips, and sometimes I have to look them up. Cecilia - We also know that there has never been anyone to stand up to the state, to bring this up, into the light, to let everyone know that this data has all these properties they're just wasting. And this is not just in El Sereno. It's statewide. Marta - That's like our major outrage, that these houses have been sitting vacant for so long and nothing was being done. And then it's not only here, like all the states, a lot of them Caltrans owned by Caltrans, sometimes by county, by city. How are we in a housing crisis? And these houses are sitting vacant, immoral? And that's why, to me, legality doesn't matter. Of like, yes, we took the houses, but we took it because it's immoral to have them just rotting while people are -- Cecilia - It should be against the law. It really should. The houses are being wasted. There's people suffering out there daily, every day, everywhere, statewide. Damien - And you were making the point earlier that, yes, after some letters, the governor's office interceded and told the state, we pretty much have to stop doing it, to stop trying to force you out, and the county and city to figure something out. But do you think that that was probably not just a result of the public pressure, but also a result of the chaos of the pandemic, or do you think this could have been a very different story? Cecilia - Oh definitely without pandemic it, it would have probably never have happened. Damien - Yeah, you can't see it, but everybody's shaking their heads in the room for the people that are listening. So we've discussed a little bit about the current situations, the housing situations you're in, and what the next steps are for the movement to try and force governments to do something with the properties they have that are not being utilized. You know, the homelessness crisis hasn't gone away in the past five years. Cecilia - It's never gonna go away unless there's permanent housing, affordable, permanent housing. Damien - So what do we see as the next step for the movement from here, for me, sure we can get, we can do it locally, on what we're doing, and then maybe expand to talk about, like, what we would like to see the state do in future years. Marta - Right. Oh, for me, locally, with the Reclaimers to get more of the houses through Caltrans, either individually, if that's an option, or through El Sereno community land trust as a whole, I feel like there should be more reclaiming like I think me I wanted also like moms for housing inspire more reclaiming locally and nationally, worldwide. I feel like we need to build a reclaiming movement, because again, it's immoral to have vacant houses while people are suffering in this supposedly fabricated housing crisis, because it's not natural, and so it's a product of capitalism and All these, all these oppressions we're under. So I want more people to reclaim and if people need support, I'm here for it... Cecilia - A lot of people may not see it as being the correct way, but if we were able to get others aware of all these homes that are rotting then, then then if we, if that's the way we have to do it, then, then that's what we're going to do. Marta - One of the oppositions we had in this neighborhood, and I think in general, is like, I work hard for my housing, so why should you get handouts? And I don't agree with that, like I could work hard for my housing, and I still think that people deserve housing because, not because I did it and I suffered and I wasn't able to spend time with my daughters because I was working so hard. Doesn't mean that I want better for other people. I think as humans, we should want better for other people, and if that takes a housing I know like it helps so many people to have a house-- Cecilia - People really don't start to see it unless it's right there in your front lawn. Somebody pulls up a tent and starts living on your sidewalk. Then they start to see it, then it starts to affect them. Damien - I know it's very early in the process for this, but have any of the candidates for governor, in any way, said anything about this that would give you any hope. It seems like this is something that Villaraigosa would have picked up on. Marta - Yeah, they either have ignored us or maybe they don't know, but I feel like we need to be out there more now and start demanding housing, permanent housing, stable housing, housing that really cares about people. Because the most vulnerable people on the streets I work with are unhoused all the time, I know their stories. I know they're highly traumatized, a lot of times, foster care, children that have weaned out of the system, that don't have support. There's abused women out there, veterans, people that can't pay their medical bills, and so we tend to stigmatize or stereotype, "oh, it's just addicts," but often also substance abuse. I feel like anyone, and I don't care if they're addicts, they need housing, but substance abuse doesn't come from prior. A lot of times it's what they do to survive on the streets. Damien - There was actually the West Side city council member Mike Bonin, who would talk about how there was a period in his life where he was homeless, and talked about how the drug abuse followed the becoming homeless, not the other way, not the other way around. And he would talk very movingly about it, as the council was, you know, ready to do something horrible about criminalizing homelessness. And at the time, the council was even more conservative than it is now, so there were a lot of 12 to one, you know, with two people, not there type votes with Mike, you know, being the one. And I think, though, that that's, that's a very interesting point, in a way, he humanized the issue for a lot of West siders, that whose only experience with homelessness was that person who was pulling up a tent in front of their house or pulling up an RV in front of their house. So their house. I don't know where I was going with that. Cecilia - Also there, there were many, many vouchers that were unused, that were supposed to have been given out. And Huckle said on them, a lot of Section Eight vouchers are on. Used every year, and they expire. And so what no one ever looks into that portion like, why none of those, all those vouchers, should have been used because there are enough people to use them, and no one ever gets that side of the story either. You know, I think they need to dig deeper. And why are there so many homeless people out there? HACLA is not helping by doing such things. Damien - So I feel like we've covered a lot of the issues we wanted to talk about. I know that sometimes, since we do this very conversationally, these podcasts, instead of a list of questions, sometimes there's something people are really dying to say, and I just didn't ask the right questions. So at the end, I am always like, if we miss something, feel free to just chime in and say it, because I want to make sure that we're getting your stories and your beliefs and opinions and values out there as much as possible. So if there's something we missed, please just fill it in. You can say I did a great job. That is totally acceptable. Chris is shaking his head because he's heard me say this so many times. Marta - Yeah. Well, I mean to me, it's just the issue of displacement worldwide, especially right now with Palestine, I feel really strongly about that, like I don't. I think people deserve to be in the places where they feel comfortable in the places where they have support. And like Trump says, "Oh, they could just go to another Arab country." Like that doesn't make sense to me. Same thing with HACLA. "You could just go to the valley and find another school. That's fine." No. Like, no. We have roots. Here we have a community. Here we have schools that meet my daughter's needs. We can't just go anywhere, and this is something that needs to be humanized, because not just any offer should be okay, like there should be a really intentional offer that fits individual needs, because that affects our mental health and our health in general. Damien - I think there is a stigma. Well, we offered them something, or, Oh, they were offered a voucher, and especially around the project room key. We would hear that a lot. Well, they were offered a hotel, Marta - Like the phrase beggars can't be choosers. Damien - Project room key was very well intentioned, but it was also there, but it was also very uneven. Some facilities worked great. Some did not. But I would hear that a lot when we were talking about that program back during the pandemic with people, well, they were offered something and didn't take it as though that somehow moved down their value, almost. Marta - Yeah, I agree. Anything else? Damien - No. Well, thank you both for your time. You know, always said, feel free to reach out if there's something we should know. I would love to hear if the people are ready to move into the El Sereno Community Land Trust home. We know if and when that happens, I should say when that happens, it will, you know, we would love to be able to come out and cover that, you know, highlight that success slowly, for sure. Yeah, well, I mean, you know, to take a house that's fallen into disrepair and get it ready like that is an undertaking. And for a nonprofit that's doing it for the first time, it's a double undertaking. You know, the next one will be easier. I understand that. Marta - it's gonna be difficult. They're looking for funding for this house. They plan to do it ecologically. So they're doing a lot of research on Earth build, that is, that is also fire friendly, because we know what happened in Altadena and those houses there. So these are going to be more fire resilient with clay. And also they're sustainable, and this is the type of housing that we need in Los Angeles. So I'm really excited for this project. I know it's going to be hard to fund it, but we're looking forward to this project.
Episode 137 of the SGVConnect Podcast is part two of our Olympics preview and focuses on the upcoming Olympic cricket tournament coming to the Pomona Fairplex. In the first interview, Streetsblog editor Joe Linton interviews Pomona Mayor Tim Sandoval. The far-reaching interview covers other topics, including Pomona's response to the actions of President Trump's para-military bounty hunters and the arrival of the GOLD LINE, but returns to a friendly discussion of the Olympics. Included is a challenge for the Streetsblog. You can read a full transcript of the interview here. In the second interview, Chris Greenspon talks with Abhimanyu Rajp, Director of Los Angeles Cricket and co-owner of the minor league team the Los Angeles Lashings. Rajip shares his enthusiasm for cricket, talks about what it means for the local cricket community to have it return to the Olympics in Pomona, and explains the rules of the variation of cricket that will be played here. If you're a visual learner, you can get another explanation of the rules in this video. A transcript of the interview with Rajp can be found here. The audio of the podcast can be found below the video.
