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.

The time is right to get transportation projects rolling (Daily News)

The paper editorializes in favor of the 30/10 Initiative, the plan to use federal loans and other financing to build a dozen Measure R projects in the next 10 years instead of the next 30. Excerpt:

ONE of the great frustrations of transportation planning is the amount of time it takes to get a project built. Voters approve a bond measure or a sales tax to fund road and transit construction, but they don’t enjoy the benefits bought with their tax dollars for decades. Talk about delayed gratification.

That’s why Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa’s proposal to build 30 years’ worth of transportation projects in a decade is so exciting. Los Angeles County may see the fruits of our investment in record time, while creating much-needed jobs and saving public money by building during a recessionary lull in construction.

Metro adopted 30/10 as its official policy last spring. Villaraigosa, of course, is on the Metro Board of Directors.

Rediscovering our city: why CicLAvia matters (L.A. Streetsblog)

Hit it, Mark Elliott:

Downtown so thrived that horrible congestion was the bane of the Angeleno in the pre-depression era. Shoppers and workers crowded the streetcars that invariably converged at city center. Downtown also pulled wealth inward. As CicLAvians pedaled past the Jewelry center and Broadway’s entertainment corridor, just blocks from the flower, fashion, and old bank districts, we were tangibly reminded of a decidedly urban past. Old theaters and loft buildings that line Broadway, Spring, and 7th streets bring the past into the present. The are the ghosts of past grandeur.

Then change came to Downtown. Suburban development sapped the city center of investment capital, the lifeblood of any city. Freeways circled Downtown to create an island on the land, leaving a ring of poverty just beyond. That was before Red Cars stopped bringing folks Downtown. Before Downtown got by on regular work as an extra on a TV crime show or as a backdrop for a car commercial. CicLAvia shifted the consciousness by turning our attention to the faded jewel that is Los Angeles….

CicLAvia made a broader point, too, about outmoded solutions to contemporary urban problems. More blacktop and increased throughput no longer addresses what ails us….CicLAvia showed that doing better is not rocket science but rather merely choosing to do things differently.

I encourage you to read the entire essay.

And on an unrelated note…

Some furry beasts show an interest in mass transit in Vancouver's Stanley Park. Photo by David Lam, via the Buzzer Blog -- click above to visit the Buzzer.

Initiative for two hours of free parking makes Beverly Hills ballot (Beverly Hills Patch)

Voters may get to decide in March whether two hours of free parking must be provided at city-owned lots in Beverly Hills that already have two hours of free parking. The City Council has a variety of options on what to do next. Let it be noted that a realty firm that owns medical buildings in Beverly Hills made the push for the initiative.