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ART OF TRANSIT: Two blimps hovering outside Source World Headquarters window yesterday afternoon. And nice to see some snow on those mountains, too! Photo by Steve Hymon/Metro.

The freeway is the perfect place to protest Ferguson (Zocalo Public Square)

So says UCLA professor Eric Avila, citing the segregation caused by freeways dividing neighborhoods and serving as barriers. My three cents: walking onto a freeway during the day or night strikes me as an especially dumb way to get injured, killed or cause accidents involving innocent motorists and/or transit vehicles carrying people of all races.

L.A.’s ExpressPark connects motorists to downtown parking spots (L.A. Times) 

The city of Los Angeles’ program to better price about 6,300 parking spots in downtown appears to be working. The idea is to better price parking according to demand — so there are always a few open spots each block — and to use the internet to help motorists better find parking, thereby reducing people driving around and around looking for a spot.

As the article notes, you can get downtown parking info by calling 511.

Cheap gasoline may not mean more travel (San Diego Union-Tribune)

Citing the U.S. Department of Energy Information, the U-T says that the price of gasoline has only a small influence on how much people drive — unlike, for example, the airline industry in which fuel prices, ticket prices and ridership are more closely aligned. The price of gas is expected to stay on the lower side in 2015 and is now at or below the $3 mark in many places around SoCal.

How to rebuild architecture (New York Times) 

Not an article directly about transit, but certainly one about cities and the type of architecture they have attracted in recent years. Excerpt:

Architecture, of the capital “A” variety, is exceptionally capable of creating signature pieces, glorious one-offs. We’re brilliant at devising sublime (or bombastic) structures for a global elite who share our values. We seem increasingly incapable, however, of creating artful, harmonious work that resonates with a broad swath of the general population, the very people we are, at least theoretically, meant to serve.

Certainly an issue in our region, I think — where architecture seems to be all over the place and with some new buildings completely out of touch with their surroundings.

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And, finally, here’s a new transit etiquette video made by a user of the New York Subway that I think tackles some very common transit complaints. One caveat: the use of puppets is very funny but also some mildly offensive language and situations. Consume at your own risk!