Recently, on an episode of the Netflix show Everybody's Live with John Mulaney, the subject turned to bike lanes. Or rather, the subject was turned to bike lanes by Natasha Lyonne. The actress, writer, director and producer said that bike lanes should be “shut down” and claimed that there is no space for them in Manhattan. Journalist Alissa Walker of Torched was on Everybody's Live as a “public transit expert” to talk about Uber, but soon found herself — as a public-transit-riding Los Angeles resident — defending bike lanes and explaining the rational apportionment of urban space to some pretty famous New Yorkers, all of them brilliant and talented. So why is it that otherwise intelligent people often say unintelligent things about bikes? Why do nearly all conversations about transportation, even one that's not about bicycles, devolve into NIMBY-style complaints about cyclists? What can advocates learn from a conversation that, if you strip away the big stars and the studio audience, was indistinguishable from a community board meeting? ***Our new book, Life After Cars: Freeing Ourselves from the Tyranny of the Automobile, will be published on October 21, 2025 by Thesis, an imprint of Penguin Random House. Pre-order now.*** Support The War on Cars on Patreon and receive exclusive access to ad-free versions of regular episodes, Patreon-only bonus content, Discord access, invitations to live events, merch discounts and free stickers! This episode was produced with the generous support of the Helen & William Mazer Foundation. This episode was also supported by Cleverhood. Listen to the episode for the latest discount on the best and most stylish rain gear for walking and cycling. Learn more about how an electric cargo bike can change your life and save $500 off a new bike with code WARONCARS500 at Xtracycle. LINKS: Support Alissa Walker's outstanding journalism by becoming an annual subscriber to Torched... and save $10! Follow Alissa on Instagram. Read Doug Gordon's take on the Everybody's Live episode in Streetsblog. Watch Everybody's Live with John Mulaney on Netflix. Read the reaction to the episode on Reddit. thewaroncars.org / lifeaftercars.com
This week kicks off a multi-episode mini-series at SGV Connect focusing on the LA 2028 Olumpoc games and what the events can mean for San Gabriel Valley Communities. This first episode features an interview with Alissa Walker, co-host of the LA Pod and editor of the Torched Newsletter. When not hanging out with celebrities and appearing on Netflix specials, Walker has become the go-to source of information about the upcoming games. The 2028 games will feature four venues in the San Gabriel Valley. Pasadena will host the soccer finals at the Rose Bowl, the Santa Anita Racetrack will host equestrian and dressage, the Pomona Fairgrounds will host the cricket tournament, and shotgun events will be held at the Shotgun Center in El Monte. Walker reports that San Gabriel cities are well positioned to host these attractions, as the venues all host major events (outside of the Shotgun Center) and know how to do so without causing headaches for neighboring communities. She is also excited for the possibilities that could occur with cities hosting official and unofficial events to bolster their profile and their coffers. It also allows for city and regional officials to think about creative ways to use the games to improve their transportation options in the short- and long-term. Transcript: Damien Newton - As mentioned in the pre show, I'm recording with podcast royalty today. Alissa Walker - Who is it? Who's gonna be on? Oh, me. Damien - , the LA Pod is the only podcast that I download and listen to when I run. Alissa - So you listen to it more than me. Damien - I almost never listen to this podcast unless it's one that Chris is doing completely on his own. So I understand what you're saying there. Alissa - It's not that I don't want to listen to it. It's just, , I've already listened to it. Damien - I relate. No, it's a great podcast. I was saying to you before we started recording that I ran into your co host in the grocery store this morning, and he referred to you as a unicorn. Because you're so much on top of things that when you guys are sending story ideas back and forth, he never finds an article on the story before you do. Alissa - Oh, I don't know if that's true. You're talking about Mike Bonin, my cohost, because I think Mike is actually pretty good at that stuff too, though. Damien - Yeah, he's pretty on top of things. When he was my city council member, both as a reporter and as a constituent, I never found him unprepared for a question, even if we were trying to catch him off guard at a neighborhood meeting. Alissa - Ohhhh, you were out there yelling at him about bike bike lanes. You were yelling. Well, that's what I said to him on the most recent podcast that I felt like he did in 2010 when I went on the John Mulaney show, having people yelling at me about bike lanes. I was like, now I finally understand what it feels like, Mike. Damien - Yeah, that was wild. They put me on the neighborhood council after they approved that project. So I got in. Everyone that Googled me knew who I was, so I just got to listen to people screaming at me about that. And honestly, I had had no input at all on it. Joe was the Streetsblog editor. I had nothing to do with it. Moving on,we're talking about the Olympics, because in addition to being the podcast royalty, you're also the editor and writer of Torched, a subscription newsletter that's covering the Olympics and Los Angeles. It is a must read. Torched is where we go if we need to find something out about the Olympics, which is why we're here today, because the Olympics are theoretically and hopefully coming in 2028. Alissa - Yeah, what will they be like now? We're not sure, Damien - Right? It's been a long time. It feels like it's been at least four or five decades since it was approved, two or three years ago. Alissa - More than that. It's been a while, 2017, that's a long time. And think of what, think of what Paris accomplished in that time compared to us. Damien - Oh, that's a hint. I think about the tone of this podcast. Some San Gabriel Valley cities are in line to host Olympic events. Some have been announced. Some are, quote, unquote, in the works. Having done some writing that I do for Santa Monica Next, I know that it's not necessarily a slam dunk for a city to host an Olympic Games, just be a smaller part of the game. So we wanted to talk a little bit about what these cities can be looking forward to, what they might want to be considering on their own, and all sorts of other various issues. If there's any breaking news, you would probably know it ahead of me. That being said, that usually takes us four or five days to get a podcast up, so it probably won't be breaking anymore. But anyway, that's the longest intro we've ever done. Welcome Alissa. Alissa - Thank you so much. I'm so glad to be here. Damien - So let's start talking. Last I checked there were two or three San Gabriel Valley cities that were hosting events, shooting and horse events. What can you tell us about what's going on with the San Gabriel Valley and the Olympics? Alissa - Yeah, and you missed one: cricket. Well, I mean, does the Pasadena Rose Bowl also count as San Gabriel Valley? Damien - I mean, it's in... We always debate this, because geographically it is, but Chris always argues that it's culturally a very different city than the rest of the SGV. Alissa - All right. Well, you can, you can try to lump it in, maybe if needed. Most people know about the Rose Bowl. The Rose Bowl is going to be used as soccer finals. And it's going to be the third time that the Rose Bowl has hosted Olympics events. They hosted events in all three Olympics, which is kind of cool, but the bigger announcements are definitely this last batch of announcements. The LA 28 did them in phased delivery. First, we got the big Oklahoma City events. Some things are going there. And then we got kind of a revised version of a few more events. And then this last dump was the rest of the venues, including, I believe, all three announcements that you just talked about. So the ones for your listeners to track will be equestrian events at Santa Anita, cricket at the Fairplex and shotgun shooting in Whittier Narrows. It's not just about the venues that are being officially hosted by LA 28 as I'm sure , there's all these plans for, like fan festivals and viewing parties and cultural events. There's a whole Cultural Olympiad that goes on top of everything else, plus all the Paralympic events as well. None of those venues have been announced officially. For example, Pico Rivera has already voted to have a fan festival in their city, just as part of what's going on. Because as you're moving from one venue to another, you might want to stop in Pico Rivera and have a drink or watch whatever sport is on the big screen. So there's going to be a lot more stuff happening. These are just the latest, like official announcements. Damien - One of the things that we covered with Santa Monica was that the Olympics have sort of a contract they sign with the cities that are doing these events that outline a lot of what you can and can't do. And obviously, Santa Monica is in a different situation, because they're already a tourist hub, and they're so close to LA. They're doing things like planning bus routes to get people from the hotels…but they said no to beach volleyball, so that they didn't have to abide by all the Olympics rules, thinking that they would get a better deal otherwise. Is this something that smaller cities in the San Gabriel Valley that maybe don't have a large beach right next to them, maybe aren't considered as touristy as Santa Monica should be, should be thinking about? With all the rules they're going to have to follo worth it or is it just having an event going to be good enough to make this a financially good decision for a smaller city? Alissa - The thing about beach volleyball is it can be played anywhere. In Paris, they played it just in front of the Eiffel Tower, if you remember. The matches weren't anywhere near a beach. It wasn't even done by the Seine. You really could have put it anywhere. The thing about Santa Monica's specific situation is they hired a firm to do this economic analysis of how they would benefit from the games or if they decided not to host anything. And I think the conclusion they came away with was that it was probably going to be a better deal for them for many reasons. They might have had to close the pier for the entire summer, or a large part of the summer to the public. It just didn't make sense for them. They could make more money by just being Santa Monica for the summer and then hosting some of these other little interventions that I was talking about. A really big opportunity for them are these things called hospitality houses. In