Art of Transit: 

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Art of Transit 2: 

Neither stadium would be walking distance from @metrolosangeles or @metrolink. Close to freeways, though! #NFLtoLA pic.twitter.com/YfZ9iusyUl

— Laura J. Nelson 🦅 (@laura_nelson) January 13, 2016

Why Azusa, APU asked Metro for a four-month delay in opening final Gold Line station (SGV Tribune)

The Gold Line station adjacent to Azusa Pacific University, Citrus College and the Rosedale development. Citrus Avenue will run under the tracks, connecting East Promenade to Foothill Boulevard. Below is a photo from Google Maps taken before the train platform and garage were completed.

The city of Azusa and Azusa Pacific University are concerned because an extension of Citrus Boulevard from the south side of the tracks (i.e. Foothill Boulevard) to the station and its parking garage has yet to be completed. The Trib reports that the cities of Azusa and Glendora and the Rosedale development — which sits to the north of the station — couldn’t agree on the road’s alignment and are worried about traffic cutting through Rosedale’s narrow streets to reach the parking garage and station.

As for Metro’s response:

“Metro has received this request and is taking it under advisement,” Metro spokesman Dave Sotero said in an email. “However, no decisions have been made.”

The 11.5-mile Gold Line extension from Sierra Madre Villa Station in Pasadena to Azusa is scheduled to open March 5. There is another station in Downtown Azusa.

Which NFL stadium would screw up traffic the least? (LAT)

A real train may not go directly to the new Inglewood football stadium, but you can buy this toy train and pretend you’re bypassing game traffic by clicking above. Photo: Corosta.com.

Excerpt from this op-ed by Kerry Cavanaugh:

The one public transportation bright spot is the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum, which could serve as the temporary home for the NFL until a new stadium is built. The Coliseum is right next to the Expo Line, providing an easy connection for anyone who wants to take the train to a game.

Professional football left Los Angeles in an era of cars. The Rams moved to Anaheim in 1980, the Raiders left for Oakland after the 1994 season and the Chargers shifted to San Diego in 1961. The NFL is on the cusp of returning to a more multi-modal L.A., with new rail lines and bus and bike lanes. If the NFL does commit to sending one or more teams back to Los Angeles, the team owners and host city need to make transportation choices a top priority, not an afterthought.

Kerry also reports that as part of the Inglewood proposal, there will be shuttle buses between the stadium and the Crenshaw/LAX Line. Still, if you’re planning to use LAX, it might be a wise idea to avoid those Sunday afternoon flights once the stadium opens ?.

In the meantime, you’ll be able to take the Expo Line to the L.A. Coliseum later this year to see the Rams. Here’s the Go Metro guide to attending USC football games.

Related: the LAT provides an introduction to your Los Angeles Rams. I had a hard time getting past the opening graph, which reminded me that Case Keenum is the incumbent starting QB with Nick Foles as the backup. I’m of the mind that most NFL teams no longer know or have the patience to develop QBs, which is too bad for Foles — who played well in the past with the Eagles in the tough NFC East.

That said, if I was the Rams and wanted to make a splash in L.A., I’d trade for Drew Brees or, at the least, bring in RGIII or Colin Kaepernick to compete for the starting QB job. No Johnny Manziel, please.

And this note: I’d include some reaction from St. Louis — but the Post-Dispatch wisely keeps their content behind a pay wall. St. Louis a great city but nothing gets between the NFL and its next pot of gold. Nothing. In the meantime, a few other thoughts:

It will be fun seeing Pete Carroll at Coliseum playing #Rams in '16. This time Carroll can freely admit his players are paid! #NFLtoLA

— stevehymon (@stevehymon) January 13, 2016

@metrolosangeles It's been an honor and privilege to move #Rams fans to and from games all these years. We now pass that to you. #gotransit

— Metro (@STLMetro) January 13, 2016

.@STLMetro That is far too classy a response to losing a team and says a lot about the great people of the St. Louis metro area.

