Podcasts about streetsblog la

News: Healthy Streets LA, the ballot measure which requires Los Angeles to implement bike infrastructure every time city streets are repaved, is being ignored by the county's transportation agency, LA Metro. Taylor talks with the founder of Streets For All, Michael Schneider, who led the HLA campaign, and the Editor of Streetsblog LA, Joe Linton, who's now suing the city (1:33). It's been 100 years since the Los Angeles city council passed the ordinance which said that if you're walking you have to give right of way to drivers everywhere, except for particular crossings. New Mexico adopted the Stop as Yield Law for cyclists. Paris reduced speed limits on the Boulevard Périphérique from 70 to 50 km/hr, resulting in reduced traffic congestion, smoother traffic flow, fewer crashes, lower air pollution, and lower noise levels. https://www.apur.org/en/our-works/tracking-changes-boulevard-peripherique-and-green-belt-districts-october-2024-february-2025 London's Tweed Run ride is April 29. For National Autism Acceptance Month, Detroit's Neila Johnson has created the Cycling the Spectrum ride. Neila talks with Motown Trailblazers Bike Club President Reo Ramsey (24:35). Cross country solo cyclist Chris Casey tells the story of his ride across the U.S. (34:05). Bike Thought: The 85th Percent Rule, by Charles Marohn (54:36). Thanks Ted Rogers of BikinginLA.com.

This week, Damien and Kris welcome Joe Linton and Melanie Curry back to the podcast. Joe and Melanie are the editors of Streetsblog LA and Streetsblog California respectively and offer their insights on the big stories that shaped our coverage in 2021 and predictions on what to expect in 2022. The wide-ranging discussion covers the legislature, highway spending, new transit construction, the return of open streets and the 626 and many other issues. If you find yourself with some free time over the next couple of weeks, plug in and check it out. As a bonus, my daughter joins me for the intro and outro to show off her reading skills. 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.

Brand new Los Angeles CD 14 Councilmember Kevin De Leon, former "climate champion" with aspiration to be Mayor, wrote an open letter asking for more meetings on the Metro BRT's plan for Eagle Rock. It seems the pro-short commute crowd of Eagle Rock have his ear now that Metro's leaning to the "Beautiful Boulevard" option, which features a bike lane and slower traffic. Felicia Garcia, community organizer; Joe Linton, Streetsblog LA journalist/editor; and Seamus Garrity, not in his official role as a Field Representative for California Assemblymember Laura Friedman, analyze. Don Ward, safe streets organizer, presides. Edited by Kevin Burton. https://la.streetsblog.org/2021/05/14/kevin-de-leon-asks-metro-to-delay-eagle-rock-bus-project-wants-more-meetings/ https://www.latimes.com/opinion/story/2021-05-19/eagle-rock-bus-project-kevin-de-leon

The Monterey Park city council wanted to vote on spending $100 million of Measure R money on new parking structures and expanding lanes for driving. Jennifer Love Tang, an english teacher and organizer, wrote about the vote in Streetsblog LA. Jennifer consults with Charles Mahron, the Founder and President of Strong Towns and the author of Strong Towns: A Bottom-Up Revolution to Rebuild American Prosperity, and Don Kostelec, a transportation consultant and advocate in Boise, Idaho. With Nick Richert. https://la.streetsblog.org/2021/03/15/editorial-metro-gives-monterey-park-100-million-to-improve-transportation-and-the-city-wants-to-build-parking-lots-with-it/ https://www.strongtowns.org/ https://twitter.com/KostelecPlan https://twitter.com/clmarohn

A legacy street widening project on North Hollywood's thriving Magnolia Blvd was all set to make a stretch of the street a car-centric nightmare until James Askew and the NOHO Neighborhood Council stood up. With the help of advocates like Ciclavalley (Zach Rynew), Streets For All, and Streetsblog LA, James and the NOHO NC got LA District 2 Councilmember Paul Krekorian to transform the project into a pedestrian-friendly one. James is co-chair of the NOHO Neighborhood Council Public Safety and Beautification committees, and is also the Treasurer for the council: https://www.facebook.com/jamesaskewfornoho/ With a spontaneous game show style defining of pedestrian enhancements by guest Joni Yung: https://twitter.com/ayogist