Paris, there were like 30 of them all over the city. Every country that's bringing athletes there would set up in some kind of public or private building and have these viewing parties or VIP events. But a lot of stuff that was open to the public and you could go hang out. So they've been approached by a lot of countries to host those. So if you've got a few hospitality houses, and you have your own viewing stuff on the pier and then on the beach…you're pretty much set. But most of the deals that you're talking about signing are not public. You haven't been able to really go through them. Long Beach's, for example, is online. It's public. You can look at it and it describes this thing called “Clean Zones,” a square mile around every venue. That means you're delivering like a blank slate: there's no advertising, there's no signage. There's very specific rules about trash pickup, and all these other things that have to happen. No street vendors, it seems like. You are making a big trade off when you make a deal with LA 28. But for a place like Long Beach who really wants to be put on the map through this and has, to their credit, done a lot of work to prepare…they have this thing called Elevate 28 which is a huge capital program leading up to 2028. They're doing things such as improving infrastructure, not just for the games, but also fixing sidewalks, adding to their cycle ways, and improving parks. Improving fire stations, libraries, all sorts of great things that'll have legacy impacts afterwards. Can every city prepare for it that way? Probably not, and maybe not even the city of LA. But for a place like Pomona, to be able to put something at the Fairplex, it's probably not going to be that big of a deal to like the residents of Pomona. The Fairplex is very large and kind of self contained, and does these things all the time. Damien - I don't have a great grasp of all the geography of where the venues are, but the event centers aren't located in the middle of town like it would have been for Santa Monica. Alissa - The Zone would have encompassed all of downtown Santa Monica. So…what do you do in that situation? Damien - It would have been really intrusive. And yeah, the race tracks and the Fairplex… Alissa - They've got parking lots, just giant parking lots, yeah? Damien - Which raises a different point, though. There was the promise of the car free Olympics, and I don't know how you do that for the Fairplex. Alissa - They're having the new station opening right there. It'll be open. Damien - I'm sorry, yeah, the other one. Alissa - Yeah, Santa, Anita, The A line gets pretty close, and they'll do shuttles. You can walk there if you're determined, it's not the worst thing in the world to walk from that station. For Pomona, it's really exciting. I rode out there for the LA County Fair last year, and got to look at the station. I'm sure your viewers or your listeners are really excited about this too, but you've got a really cool, brand new station that's going to be opening later this year. It'll basically be right across the street. You got to walk through the parking lot, but you also have two different Metro link options as well that aren't that far away either. Santa Anita…it's not that hard to get there from the A line. They'll have shuttles. But the other thing that'll be really cool is there's these festival zones around all the venues. So you won't be walking through like a mile of parking lot. You'll probably be walking through a very cool fan experience with other things to do. And they want people to come and hang out and be in the environment, even if they're not necessarily ticket holders to that event. And on days where they don't have the event that day, they'll, it'll still be set up as a cool place to go. Damien - So this is not going to be as not going to be as, let's say, onerous for the existing residents, as some of the more urban Olympics events venues might be. We've covered the transportation. Is there any other sort of surprises that the cities might be thinking about, or the residents might be bracing themselves for. You're making it sound like a pretty good deal for Pomona and Santa Anita. Alissa - Yeah. These places are used to doing this scale of events all the time. The one funny one will be the Whittier Narrows shooting range. I guess you could, you can get pretty close. You can get pretty close. They'll be shuttle buses and stuff. But it's not the end of the world. Damien - Crowds at past Olympics…you have the shooters' family. I mean, it's not like it's just 20 people in a room (with guns!), but it's also not 20,000 fans. Alissa - It's not that far from the A Line station. And, like, they will have little shuttles to get people that last like a little bit. I wouldn't worry too much about the traffic impacts. These others are large venues that are used to absorbing large amounts of visitors. And I don't think it'll be spectacularly different. Some of these things are happening at the same time in different parts of the valley at the same time so that's a little different. The one thing I am super concerned about, and the reason that the LA County Fair is being held in the spring, it actually just ended, instead of in the summer, is the heat. The Fairplex made this big decision to move the fair out of the summer months and into, our May Gray veil of outside my window right now, it's perfectly misty and foggy outside, because they were so worried about not just attendees, but also their workers, having very adverse effects from some of the worst heat and also air quality of those summer months. So, sticking a bunch of people in the hottest parts of LA County in July and August is not advised. I was thinking that they were going to pivot towards more coastal choices. I understand why they picked the venues that they did, and I think I'm glad overall that they're more transit adjacent, and they're more…they're in LA. They're not in Oklahoma City. But I'm very, very worried about the heat. And you don't hear too much about their plans for that yet? Damien - Well, I mean, two years, maybe we won't have heat anymore, Alissa - Yeah, maybe it'll all be reversed, Damien - They got some time. I hear the government's very interested in reversing climate change. Alissa - They are very. They're going to take swift action and give money to help cities cope with it. It's their top priority. Damien - All right. Well, we are. We're starting to push 20 minutes, which for our dual podcast, is about how much we aim for. But you had mentioned in our pre-show that you had fun things to cover. Or are there more fun things to come? Alissa - One thing that's exciting is how groups like Active SGV can really get everyone thinking about how to move around differently, not just for the games, but in real life. The games offer this tremendous opportunity. And of course, we also have the World Cup coming up next summer. Even though all the action is going to be at Sofi, you will see fan festivals and viewing parties too. There's going to be things popping up around the area next summer as well. You've probably heard much about the car free games. The promises of the car free games have really started to walk those back from the top officials. There's a story in The New York Times that I was quoted in today as we're recording this, and they're basically saying, like, "Oh, we didn't really mean it. We didn't really mean car free." Damien - Aspirational! I haven't read the article yet. But I always love when government officials tell me "something was aspirational." Alissa - Yeah, I mean, but it's good, it's a good aspiration. I'm still gonna keep saying it, but now they say “transit first,” but now they're even walking that back even more. I think, because they're concerned they won't be able to get the 2000 extra buses to be able to move people around. Have things like Park and Ride, similar to what the Hollywood Bowl does, to get people on kind of these regional, dedicated bus networks that can move people from one place to another. But in the meantime, we've got to really be thinking about just the very, very small scale. How do we get from one place to another? And things like E bikes, and things like really good dedicated bike infrastructure. Active SGV is leading the way out there, really getting this stuff in the ground, but also getting people to think differently about how they move. You have some really cool kind of grassroots ideas that aren't official, things like the festival trail, this 50 mile car free Greenway type concept that's going to connect some of the venues. Now, we've got venues that are a little bit further away. How can you plug into that network from the Arroyo and get all the way to the Fairplex? People will be wanting to do those types of things, to move around during this time safely, even in the heat of the summer, of course, let's have a lot of hydration zones. I would really like to challenge everyone to think about alternatives. Can we get something like a month-long e-bike rental for LA County residents to get cars off the road? You don't want there to be traffic, right? So can we start to think of some solutions that shift people's behavior, as we saw in 84. A lot of people rode the bus to get to the Olympic events. It was a huge success. And a lot of people who hadn't taken transit before, took it during those weeks. So I think we could, we could really look to the San Gabriel Valley to be a leader in this. Damien - Well, that's a great wrap up. Anyone that's been listening to it for a while knows that there's actually a lot of really cool things going on in the San Gabriel Valley. And you outlined a lot of them there too. When you were talking about E bikes and how the cities have been reacting to them…I'm still going to call it the Gold Line…the Gold Line coming through. But thinking about this major event coming as a way to accelerate that transformation that we've been seeing going on is a very optimistic way to look at it. Alissa - And we don't need federal money to do it for the most part. So we don't have to rely on those jokers. Damien - I get the feeling that it's not coming. Alissa - I don't know why. I didn't know why. Damien - All right, well, anyway, thank you so much. We've got two more years till the Olympics, so we might try to check in with you again on this podcast. We generally don't do sports, but here we are. Alissa - You've actually got three so don't worry, three years. (Damien: Oh, yeah, right, it's 2025) but let's pretend just so we can get all this stuff done last year you're going to be very busy. Damien - You'll be on CNN and NBC. Where were you last week? Alissa - Netflix, Netflix. Damien - Thank you so much for spending time with us today, and we always look forward to getting to see you. And I'm gonna use the picture of you with “smart” written over your head that other Streetsblogs plugged in. Alissa - Perfect. All right, thank you. Applause.