— stevehymon (@stevehymon) January 13, 2016

One other thought: I personally hope this ends NFL relocation madness for the time being and that the Chargers and Raiders end up staying in place in San Diego and Oakland, respectively. Moves such as these cause a lot of fan heartbreak and our gain yesterday came at the expense of a city who did nothing wrong other than try to protect taxpayer money.

The State of the Union (Whitehouse.gov) 

President Barack Obama delivered his eighth and final State of the Union speech last night and talked a lot about climate change. One excerpt:

Now we’ve got to accelerate the transition away from old, dirtier energy sources. Rather than subsidize the past, we should invest in the future — especially in communities that rely on fossil fuels. We do them no favor when we don’t show them where the trends are going. That’s why I’m going to push to change the way we manage our oil and coal resources, so that they better reflect the costs they impose on taxpayers and our planet. And that way, we put money back into those communities, and put tens of thousands of Americans to work building a 21st century transportation system. (Applause.)

The President also said that oil imports to the U.S. are down and that the U.S. has cut carbon pollution more than any other country on Earth,” while saying that gasoline priced under $2 a gallon “ain’t bad, either.”

USA Today fact-checked the carbon pollutions claim:

As he did in his 2014 address, Obama claimed that the U.S. has “cut carbon pollution more than any other country on Earth.” That’s true, at least in terms of the total tonnage of emissions reduced. However, other countries have reduced their emissions by a larger percentage than the U.S.

[snip] The U.S., the second largest emitter of carbon pollution, reduced its emissions by 583 million metric tons between 2003 and 2012. That’s more than any other country, according to Energy Information Administration data. But that’s also a 10% reduction, and other nations including France (10.7%) and the United Kingdom (12.9%), to name a few, saw larger percentage reductions during that time period.

There have been a number of rules put in place during Obama’s tenure as president that should make cars and trucks more fuel efficient and cleaner in the coming years. The outstanding question: whether those gains will be wiped out by people driving more.

The best case yet that excessive parking causes more driving (Citylab) 

The headline is more interesting than the article. For those not convinced yet that having cheap/abundant parking at a destination makes people more likely to drive.

Mapping neighborhood change in L.A. and Chicago (Citylab) 

The meat in this article is buried, so let’s cut to the chase in this key excerpt about a new study:

But despite all the attention given to the urban gentrification of U.S. neighborhoods, the reality is that struggling, persistently poor neighborhoods in Chicago and L.A. greatly outnumber those that are attracting younger, more educated, affluent residents.

More troubling still, very few struggling, persistently poor neighborhoods have seen their fortunes improve over these four decades, and the great majority have remained consistently disadvantaged over time. Where anything resembling what we tend to think of as gentrification has taken place, it has been mainly in former industrial zones or working class neighborhoods.

Delmelle’s detailed research suggests that, when all is said and done, racially concentrated disadvantage remains a much bigger urban problem than gentrification.

Sounds about right. I’m guessing rising housing costs and stagnant wages are significant factors in these neighborhoods.

Rethinking the airplane for climate’s sake (NYT)

A NASA remote-piloted test plane that could theoretically lower fuel emissions. Click above to read a NASA article about it. Image Credit: NASA/Ken Ulbrich

Jet airplanes contribute two percent of the world’s greenhouse gas emissions. The good news: jets have reduced emissions in recent years, although those gains have been wiped out by the increased popularity of flying.

The article focuses on NASA research at Edwards Air Force base on advance technologies that could make planes cleaner in the future. One way: wings that shift shape during flight to help reduce drag. Interesting stuff.

Recent How We Rolls: 

Jan. 12: more on the relationship between rail transit and pro football.

Jan. 11: plugging the gaps in our regional transportation system.

Jan. 6: untransit-friendly stadium proposals and our poll asking if would you Go Metro to see the Chargers, Raiders or Rams in Los Angeles.

Jan. 5: the city of Santa Monica wants to build fencing to keep people off the Expo Line tracks.

Dec. 31: a few thoughts on transpo trends in 2015.

I’m on Twitter and have a photography blog. Questions or ideas for How We Roll? Email me.