Sign-up for our SGV Connect Newsletter, coming to your inbox on Fridays. Everyone is talking about the results from this week's election, and SGV Connect is no different. Our usual team brought back Streetsblog LA editor Joe Linton and Streetsblog California editor Melanie Curry for an in-depth election special that is almost twice the size of a regular episode. First, Melanie breaks down the disappointing results of our statewide ballot initiatives with defeats for progressive measures that would funded public schools by closing a loophole on big business, expanded rent control, and allowed for affirmative action. At the same time, voters passed a measure exempting Uber/Lyft and other app-based driving services from labor laws. The scene is brighter for Southern California and the San Gabriel Valley. Joe and Kris discuss the success of Measure J, elections that will make the L.A. County Board of Supervisors and L.A. City Council more progressive, and some mixed news in races in some smaller cities in the SGV. Last, assuming Joe Biden holds onto his lead, what does a Biden administration mean for Southern California? And what are the odds that Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti or Long Beach Mayor Robert Garcia find themselves with new addresses in Washington, D.C.? 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.” Catch past episodes of SGV Connect and #DamienTalks on LibSyn, iTunes, Google Play, or Overcast.

If you haven't voted yet, be sure to check out this week's edition of SGV Connect. Our usual co-hosts, Damien and Kris, are joined by Joe Linton and Estuardo Mazariegos to discuss Measure W and ballot Propositions 6 and 10. Proposition 6 would repeal a portion of the gas tax passed a couple of years ago. The tax mostly funds repairs to the state's transportation infrastructure, with a portion going to transit operations as well. Streetsblog LA urges voters to oppose the proposition and support transportation funding. Measure W is a parcel tax that would raise $300 million for projects to detain and clean runoff water; projects would emphasize green, nature-based, multi-benefit projects. Full disclosure, Streetsblog LA is urging voters to Vote Yes on W. Proposition 10 revokes the "Costa Hawkins" Act which restricts municipalities' ability to impose rent control regulations. Streetsblog has no official position on this, although as you can tell from the interview, much of our staff support the proposition. If you didn't apply for a "vote by mail" ballot, Kris discusses some of the ways that agencies and businesses are providing free trips on election day, from ride-share companies to L.A. Metro. 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.”  Foothill Transit is not responsible, nor were they consulted, for the content of this podcast.

Damien Newton from Streetsblog LA (https://la.streetsblog.org/) lends his transit expertise to this week's show, along with comedian Adam Yenser. The conversation goes in depth on LA transit issues like electric scooters, "road diets" and whether they hurt local businesses, Vision Zero, and numerous other transit nerd topics. Plus: a very special talk radio interview, the definition of a "bollard," and someone on the show was late! Can you guess who? Isaac's full interview with Mark Thompson: https://www.iheart.com/podcast/conway-on-demand-20635767/episode/conwayshow-101-he-was-29930696/ (starts at 33:01) Adam Yenser: http://adamyenser.com/ Damien Newton's contributor page on Streetsblog LA: https://la.streetsblog.org/author/damien/

Stand-up and discussion on transportation with comedians Virginia Jones & Brody Stevens, Streetsblog LA editor Joe Linton, and UCLA Transportation Lab head Brian Taylor.