(Note: this week's SGV Connect podcast is being broken into two parts. Part 2, which is a series of interview about The People's Cafe in El Monte, will be broadcast tomorrow.) Last week, news broke that bids for the next extension of the Foothill Gold Line - from Pomona to Montclair - would be delayed because the only bid to design and build the project was hundreds of millions of dollars higher than anticipated. Earlier today, Damien Newton sat down with Gold Line Foothill Construction Authority CEO Habib Balian to discuss the causes of the delay and how it impacts the timeline of providing rail service to Montclair. Meanwhile, major construction on the extension from Glendora to Pomona wrapped up earlier this year. Bialin anticipates that Metro will announce next month the exact date that extension of the Gold Line will open to the public - probably sometime later this summer. During the podcast, Bialin uses the terms “design build” and “construction manager at risk“ to discuss the different processes that agencies and contractors can use when making agreements on how a project will proceed and who carries which liabilities. For those interested, the links on the terms above explain what those processes are. A transcript of this podcast is available after the embed of the broadcast. Streetsblog's San Gabriel Valley coverage is supported by Foothill Transit, offering car-free travel throughout the San Gabriel Valley with connections to the A Line Stations across the Foothills and Commuter Express lines traveling into the heart of downtown L.A. To plan your trip, visit Foothill Transit. “Foothill Transit. Going Good Places. Sign-up for our SGV Connect Newsletter, coming to your inbox on Fridays, and catch past episodes of SGV Connect and #DamienTalks on LibSyn, iTunes, or Overcast. Transcript: This transcript is lightly edited for clarity. Damien NewtonSince the last time we've checked in, there's been a lot of good news, and then last week we had a little bit of concerning news. So let's get the "bad stuff" out of the way, and then we can talk about where we are with the project going forward. Last week, we heard that the next phase of the extension -not the one where the construction is completed, but the next phase - is going to be delayed at least a little bit because bids did not come in as low as hoped. Can you explain what happened there and what the next steps are for the Construction Authority? Habib Balian Over the last three years, in preparation to go out to bid for the next phase of the project from Pomona to Montclair, we did our own independent cost estimate. We brought in outside estimators - people that are very well known in the industry - to look at the project, look at our design, look at the specifications, and help us foresee what a potential bidder might bid on the job. We went about this process, as any owner would, whether you're building a billion dollar light rail or remodeling the bathroom of putting some feelers out there what you think the job is going to cost. We went after it three times over the last three years. We even had Metro look over our shoulder and look at our estimates to come up with a validation of that number. And we rounded out with these estimators and Metro of a range of bids of what we thought the project was going to cost. We then started this procurement. We got some feedback during the procurement that our process to build the project using "design build" was not favorably received by the industry anymore. They don't want to take on that risk. We, as the owners, want to shove that risk off on the contractors. And that's worked very well for us over the last 20 years and the three phases of the project using design-build. But that model was getting some resistance in the building community. We also understood that a lot of potential bidders for the job would not be interested in competing with Kiewit (who had been the incumbent contractor for three consecutive projects that we built on the job from Union Station to Pasadena, Pasadena to Azusa/Glendora, and then the Azusa/Glendora border all the way to Pomona). Bidders were saying, 'Kiewit, seems to know the job so well, we may not be interested in bidding a job and competing with them, since they know it so well and probably could outbid us or underbid us.' So we were very nervous about this. Going into it, we took what we thought were very conservative precautions. We did a lot of outreach to the contracting community. We hosted these forums available for people to ask questions. And we also incentivized potential bidders with $9 million worth of recuperance of the potential bid that any work that they put into it - the design that went into this, the cost of them bidding the job, they would, as a course of a participant, be able to receive a four, three and $2 million payment for the work that they perform. Any design that they had done in furtherance of a bid that they would be able to give that to us, we would buy it from them, essentially based on their submitting a good bid that was responsive to the procurement. So even with all those incentives, Bid Day rolled around and, going into it, we knew we were only gonna have one participant. Which made us very nervous that there would be no other bids coming in. We knew that through the RFP process, and basically held our breath for a couple months until the bid came in. The bid came in, it was substantially higher than we expected, I believe, 54% higher than what our estimators and Metro thought the project would cost. We talked to them, went through a best and final offer and were not able to reach... achieve any substantial reduction in it. Then I took it to the board with the recommendation that we cancel that procurement and instead go out and re-procure through a different contracting method - CMAR (construction manager at risk, as it's known in the industry) - and proceed ahead with the project. It will be a bit of a delay, but it is a plan to get the project built, which is our mandate: to Montclair. We are starting in earnest with that procurement. It'll likely be on the street in June, and we'll be able to hire that designer and then bring on a construction management firm as well, and begin that process. And in furtherance of completing the project, with probably about a year delay we're expecting. Damien So with the year delay, could you outline what the rough timeline looks like now, to get that phase? Habib So we'll go through a procurement process beginning in June, probably June to September or October. We're nailing down the schedule right now, we will go and we'll seek a designer. That designer will engage them. That designer will complete the design, take it from our 20-30% complete and to a complete design. About midpoint of that we will start a procurement for construction manager. That construction manager will look over the shoulder and work with the designer to prepare a bid and confirm that they can build the project for our budget. So that will take about two years from now, and then that'll be a 'thumbs up or thumbs down' with that design, with that builder. If it's within our budget, we'll award the contract to them. And then from that point, it's about a four-year construction project. So roughly, 2030-31. Just as a footnote, should that builder that we bring on - the construction manager - say, 'we need more money,' or 'it's an inadequate budget,' we then have the ability of going out and soliciting a new builder for that project and hiring them and going out for construction based on a new bid. DamienSo it sounds like a lot's going on, but the plan is still to move forward and to keep going. HabibAbsolutely. The mandate of the legislature...back in 2000 they determined that the project would go from Union Station to Montclair. Just so, you know, originally [it] was supposed to only go to Claremont, and then it was later amended by the legislature to take it from Claremont to Montclair. That is our mandate. It's very important for this project to work at its maximum. And that requires it get to these hubs. And the nearest hub for this project is, in fact, getting to Montclair - to the Montclair Transit Center, the bus center. It's very important for ridership and for moving people from the Inland Empire into LA County along the Gold Line route from Montclair. DamienAlright, so that covers last week's news. But since the last time we've talked, there was some good news involving construction of the current extension, so to speak. So why don't we talk a little bit about where we are in that process, which I believe is mostly done. HabibThat's correct: mostly done. We achieved substantial completion by the contractor in early January, satisfied with their work. It was turned over to Metro for them to begin their preparations for operation. They'll start, doing their own testing and training of operators for over the next several months, with the anticipation that they will put it into service some time this summer. Metro - once they get underway with their testing fully - they'll be able to determine, probably in the May period, when they're going to announce a operations date with exactly when they're going to operate it some time this summer. DamienI said "mostly" I know your part is mostly done. It's "Metro's part" now that is still worked on. I just wanted to make it clear that when we said completed, it doesn't mean it's opening tomorrow. It's opening in probably July or August, if things go well. Habib That's correct. And just footnote to that is keyword is "still on the job." There's a long list of punch-list items that they're completing, some landscaping, some wall improvements, fare gates, something that's been a design change. Metro has come up with different fare gates system that is being retrofitted in. Our design originally didn't have them. Now it does, and they're being built as we speak, and installed. So,some of those last minute details are being done. So if any of your listeners actually go along the line and take a peek at what's going on, you're still going to see construction workers out there. There's still activity, nothing to the degree, obviously, of when construction was at full tilt. But right now, there is work going on, some cleanup activities, and handrails and fencing and gating is still going on, DamienI think we covered the two big topics on the checklist. Was there anything else you wanted to say before we before we sign off until July? Habib We're very excited about July. This is going to be very big for the San Gabriel Valley to connect further into the San Gabriel Valley, into Los Angeles, and ultimately to Long Beach. It's going to be very exciting for passengers, I think, and people are really going to enjoy this ride. It's a great system, and the stations look great. The artwork looks great. So we have a lot to show off this summer. DamienWell, we look forward to talking then and when the first phase of the extension open. I got this cool pin set, so I still have my fingers crossed to get another pin… Well, thank you very much. And we will. We'll talk again soon. Habib Okay, take care. Damien, thank you. Bye.
The Eaton Fire has left a tremendous scar on Southern California's culture and politics for the foreseeable future. Thankfully, it's stopped advancing for some time now, but the statistics are still top of mind: 17 dead, 14,000+ acres burned, 9,000+ structures destroyed, 1,000+ structures damaged. During the early weeks of the fire, social media was a frenzy of good and bad information on destruction and safety, spite directed at elected officials, renewed revelation about the exploitation of incarcerated firefighters, and finger pointing over the funding and capabilities of Los Angeles City and County first responders. There have also been scenes of hope, though. Ordinary people have stepped up to bring mutual aid to neighbors, including those who've lost everything. From food, to clothing, shelter, donations, and DIY air filters – L.A. residents have thrown their arms around the survivors, and many have found a greater purpose in doing so. This week on SGV Connect, we look at how these actions have changed public perceptions of our collective responsibility and power. In part one of our episode, we'll get an overview from L.A. Public Press Mutual Aid reporter Phoenix Tso, who covered distributions for both those directly displaced in Altadena, as well as unhoused people affected by poor air quality. A transcript of the interview can be found here. Then in part two, we'll listen to how north Pasadena journalist and resident Tamika Adams-Furniss went from fleeing in a terrifying evacuation to spearheading deliveries of home made air filters to her neighbors. A transcript of her interview is available here. If hearing about these life-changing experiences inspires you to help those affected by the Eaton Fire, but you don't know where to begin, check out these databases of displaced families's fundraisers, and organizations distributing donations and supplies. Streetsblog's San Gabriel Valley coverage is supported by Foothill Transit, offering car-free travel throughout the San Gabriel Valley with connections to the A Line Stations across the Foothills and Commuter Express lines traveling into the heart of downtown L.A. To plan your trip, visit Foothill Transit. “Foothill Transit. Going Good Places.”Sign-up for our SGV Connect Newsletter, coming to your inbox on Fridays!
If you've been following Streetsblog for a while, you might have heard of famed planner/engineer/all-around transportation superstar Roger Millar, not least for his recent leadership as the head of the Washington state DOT. But you might not have heard that, while at WashDOT, Millar and his team did something quietly radical: they challenged every decision maker in their state to confront the role of land use in saving lives in our roads, by changing the very framework on which the state's Vision Zero program rests. On this episode of The Brake, we sit down with Secretary Millar on the eve of his departure from WashDOT to talk about not just why that change could be so impactful, but how he wants his career to be remembered, even as he transitions to a new chapter. And along the way, we get into a deeper conversation about what state DOTs are really for, and how advocates can push them to do better.
