L.A. City Council passes landmark bicyclist anti-harassment law

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As mentioned in today’s headlines, the Los Angeles City Council took up a motion this morning “that would make it easier for cyclists who are harassed to pursue damages in civil court, where there’s a lower burden of proof than in criminal cases.”

To the applause of dozens of bike advocates in attendance, the Council approved Councilman Rosendahl’s motion by a 12 to 0 vote.

During the public comment period, many advocates recounted their harrowing experiences of harassment and injury — having objects thrown at them and vehicles honking and swerving at them — and welcomed the opportunity to seek justice.

Councilmen Ed Reyes and Tony Cardenas in particular hoped that this ordinance, combined with the city’s robust bike plan, would make the city’s streets safe for their children to ride on. For a more in-depth recap, check out the LADOT Bike Blog, which will have all the details later this afternoon.

And while were in a biking mood, here’s some good lunchtime viewing: a documentary called “Detroit Bike City,” about the culture and challenges of biking in the Motor City.

A Plan B if America Fast Forward doesn't happen

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Damien Newton at L.A. Streetsblog just posted an interesting interview with L.A. Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa that touches on the America Fast Forward (AFF) plan to speed up construction of Metro transit projects.

AFF seeks to change federal law to allow for more federal loans and federally-backed bonds to build transit projects. The good news is that outlines of a new federal transportation spending bill release this month by the U.S. House and Senate include elements of AFF. The bad news: the outlines do not include all the provisions that Metro needs to accelerate all 12 of its Measure R transit projects.

Excerpt from Damien’s interview:

LASB: Pretty much everyone locally is supportive of America Fast Forward, and it looks like we’re going to see at least part of it in the federal reauthorization bill. But, if they don’t do that, is there a “plan B” to accelerate some of those projects.

Villaraigosa: There’s ALWAYS a “Plan B.” If you follow at all, whether it’s education reform, public safety, transportation, the environment…there’s always a “Plan B.”

I’m not going to share it with you right now. We always have a fall back plan….and we have one here as well.

And remember, we’ve already received some of America Fast Forward with the Crenshaw Line and a $636 million up-front loan for the subway. We’re already seeing acceleration of some of our projects.

Continue reading →

Transportation headlines, Wednesday, July 20

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Here is a look at some of the transportation headlines gathered by us and the Metro Library. The full list of headlines is posted on the library’s blog.

Rosendahl pushes anti-harassment law for cyclists with social media (L.A. Streetsblog)

The L.A. City Council today is scheduled to consider an ordinance that would make it easier for cyclists who are harassed to pursue damages in civil court, where there’s a lower burden of proof than in criminal cases. It’s the first of its kind law in the nation — so many cycling advocates across the U.S. are closely watching — and Councilman Bill Rosendahl, who represents parts of the Westside, is courting victims of harassment via YouTube. The ordinance has also been widely promoted by the city’s LADOT Bike Blog, which offers this good summary of the law.

Will local cyclists use the ordinance, assuming it passes? Will local motorists change their behavior because of it? On those counts, I’m not sure. It seems like a good tool to have available, but I’m not sure it’s any substitute for traffic police actually cracking down on motorists who harass cyclists or flout the rules of the road.

Investigation continues into Art Walk death (L.A. Times)

Police continue to seek info about the incident in which a man trying to park a car jumped a curb and hit a parking meter that, in turn, that killed an infant in downtown L.A. last week. The man didn’t have a driver’s license and wasn’t given a sobriety test. Meanwhile, a petition has been started to make the wildly popular Art Walk events car-free. Judging from the media coverage of Carmageddon, there seems to be an appetite for more carless events and perhaps this one — in downtown — would be a good place to start.

Very rich pro athlete parks Beemer in not one but two disabled parking spaces (NBC4)

On the off chance you didn’t hear the news, NBC has video of Lakers player Andrew Bynum parking his BMW in two disabled parking spaces at a Playa del Rey grocery. Bynum is not disabled, wasn’t cited and isn’t answering questions. Am I the only one surprised that he actually buys his own groceries?

Palmdale seeks injunction against high-speed rail study of Grapevine route (L.A. Weekly)

The Antelope Valley city doesn’t want the California High-Speed Rail Authority to spend money studying a route between L.A. and Bakersfield that would follow the 5 freeway. The Authority had seemed intent on building the line from L.A. to the Antelope Valley and then to Bakersfield but because the Grapevine route is shorter and may be cheaper to build, the agency wants to revisit the route to see if it’s possible.

Transit forecast for Wednesday, July 20

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For a complete list of planned service advisories please visit the Service Advisories page on Metro.net. And for the latest service alerts follow @MetroLAalerts on Twitter.

Line 201, 603

Due to construction the listed lines will be on detour between San Fernando Rd. & Pacific Ave. during the hours of 7am to 3pm.

Northbound Only: Regular route to San Fernando Rd. and Chevy Chase Dr., then continue viaSan Fernando Rd. to (R) Riverdale Dr., (L) Pacific Ave. and regular route.

Dates: today only.

Blue Line

After 8:15pm, Blue Line trains run every 30 minutes due to construction work for the future Expo Line.  Please see schedule here.

Dates: through Thursday.

Red Line

Due to track maintenance work after 8:30pm, trains from North Hollywood will depart up to 5 minutes later than regular schedule.

  • Inbound trains to Union Station will depart North Hollywood at 8:59pm, 9:19pm, 9:39pm, and every 20 minutes until 12:39am, and then 12:54am.  Times are approximate and subject to minor work related delays.
  • During this time, trains in both directions will share ONE track at Hollywood/Highland & Hollywood/Vine Stations.  Please check train destination signs and announcements before boarding.

Dates: through Thursday.

Service advisories for Line 4 and Line 35, after the jump. Continue reading →


@MetroLosAngeles Twitter Tuesday

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Welcome to Twitter Tuesday, a weekly feature here at The Source in which we’ll round up the latest Metro related tweets in the Twitterverse. To follow Metro on Twitter just search for @MetroLosAngeles. We recommend adding the #MetroLosAngeles tag to your tweets to get our attention.

And when it comes to complaints, the best way to get them addressed is to use the Customer Comment Form on Metro.net. There you can provide all the detail needed so that customer service reps may best address your problems.

The @metrolosangeles is nice :) The @metrolosangeles is nice :)

Remember to tag your tweet pics with #artoftransit. This one is courtesy of @lowimpactbetty.

#ArtOfTransit

#MetroWin

After the jump, #MetroMusings on #Carmageddon and other issues plus this week’s #MetroFail tweets. Continue reading →


One time-lapse view of work on the Mulholland Bridge

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A few time-lapse videos of the work to partially demolish the Mulholland Drive Bridge over the 405 freeway this past weekend have popped up on the Internet. This most excellent one takes a different tack, with footage from several different locations that was shot Friday night into Saturday.

The video is by Matt Givot. There’s more information about the video at Vimeo.

KNBC also has a nice collection of Carmageddon time-lapse videos.

The bridge, of course, was partially taken down as part of the Metro project to add a northbound carpool lane to the 405 between the 10 and 101 freeways, as well as to upgrade on- and off-ramps in the area and rebuild three bridges that span the 405.