Streetsblog Editors Tackle Your Questions Welcome to the first podcast in our Ask the Editor series, in which the editors at Streetsblog California attempt to tackle your questions about almost anything you want to know. Today we discuss three of the questions we've received from our readers. Next week we will talk about more of them. You can still submit questions either by emailing them to melanie@streetsblog.org or tweeting them @streetsblogcal By the way, this is also a fundraiser. Yes, in this podcast we attempt to show how lovable we are, and how deserving of your support, because it's not enough that Streetsblog California brings you news about sustainable transportation that few other outlets report on. We also want you to know that we're kinda fun. And, it seems, a little bit wonky, if this podcast is anything to judge by. Please consider supporting to our work to bring you information about local and statewide policymaking, funding, and laws affecting your transportation options by clicking here and donating today. [LINK] You will hear Kris Fortin, our reporter in Orange County; Melanie Curry, editor of Streetsblog California and fearless explainer of wonky topics; Damien Newton, founding editor of Streetsblog LA and director of the Southern California Streets Initiative, which oversees all the Streetsblogs in California; and Jason Islas, Editor of Santa Monica Next and associate director of SCSI. In this inaugural podcast, we tackle three questions from readers and supporters. We were hoping for softballs, but you, dear readers, sent in some doozies. Or maybe we just like to talk too much. The first question was from our friend Pedal Love, who asks: “I believe that car crashes are the number one cause of preventable death in youth under 21—am I correct?” Yes, it turns out to be so—for youth ages 15 to 24, the most common cause of preventable death, according to the Center for Disease Controls, is car crashes. And they are the fifth most common cause of preventable death for people age 0 to 14.  The question is, why? Does it go up at age fifteen because that is when people start navigating traffic on their own? Maybe it has to do with the dearth of driver education in California, or the ease with which even inexperienced drivers obtain drivers' licenses. There's a lot to unpack here. The second question came from Marvin Norman, a regular reader and a member of the Streetsblog California steering committee. “When,” asks Norman, “will the VW Electrify America money start to show up in projects on the ground?” Damien tells us that the $2 billion settlement agreement between VW, the federal government and several states—with California, whose regulators caught VW cheating diesel emissions tests, at the forefront—is already on the ground in other states, and “coming soon” to California. A timeline, here [PDF], shows electric charging stations being planned and built by the end of 2018, and an electric car-share program being developed for a 2019 launch. On the ground:  https://electrek.co/2017/07/10/vw-ev-charging-network-electrify-america/ coming soon:  https://www.arb.ca.gov/msprog/vw_info/vsi/vw-zevinvest/documents/california_zev_investment_plan_supplement_062917.pdf The third question was from Jeffrey Tumlin, planner at NelsonNygaard, first leader and formulator of the Oakland Department of Transportation, and also a Streetsblog California steering committee member. His question was about congestion, and why we can't seem to solve it although we throw so much money at it. Transportation investments have a powerful effect on public health, land value, social equity, economic opportunity, CO2 emissions, air quality, and other values. But no transportation capital project has ever succeeded in reducing congestion – at best, all infrastructure does is congestion chokepoints around. Why in California do congestion metrics remain central to most transportation funding formulas and performance analyses? If California thinks of itself as a global leader, why don’t we learn from other countries in doing more sophisticated business case analyses to ensure good outcomes from our transportation tax dollars? A quick summary of the ensuing discussion, which does it no justice: because habit, inertia, lack of understanding of or belief in the concept of “induced demand,” political expediency, and funding.  But there is some hope. California is finally in the process of changing rules to require new developments to measure and report on how much vehicle traffic they produce instead of just how much congestion they produce. [LINK]  And the new gas tax will fund several programs that could help shift the focus away from just congestion. The Congested Corridors program, for example, will—if it's done right—invest in figuring out how to move people through congested corridors, not just cars. That program is set for adoption at the next California Transportation Commission meeting on December 6, so cross your fingers (or contact a commissioner). http://www.catc.ca.gov/programs/SB_1/103017_SCC_Draft_Guidelines.pdf http://www.catc.ca.gov/ctcstaff/members.htm Listen to the podcast, and please consider donating to Streetsblog California.

Uber is celebrating. DC passed an Uber-legalization law that Uber thinks cities the world over should follow. The problem is, most cities have much more tightly regulated taxi industries than DC, with a far higher cost of entry. In those cases, letting Uber get away with providing taxi services while complying with none of the rules is unfair. The taxi companies have been screaming about this for a while now. Uber's response is something like, "Catch me if you can, old geezer." DC's contribution to that conversation strengthens Uber's position. In other news, a front group for the oil industry is trying to cause panic among California drivers about a "hidden gas tax" that's going to hit come January. What they're really talking about is California's landmark cap-and-trade law to limit greenhouse gas emissions, which will start including transportation fuels at the beginning of the year. Jeff and I called up Melanie Curry of Streetsblog LA to explain to us a campaign that didn't seem to really make any sense and she assured us that we're not crazy; it really doesn't make any sense. Stay tuned; our election recap edition will be coming out shortly. We want to hear what you think in the comments. You can find this podcast on iTunes, Stitcher, and the RSS feed, or wherever cool kids gather.

Special guest Damien Newton of Streetsblog LA joins Jeff and me on this episode to tell us all about LADOT's new strategic plan, which includes a Vision Zero goal: zero traffic deaths by 2025, a vision all of our cities should get behind. He walks us through the oddities of LA politics and the pitfalls that may await the plan, as well as some really good reasons it could succeed. (Her name is Seleta Reynolds.) Then Jeff and I move on to Helsinki, Finland, and its even more ambitious goal: Zero private cars by 2025. They have a plan to do it, which includes many elements that are already in place in the United States and that haven't -- yet -- brought us to zero cars. We talk about what Helsinki has in store that could get them to their goal. And then we research Finnish fauna. I know you're listening to this podcast on your phone while you're on on your bike or whatever, but when you get to a safe place to stop, shout at us in the comments.  And find us on iTunes and Stitcher and the RSS feed.