Foothill Transit's Director of Marketing and Communications joins Streetsblog Editor Damien Newton for an ask-me-anything style interview probing the bus agency's recent trials and successes. Friesema took questions on: how Foothill's bolstered services to Mt. San Antonio College and Cal Poly Pomona will connect with soon to open Metro A Line service in the San Gabriel Valley Foothills, the agency's hopes for a bus rapid transit service contract in the 60 Freeway corridor, what level of challenge is still faced after the initial stage of the Covid-19 pandemic, and the agency's move towards hydrogen fuel cell technology since its battery electric vendor Proterra went bankrupt. Plus, as a bonus we heard about Friesema's favorite local mystery writer, Naomi Hirahara, whose novels are set in the SGV, Chinatown, Japantown, and Manzanar to name a few. You can read a transcript of the conversation here, or listen to the podcast below. Streetsblog's San Gabriel Valley coverage is supported by Foothill Transit, offering car-free travel throughout the San Gabriel Valley with connections to the A Line Stations across the Foothills and Commuter Express lines traveling into the heart of downtown L.A. To plan your trip, visit Foothill Transit. “Foothill Transit. Going Good Places.”Sign-up for our SGV Connect Newsletter, coming to your inbox on Fridays! Sign-up for our SGV Connect Newsletter, coming to your inbox on Fridays, and catch past episodes of SGV Connect and #DamienTalks on LibSyn, iTunes, Google Play, or Overcast.
James Porter is a local DJ, musician and journalist based in the Chicago area. His writings can be found in the pages of the Reader, Chicago and Streetsblog, he can be heard DJing once a month on WLUW, as the host of Hoodoo Party, and he can be seen singing and playing harmonica with the James Dean Joint. He is currently finishing a book about African-American rock musicians. The First Time is a live lit and music series recorded at Martyrs in Chicago's North Center neighborhood. Each reader tells a true first tale, followed by any cover of the storyteller's choosing, performed by our house band, The First Time Three. The First Time is hosted by Jenn Sodini. Production by Andy Vasoyan and Executive Producer Bobby Evers. Podcast produced by Andy Vasoyan. Recorded by Tony Baker.
Across America, a new class of developers are building car-free neighborhoods from scratch — or at least, they're building places where residents don't need to drive quite as much as their suburban neighbors. But can these greenfield developments really serve as a model for communities across America, or will they always be a rare and coveted commodity for those who can afford the luxury of living at human scale? Today on the Brake, we sit down with Scott Snodgrass of Meristem Communities, whose new development, Indigo, is bringing slow streets, hyper-local agriculture, and "mews" to and suburban Houston. And along the way, we have a deeper conversation about "new suburbanism," childhood autonomy, and how car-light living can scale. Listen in now. And if you enjoyed this episode and would like to support Streetsblog this holiday season, make your tax-deductible contribution to Streetsblog today, or sign up to be among the first to grab a Streetsblog-branded Cleverhood for 15% off, with 15% of proceeds benefitting our organization.
The post-election special featured a pair of Streetsblog editors, Joe Linton of Streetsblog L.A. and Melanie Curry of Streetsblog California, joining Damien Newton and Chris Greenspon. Most of the talking was done by Curry, Linton and Newton, and the trio kicked off the discussion by outlining the impact of the Trump administration on federal transportation funding, particularly high-speed rail and public transportation. In a new administration, California will face challenges securing federal funding. In LA County, some important county measures including the “climate bond,” Measure A for maintaining the county's homeless services and Measure G which will expand the Board of Supervisors and create a county executive position. In LA City, progressive Isabel Jurado won over Kevin de Leon, potentially improving transportation and livability. Local elections in the San Gabriel Valley saw Sasha Renée Pérez elected to the State Senate and Nan Wong to the Alhambra City Council. Find yourself wanting more SGV Connect? You can hear more on County Measures A and G in our last podcast featuring homelessness solutions super hero Shawn Morrissey and Supervisor Hilda Solis. You can also check out our last podcast State Senator-elect Renee-Perez here of an appearance on Greenspon's SGV Weekly here. SGV Connect is supported by Foothill Transit, offering car-free travel throughout the San Gabriel Valley with connections to the Gold Line Stations across the Foothills and Commuter Express lines traveling into the heart of Downtown L.A. To plan your trip, visit foothilltransit.org. “Foothill Transit. Going Good Places.” Sign-up for our SGV Connect Newsletter, coming to your inbox on Fridays, and catch past episodes of SGV Connect and #DamienTalks on LibSyn, iTunes, Google Play, or Overcast.
With the Foothill Gold Line Extension to Pomona at 90 percent completion, SGV Connect pays another visit to the Construction Authority's office to chat with chief executive officer Habib Balian. The podcast can be found below, but you can read a transcript of it by clicking here. For clarity's (or maybe confusion's) sake, we are of course referring to the thrice renamed Metro “A Line.” Since 2020, tracks have been laid and station platforms have been poured from Glendora to Pomona. Now those stations really look like stations, and the last leg of the route has been funded: $798 million to build the last 3.2 miles to Montclair. 2025 is going to be a big year for the light rail line: construction is expected to finish, stations will be dedicated, and hopefully, service will begin. Listen to our interview with Habib Balian, and check out progress pics from our tour of the construction sites! AUDIO PLAYER HERE A construction crew works on the decorative glass canopy above the ticketing machine at the Glendora Metro A Line station. The decorative glass canopy above the ticketing machine at the Glendora Metro A Line station. The ticketing machine at the Glendora Metro A Line station. The pedestrian tunnel connecting the platform and parking lot at the Glendora Metro A Line station. The pedestrian tunnel connecting the platform and parking lot at the Glendora Metro A Line station. The passenger drop off turn out at the La Verne Metro A Line station. Crews install a wall which will eventually support public art work at the La Verne Metro A Line station. Crews install the platform roofing at the Pomona Metro A Line Station. A layover building for train drivers under construction at the Pomona Metro A Line station. Media relations professional Albert Ho gestures at the construction progress on the Pomona Metro A Line station. Thanks as always to Albert Ho, Media Relations Director for the Metro Gold Line Foothill Extension Construction Authority, for keeping SBLA and its readers up to date on the project. Streetsblog's San Gabriel Valley coverage is supported by Foothill Transit, offering car-free travel throughout the San Gabriel Valley with connections to the Gold Line Stations across the Foothills and Commuter Express lines traveling into the heart of downtown L.A. To plan your trip, visit Foothill Transit. “Foothill Transit. Going Good Places.”Sign-up for our SGV Connect Newsletter, coming to your inbox on Fridays!
Our sister podcast, Talking Headways is about to hit its 500th episode. But how did host Jeff Wood accomplish that massive milestone, and how does he keep finding all these powerful stories about how our cities work? On today's episode of The Brake, our host Kea Wilson sits down for a long conversation with Wood himself to talk about how he's grown this incredible audio archive of interviews, how Streetsblog got lucky enough to host it, and how he spends his time when he's not behind the mic. And along the way, we chat about his dream guests — living and dead — and the single topic both he and Kea are dying to explore, but haven't found the perfect guest yet. Check it out, and listen to a few of Jeff's favorite past episodes below: Episode 27: Walt Disney, City Planner Episode 85: You Can't Surf After the Storm Episode 177: Peak Experience with Jarrett Walker Episode 325: Designing Fair Transport Systems with Karel Martens Episode 422: The Messiness of Family Travel with Jennifer Kent
NOTE: This is part two of a two-part episode. To hear both parts right now and without ads, become a Patreon supporter of The War on Cars. In part two of our deep dive on John Forester and his 1976 book Effective Cycling, we take a look at the paltry data and research underpinning the alleged safety benefits of vehicular cycling and the long-term impact Forester had on cycling for transportation in the United States. Even though cities such as New York started building protected bicycle lanes in earnest in the late 2000s and early 2010s — and even though quality bike infrastructure has existed in places such as Davis, California for decades — John Forester's legacy continued well into the 21st century, with federal guides such as AASHTO's "Green Book" discouraging or even prohibiting things such as parking-protected bikeways until as recently as 2018. On top of that, many of Forester's disciples held positions atop major advocacy organizations and city bike planning departments for years, and used their influence to prevent the construction of protected bike lanes. In a lot of ways, we're still pedaling in the world John Forester created. This episode was sponsored by Bull Moose Softgoods and Cleverhood. Listen to the episode for the latest discount codes. LINKS/SOURCES Read Peter Flax in conversation with John Forester, via Bicycling Magazine. Northeastern University's Peter Furth takes on John Forester. STUDY: "Risk of injury for bicycling on cycle tracks versus in the street," by Lusk, Furth, et. al. PAPER: "A Historical Perspective on the AASHTO Guide for the Development of Bicycle Facilities and the Impact of the Vehicular Cycling Movement," Schultheiss, Sanders, and Toole, 2018 AASHTO's Draft Bikeway Guide Includes Protected Bike Lanes and More, Streetsblog 2016 Key Design Guide to Finally Include Protected Bike Lanes, Streetsblog 2018 'Death Of A ‘Dinosaur:' Anti-Cycleway Campaigner John Forester Dies, Aged 90, by Carlton Reid in Forbes Read Bike Boom: The Unexpected Resurgence of Cycling, by Carlton Reid. Read Bike Battles: A History of Sharing the American Road, by James Longhurst. How the former Dallas bicycle coordinator held back cycling infrastructure for years, via the Texas Observer. Dallas' Former Bike Czar Tells Newbie Riders to Go Play in Traffic, via the Dallas Observer Access John Forester's website via the Wayback Machine. If you're a glutton for punishment, pick up a copy of John Forester's Effective Cycling. Grab some merch in our official store! This episode was edited by Yessenia Moreno. It was recorded by Josh Wilcox at the Brooklyn Podcasting Studio. https://thewaroncars.org/
NOTE: This is part one of a two-part episode. To hear both parts right now and without ads, become a Patreon supporter of The War on Cars. "Cyclists fare best when they act and are treated as drivers of vehicles." That quote is the core philosophy of John Forester, the father of vehicular cycling. Forester, who died in 2020, was a major figure in the the world of cycling advocacy and transportation policy, and his influence shaped street design and bicycle safety in the United States for decades. We take a deep dive into Forester's 1976 book, Effective Cycling. Part guidebook, part encyclopedia, part polemic, Effective Cycling explains why cyclists should not be afraid to ride not just in traffic, but as traffic. Throughout the book, Forester dismisses anyone who might be afraid of taking the lane with fast-moving cars and trucks as suffering from what he calls the "cyclist inferiority complex" and asserts that only a strict adherence to the principles of vehicular cycling can keep everyone safe. Who was John Forester? What is vehicular cycling? Why are we talking about a book that was published almost fifty years ago? It's all here in this mega episode. This episode was sponsored by Cleverhood and Pinhead Locks. Listen for the latest discount codes. LINKS/SOURCES Read Peter Flax in conversation with John Forester, via Bicycling Magazine. Northeastern University's Peter Furth takes on John Forester. STUDY: "Risk of injury for bicycling on cycle tracks versus in the street," by Lusk, Furth, et. al. PAPER: "A Historical Perspective on the AASHTO Guide for the Development of Bicycle Facilities and the Impact of the Vehicular Cycling Movement," Schultheiss, Sanders, and Toole, 2018 AASHTO's Draft Bikeway Guide Includes Protected Bike Lanes and More, Streetsblog 2016 Key Design Guide to Finally Include Protected Bike Lanes, Streetsblog 2018 'Death Of A ‘Dinosaur:' Anti-Cycleway Campaigner John Forester Dies, Aged 90, by Carlton Reid in Forbes Read Bike Boom: The Unexpected Resurgence of Cycling, by Carlton Reid. Read Bike Battles: A History of Sharing the American Road, by James Longhurst. How the former Dallas bicycle coordinator held back cycling infrastructure for years, via the Texas Observer. Dallas' Former Bike Czar Tells Newbie Riders to Go Play in Traffic, via the Dallas Observer Access John Forester's website via the Wayback Machine. If you're a glutton for punishment, pick up a copy of John Forester's Effective Cycling. Grab some merch in our official store! This episode was edited by Yessenia Moreno. It was recorded by Josh Wilcox at the Brooklyn Podcasting Studio. https://thewaroncars.org/
This week Chris brings us a special feature interview with artist Isabel Pan. Pan is the artist in residence at C.A.S.A Zamora in El Monte. Her project has been a documentary-style, slice of life comic strip depicting the impact of sweatshop labor and refugee crises on the children of immigrants in the San Gabriel Valley. Pan's subject is the son of a sweat shop worker, Denny. His parents came to El Monte in the late 70's, fleeing the Vietnam War. They endured the loss of family en route to America, and the struggle of working in the garment industry once here. Pan's comic strip is titled Má, which is what Denny calls his mother. Má explores the generation gap and communication breakdown that Denny experienced growing up with parents who were traumatized by their escape from Vietnam and exploited by employers in Southern California. Denny's mother was a work-from-home seamstress, payed cents per piece, who provided a home for her children. Pan - raised in part by working class grandparents - talks frankly with SBLA about the physical and emotional burden of this labor, as well as the beauty of sharing these experiences with other Monteros. Her comic can be found at Matilija Lending Library in El Monte. Streetsblog's San Gabriel Valley coverage is supported by Foothill Transit, offering car-free travel throughout the San Gabriel Valley with connections to the Gold Line Stations across the Foothills and Commuter Express lines traveling into the heart of downtown L.A. To plan your trip, visit Foothill Transit. “Foothill Transit. Going Good Places.”Sign-up for our SGV Connect Newsletter, coming to your inbox on Fridays!
This week's SGV Connect continues our theme of focusing in on various areas of the SGV for our podcast episodes by looking at the Greater Pasadena area. First, Damien and Chris traveled to El Sereno to meet with some of the Reclaimers, unhoused residents of El Sereno who moved into Caltrans owned properties during the pandemic. Benito, Sandra and Fanny return to SGV Connect (their first appearance can be found here) to advocate for affordable housing and community spaces, discuss the ongoing eviction battle between Caltrans and the Reclaimers. Personal stories and experiences are shared, emphasizing the need for accountability and justice from those in power: especially Caltrans, the county's homeless services provider, and Los Angeles City Councilmember Kevin DeLeon. A transcript of their discussion can be found here. This discussion references the Roberti Act, passed in the 1970's to guide Caltrans on how to manage and eventually sell these properties. A good description of Roberti can be found in this article about the competing vision between the Reclaimers and DeLeon for El Sereno. Rick Cole has been a regular commenter at Streetsblog and Santa Monica Next for years. After his election to the Pasadena City Council in March, we reached back out to him to discuss the need to improve Pasadena's transportation infrastructure and engage the community in a more inclusive and proactive approach to address gentrification. Cole emphasized the importance of prioritizing safety, affordability, and alternatives to car use, and the need for a more inclusive approach to urban planning, involving the public in decision-making processes. A transcript of their discussion can be found here. SGV Connect is supported by Foothill Transit, offering car-free travel throughout the San Gabriel Valley with connections to the new Gold Line Stations across the Foothills and Commuter Express lines traveling into the heart of downtown L.A. To plan your trip, visit Foothill Transit. “Foothill Transit. Going Good Places.”
Join host Tom Butler as he shares his experiences from a recent group ride, the Emerald City Ride. He also fills you in on his wife Kelly's journey mastering her new Cruzbike S40. They're out there enjoying the scenery and loving riding together!This episode features the inspiring Melanie Curry, writer and cyclist extraordinaire. Melanie, the editor of the California edition of Streetsblog, discusses what ignited her passion for cycling as a mode of transportation. She'll also delve into her recent article celebrating National Bike Month in California. Get ready to be energized by Melanie's enthusiasm for cycling's many benefits as a mode of active transportation!LinkInformation on the California Streetsblog 15th Anniversary Celebration:cal.streetsblog.org/2024/03/13/save-the-date-for-the-streetsblog-sf-15th-anniversary-on-9-12Donate to Streetsblog:https://cal.streetsblog.org/make-a-donation-to-streetsblog-californiaThanks for Joining Me! Follow and comment on Cycling Over Sixty on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/cyclingoversixty/Consider becoming a member of the Cycling Over Sixty Strava Club! www.strava.com/clubs/CyclingOverSixtyPlease send comments, questions and especially content suggestions to me at tom.butler@teleiomedia.comShow music is "Come On Out" by Dan Lebowitz. Find him here : lebomusic.com
This week's SGV Connect is focusing on the election to replace Councilmember and Vice-Mayor Sasha Renée Pérez of Alhambra. Pérez has given up her seat to run for the State Senate. Chris interviews Nicolas Kiet Quach, the president of the Alhambra Library Board of Trustees. While only 18, Kiet Quach is no newcomer to politics having worked for and with Pérez. If you choose, you can read a transcript of the interview, here. Next, Damien talks to Je-Show Yang, a community activist who has appeared a couple of times in Streetsblog articles about the Fremont Avenue exit ramps, Alhambra bicycle and pedestrian master plan and other stories. If you choose, you can read a transcript of the interview, here. Normally, SGV Connect likes to provide a little more context in the text that accompanies the podcast, but since we're talking to a pair of political candidates and we're a federally recognized non-profit we're going to pass on anything that could be seen as editorializing. These are both exciting candidates and we hope you enjoy the podcast. SGV Connect is supported by Foothill Transit, offering car-free travel throughout the San Gabriel Valley with connections to the new Gold Line Stations across the Foothills and Commuter Express lines traveling into the heart of downtown L.A. To plan your trip, visit Foothill Transit. “Foothill Transit. Going Good Places.”
Jesse Coburn is an investigative reporter at Streetsblog. He won the Polk Award for Local Reporting for "Ghost Tags," his series on the black market for temporary license plates. “You can imagine this having never become a problem, because it's so weird. What a weird scam. I'm going to print and sell tens of thousands of paper license plates. But someone figured it out. And then a lot more people followed. It just exploded.” This is the second in a week-long series of conversations with winners of this year's George Polk Awards in Journalism. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Ethically, we should reduce highway lane miles, not expand them. In this episode, I chat with Jeanie Ward-Waller, who made national news last fall when she was let go from Caltrans, the California state DOT (Department of Transportation), after she blew the whistle on a process being employed to cut corners and add an additional freeway lane. Thank you so much for tuning in! If you enjoyed this episode, please share it with a friend and subscribe to the Podcast on your preferred listening platform, and don't forget to check out and subscribe to the Active Towns Channel for more content.Helpful Links (note that some may include affiliate links to help me support the channel):- Jeanie's Streetsblog story- Jeanie on Twitter- Jeanie's blog from the Ride Across America- Blog post about Jeanie's Ride across America- Fearless Advocacy- Cal Bike- Safe Routes Partnership- Climate Plan- Freeway Fighters - Wider Won't Work Rethink 35- My episode w/ Grant Ennis - My episode w/ Peter Norton- Santa Barbara Infrastructure Tour Part 1- Santa Barbara Infrastructure Tour Part 2If you are a fan of the Active Towns Podcast, please consider supporting the effort as an Active Towns Ambassador in the following ways:1. Join our Patreon community. Contributions start at just $1 per month(Note: Patron benefits include early, ad-free access to content and a 15% discount in the Active Towns Merch Store)2. If you enjoyed this episode, you can also "leave a tip" through "Buy Me a Coffee"3. Pick up some Active Towns #StreetsAreForPeople Merch at my storeCredits:- Video and audio production by John Simmerman- Music via Epidemic SoundResources used during the production of this video:- My recording platform is Ecamm Live- Editing software Adobe Creative Cloud Suite- Equipment: Contact me for a complete listFor more information about the Active Towns effort or to follow along, please visit our links below:- Active Towns Website- Active Towns on Twitter- Periodic e-NewsletterBackground:Hi Everyone! My name is John Simmerman, and I'm a health promotion and public health professional with over 30 years of experience. Over the years, my area of concentration has evolved into a specialization in how the built environment influences human behavior related to active living and especially active mobility.Since 2010, I've been exploring, documenting, and profiling established, emerging, and aspiring Active Towns wherever they might be while striving to produce high-quality multimedia content to help inspire the creation of more safe and inviting, environments that promote a "Culture of Activity" for "All Ages & Abilities."The Active Towns Channel features my original video content and reflections, including a selection of podcast episodes and short films profiling the positive and inspiring efforts happening around the world as I am able to experience and document them.Thanks once again for tuning in! I hope you find this content helpful and insightful.Creative Commons License: Attributions, Non-Commercial, No Derivatives, 2024 ★ Support this podcast on Patreon ★
As co-founder of the Congressional Bike Caucus Rep. Earl Blumaneuer (D - Ore.) has long been one of Washington's most staunch advocates for sustainable transportation — not least during the writing of the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, which he fought to make better for vulnerable road users through the inclusion of programs like Safe Streets for All and Reconnecting Communities. Now, on the two-year anniversary of that law's passage, we sit down with Earl himself to reflect on the BIL's bright spots — as well as his own 27-year career in Congress, which he recently announced is about to come to an end. And along the way, we also chat about how bikes can help unify a polarized political landscape, how a federal parking cash-out law could create a more just society, and why he considers a little site called Streetsblog the 'secret weapon' of advocates everywhere.
Both Governor Hochul and Mayor Adams have declared states of emergency as Tropical Storm Ophelia batters the New York City reigion, warning of up to 8 inches of rain by day's end. Severe flooding has caused major disruptions in MTA service and on roadways, leading to the closure of LaGuardia's Terminal A and numerous weather-related accidents in New Jersey. The National Weather Service has issued a Flood Warning affecting multiple counties. In other news, Streetsblog reports City Hall is abandoning its plan to put a car-free bus lane on Fordham Road in the Bronx after months of opposition from major players in the borough. Reporter Dave Colon has been covering the fallout.
Mark Gorton founder, and creator of LimeWire. A peer-to-peer file-sharing client for the Java Platform. X: @MarkGortonNYC Americanvalues2024.org | markgorton.substack.com Chief executive of the Lime Group. Lime Group, based in New York, owns LimeWire as well as Lime Brokerage LLC (a stock brokerage), Tower Research Capital LLC (a hedge fund), and LimeMedical LLC (a medical software company). Mark has given $1 million to the anti-vaccine nonprofit organization called Children's Health Defense since 2021 as well as a Robert Kennedy Jr. Supporter. Gorton is involved in various green lifestyle issues, especially those having to do with transportation. At one point, Gorton was the single largest supporter of Transportation Alternatives, the New York City-based advocacy group for pedestrians, cyclists, and public transit. In 1999 he founded OpenPlans, a non-profit organization that developed GeoServer, a collaborative open-source project encouraging green urban planning initiatives. In 2009 Utne Reader named Gorton one of "50 visionaries who are changing your world". In 2005 Gorton backed The New York City Streets Renaissance Campaign (NYSCR). Two of the best-known projects of NYSCR are Streetsblog and Streetfilms. Gorton owns Tower Research Capital LLC, a financial services firm he started in 1998, which trades through its affiliate, Lime Brokerage LLC.(now Credit Suisse). Gorton holds a Bachelor's in Electrical Engineering from Yale University, a Master's in Electrical Engineering from Stanford University, and an MBA from Harvard University. He began his career as an electrical engineer for Martin Marietta (now part of Lockheed Martin), and, following his interests in business, entered the world of fixed-income trading at Credit Suisse First Boston prior to going out on his own and launching the Lime Group of companies. ➔Please check out our Sponsors: Try BlueChew FREE when you use our promo code MSCS at checkout--just pay $5 shipping. BlueChew.com, promo code MSCS to receive your first month FREE ➔ZBiotics: 15% off on your first order with code: MSCSMEDIA Go to https://sponsr.is/biotics_mscsmedia_0723 ➔MAGIC SPOON: https://www.magicspoon.com/MSCS to grab a variety pack and try it today! And be sure to use our promo code MSCS at checkout to save $5 off your order! ➔Hormone levels falling? Use MSCSMEDIA to get 25% off home test: https://trylgc.com/MSCSMEDIA ➔Manscaped: Get 20% Off and Free Shipping with the code MSCSMEDIA at https://Manscaped.com ➔Fiji: https://Fijiwater.com/mscs $5 off free shipping Unleash ➔Monster Energy: https://www.monsterenergy.com/us/mscsmscsmedia ➔Aura: See if any of your passwords have been compromised. Try 14 days for free: https://aura.com/MSCS Thank you to Aura Clips of all episodes released: https://www.instagram.com/mscsmedia | mscsmedia.com | https://www.reddit.com/r/mscsmedia ➔ Stay Connected With MSCS MEDIA on Spotify Exclusive: ALL ► https://spoti.fi/3zathAe ► All Links to MSCS MEDIA:https://allmylinks.com/mscsmedia Chapters & Transcript: @ https://www.mscsmedia.com
After 16 years of slogging its way through municipal, state and federal government and every imaginable form of public process, congestion pricing is finally on its way to New York City. If all goes as planned, then anyone who wants to cram a car or truck into Lower Manhattan south of 60th Street is going to have to pay somewhere between $9 and $23 per day starting next spring. And all of that money will go toward supporting and improving New York's transit system. There are still lots of details to iron out and we should never underestimate New York's ability to blow it when it comes to transportation policy. But Diana Lind of the Penn Institute for Urban Research thinks congestion pricing is a big deal that will fundamentally reshape the relationship between the car and the city, not just in New York but all across North America. “The next 20 years,” Lind writes, “will be the beginning of the end of the private car in cities.” ***Support The War on Cars on Patreon and receive access to ad-free episodes, exclusive bonus content, stickers, and more.*** This episode was produced with support from Cleverhood. Listen to the episode for the latest Cleverhood discount code. LINKS: Read Diana Lind's essay, “Why New York's Congestion Pricing Plan Matters” and subscribe to her newsletter, First and Foremost. How Might Congestion Pricing Actually Work in New York? (New York Times) We're Another Step Closer to Congestion Pricing (Alissa Walker in Curbed) New York City Is About to Screw Up Congestion Pricing (Aaron Gordon in Vice) N.J. Gov. Candidate Steve Fulop: Stop Fighting Congestion Pricing — Expand It Instead! (Streetsblog) Revenge of the Free Riders (Aaron Naparstek for Streetsblog way back in 2008) Buy official War on Cars merch at our store. Find us on Mastodon, Bluesky, Instagram, Facebook, Threads, or whatever godforsaken new social media platform pops up next. Follow and review us on Apple Podcasts. TheWarOnCars.org
New Jersey wants to preserve hundreds of thousands of acres of farmland, but it'll take about 54 years for officials to meet that goal. Plus, WNYC's Michael Hill talks with David Meyers, deputy editor of Streetsblog, about a new report that finds a law prohibiting vehicle idling is rarely enforced. And finally, WNYC's David Furst and Precious Fondren discuss Fashion Week 2023.
A bloody crash last week on the Manhattan Bridge bike lane that involved scooters and e-bikes illustrated why cyclists are concerned for their safety. Julianne Cuba, reporter at Streetsblog, reports on the larger issues at play—including why Deliveristas are using mopeds and riding in the bike lanes—and Charles Lane, WNYC and Gothamist reporter, reports on the crash and what advocates are hoping will change.
State transportation bills may not get as much attention as their federal counterparts, but they have a colossal impact on how we get around. And the state of Minnesota may have just created one of the most exciting blueprints yet for progressive governments across the country to follow — even if it took them the better part of three decades to do it. On this episode of The Brake, we sit down with two Minnesota lawmakers and transportation committee chairmen — Senator Scott Dibble and Representative Frank Hornstein — to unpack what's in their massive new transportation finance and policy bill, as well as how it will help the Land of 10,000 lakes meet its ambitious driving reduction goals, and what other communities can learn from their fight to get it over the finish line. Listen in, check out the full text of the bill here, or head over to Streetsblog for a cheat sheet.
Are you aware that it's possible to power trains from wires? It's more likely than you think; this and more, as our guest Adriana Rizzo (of Common Ground California and Californians for Electric Rail) writes in a new Streetsblog article. We talk all about electric trains, plus overall dynamics of the Inland Empire, and what UC grad students are doing to organize.
We're marking 50 years of hip hop and amplifying the voices of the many women in New York City who are leaving their own mark on the genre. Plus, WNYC's Michael Hill talks with Kareem Ulloa-Alverado and Streetsblog reporter Jesse Coburn about the impact of "ghost" plates on our region.
From construction on the Kennedy Expressway to road closures because of Nascar, traffic in Chicago is getting worse. Reset discusses how the congestion is affecting drivers and potentially putting cyclists and pedestrians in danger with Rick Resnick of See it All mini tour bus company, Audrey Wennink of the Metropolitan Planning Council and Sharon Hoyer, a cyclist and Streetsblog freelance journalist.
The Planning Commissioners love people who are direct and honest about what is happening in our industry and to our many communities. Kea Wilson and her Streetsblog USA colleagues have been leaders in this philosophy for many years. We talked with Kea about her writings and those of Streetsblog and covered topics such as the federal transportation bill, electric vehicles, the continuing impacts of highway expansion projects, and what is going on with pedestrian safety in this country.Our Website: https://theplanningcommissionpodcast.com/YouTube: The Planning Commission Podcast channelInstagram: @theplanningcommissionpodcastFacebook: The Planning Commission Podcast pageTwitter: @planningcommish Subscribe, like, help us make a difference in the profession we all love. Have an episode idea, tell us about it. Email us at: info@theplanningcommissionpodcast.com
Temporary license plates seem to be on cars all over the city. Jesse Coburn, investigative reporter for Streetsblog, shares details of his reporting on the flourishing black market of these "ghost tags," as they're known, which help drivers evade paying tolls and help them get away with other more sinister crimes.
Some drivers in New York City are flagrantly breaking the rules, doing things like tampering with their license plates in an attempt to avoid being detected by red-light and speed cameras. The number of scofflaws defacing plates is mushrooming after the cameras started operating around the clock last August. Another workaround increasingly used by some motorists are parking placards. Hundreds of government workers and city contractors are abusing their city-issued parking placards by parking illegally, while other are using fake placards. Critics say placard abuse is costing the city over $100 million per year, and making streets and sidewalks less usable and more dangerous. Enter journalist Gersh Kuntzman, a one-man crusader who is trying to end these trends. He joined Errol to discuss his “criminal mischief” campaign, which finds him on the streets with a screwdriver and blue Sharpie marker, regularly restoring defaced license plates. He's been capturing his adventures on video and has become somewhat of a local hero on social media. He also talked with Errol about congestion pricing, his blog Streetsblog NYC and a new campaign called “March Madness,” which takes a look at suspect parking practices at some local police precinct houses. Join the conversation, weigh in on Twitter using the hashtag #NY1YouDecide or give us a call at 212-379-3440 and leave a message. Or send an email to YourStoryNY1@charter.com.
Aaron Naparstek '93 is a co-host, producer, and creator of The War on Cars, a popular podcast dedicated to pushing back against the pernicious effects of car culture and automobile dominance. He is also the founder and former editor-in-chief of Streetsblog, a publication covering urban transportation, land use and environmental issues, with outlets in six U.S. cities. In this episode, Aaron discusses car-free advocacy, the arc of change, and personal stories from turning passion into policy. This episode was recorded in front of a live audience on the campus of Washington University in St. Louis, as part of the Gephardt Institute's inaugural Civic Action Week in Sept. of 2022.
Not enough U.S. mayors make sustainable transportation a priority, and even the ones that do don't always get much done. On today's episode of The Brake, though, we spoke with one elected official who's making massive progress to make streets safer, greener and more equitable in his small town — and sharing lessons in leadership that can scale to even the biggest cities. In this extended conversation with Mayor John Bauters of Emeryville, Calif., we learn more about his successful effort to put a seat at every bus stop in his town, which Streetsblog covered last month, and what it takes to get humble yet ambitious mobility projects like this done. And along the way, we chat about why he thinks climate change is a losing campaign issue even though it's the most important issue of our time, why elected officials should get outside more, and why he thinks that you — yes, you — should run for office.
Watch the video version of this episode to get the full effect.Landing page for the episodeWe also discuss his quest to bring traditional upright Dutch bikes to the United States through his Real Dutch Bikes import venture.Helpful Links (note that some may include affiliate links to help me support the channel):- Better Streets A.I. website- Real Dutch Bikes website- Streetsblog article about Better Streets AI- DALL.E 2 AI software platformFour Easy Steps to Support My Efforts:1. Become an Active Towns Ambassador by "Buying Me a Coffee" or by pledging as little as $1 per month on Patreon2. If you enjoyed this episode, please give it a "thumbs up," leave a review on Apple Podcasts, and share it with a friend.3. Subscribe to the podcast on your preferred listening platform and the Active Towns YouTube Channel4. Pick up some Active Towns #StreetsAreForPeople Merch at my storeCredits:All video and audio production by John SimmermanMusic:Epidemic SoundResources used during the production of this episode:- My awesome recording platform is Ecamm- Adobe Creative Cloud SuiteFor more information about my Active Towns effort or to follow along, please visit my links below:- Website- Twitter- Newsletter- Podcast landing pages- Facebook- InstagramBackground:Hi Everyone, my name is John Simmerman.I'm a health promotion professional with over 30 years of experience and my area of concentration has evolved into a specialization of how the built environment influences human behavior related to active living and especially active mobility.In 2012 I launched the non-profit Advocates for Healthy Communities as an effort to help promote and create healthy, active places.Since that time, I've been exploring, documenting, and profiling established, emerging, and aspiring Active Towns wherever they might be, in order to produce high-quality multimedia content to help inspire the creation of more safe and inviting, environments that promote a "Culture of Activity" for "All Ages & Abilities."My Active Towns suite of channels feature my original video and audio content and reflections, including a selection of podcast episodes and short films profiling the positive and inspiring efforts happening around the world as I am able to experience and document them.Thanks for tuning in; I hope you have found this content helpful.Creative Commons License: Attributions, Non-Commercial, No Derivatives, 2022Advocates for Healthy Communities, Inc. is a nonprofit 501c3 organization (EIN 45-3802508) dedicated to helping communities create a Culture of Activity. To donate, click here. ★ Support this podcast on Patreon ★
This week, in episode 119, Liz Picarazzi tells Jay Goltz and Sarah Segal about her first brush with bad publicity. Liz's debacle started with a negative post that appeared in a prominent local blog. It was about a Times Square pilot program for which her business, Citibin, is supplying trash bins. The problem? The bins were not being maintained properly, and there were photos to prove it. At the time we recorded this conversation, Liz was bracing for additional stories in both the New York Post and The New York Times. Both of those stories have since been published—we'll talk about them in a coming episode—and you can find links to all of the coverage in the show notes. For Liz, perhaps the biggest challenge was defending her company without trashing her client.Show Notes:Here's the Streetsblog post: https://nyc.streetsblog.org/2022/07/20/gross-clean-curbs-bins-show-growing-pains-in-times-square/Here's the New York Post story: https://nypost.com/2022/07/30/nyc-citibins-leaking-garbage-left-open-in-times-square/And here's The New York Times story: https://www.nytimes.com/2022/08/06/nyregion/new-york-city-garbage-containers.html
Only 10 percent of New York City's trash waiting for pickup is stored in containers, the rest sits in trashbags piled on the street. Christopher Robbins, contributor to Streetsblog and Clare Miflin, executive director for the Center for Zero Waste Design, talk about why New York City is particular in this way, and programs that could cut waste and clear sidewalks.
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