What do most of the headlines below have in common? They involve change. Our transit system is expanding and the Olympics are coming to town. New York — once the domain of cars — has seen a huge surge in cycling. And there is a long waiting list to buy Tesla’s least expensive electric car yet…

Art of Transit: 

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L.A. gains financial concessions in return for agreeing to host the 2028 Olympic Games (LAT)

Speaking for yours truly, I’m excited — even though the Yu Darvish trade sort of overshadowed this in yesterday’s news cycle. I think hosting an Olympics and Paralympics will be good for the region and help light a collective fire under everyone’s kiesters to improve a variety of things that need some improving.

Lots of interest on social media about our post showing what the transit system could look like in 11 years. I don’t get the sense that people are dreading Olympics traffic perhaps because folks know our region frequently handles multiple and simultaneous big events and we’ve all managed to live unscathed through Carmageddons, CicLAvias, etc.

Also this: I think if state and federal money is available for big transit projects, Metro is well positioned to compete for those funds with the Olympics and a host of environmental studies in the pipeline.

The 2028 Olympics could massively reshape LA’s restaurant scene (Eater LA)

With the Olympics coming to town Jackson’s Corner — of Bend, Oregon — should expand to L.A. so we can all enjoy the world’s best biscuits and gravy. If there is a better biscuits/gravy in L.A. please let me know in the comments. Photo courtesy Steve Hymon.

Farley Elliott predicts that the restaurant scene will shift with more places near transit projects. Excerpt:

Long Beach, the Valley, West LA, and Downtown are all represented [with Olympic venues], with more than a few nods to the Eastside and South LA as well. It’s undeniable that restaurants in those areas — everyone from Three Weavers Brewing in Inglewood to Broken Spanish near Staples Center in Downtown — will feel the effects of hundreds of thousands of tourists and locals flocking to their individual neighborhoods. Everyone eats, especially travelers keen to try something new outside the stadium.

I highly concur. I also think the DTLA Industrial District is going to explode. There are already many projects proposed and I think the southeast corner of DTLA will be almost unrecognizable by the time 2028 burps forth.

Selfish motorists are fighting L.A.’s street safety projects. City Hall needs to find the courage to fight back (LAT)

The LAT editorial pages showed little patience for motorists crabbing about road diets. Photo: Getty Images.

The editorial board of the LAT basically tells opponents of road diets to shut up and sit down. “There is a learning curve, and over time as more Vision Zero projects are completed, residents will likely see that the benefits of safer streets outweigh the lane losses and any effect on traffic flow,” writes the Ed Board.

The comments on the article? Let’s just say not everyone agrees.

In the meantime, the Los Angeles Department of Transportation has posted a pretty powerful video IMHO on the city’s attempts to eliminate traffic deaths.

I offered my three cents last week: more enforcement of traffic laws would be helpful.

710 project releases REIR; proposal creates further ped/bike danger for west & north Long Beach (LongBeachize)

Not much attention has been paid to the revised draft study that was released earlier this month. The project proposes to widen the 710 between DTLB and the 60 freeway, remake interchanges, possibly add a freight corridor for trucks and make a variety of pedestrian and biking improvements in the 710 corridor.

Let’s just say Brian Addison does not give the project a rave review. He focuses especially on the prospect of diamond interchanges (which basically eliminate the need for left-turn signals) being used to access the freeway — Brian feels those will impose a burden on walkers and cyclists by requiring more crossings of busy streets.

I encourage everyone to check out the environmental study. This is a big project that has been under study for years — and still has a ways to go before shovel hits dirt. There are also public meetings later this month and the public comment period on the study is open. Hit the link to the above blog post for more info.

More New Yorkers opting for life in the bike lane (NYT)

One of many bike lane projects in Gotham. Photo by Christopher Porter, via Flickr creative commons.

Love this lede: “On one of Brooklyn’s busier commuter streets, bicycles now outnumber cars.”

Over the last 12 years, bike trips in the city have increased from 170,000 to 450,000 each day, according to the NYT. And New York’s bike share program had its highest ridership day last week with more than 70,000 rides.

New York went big on bike infrastructure in recent years and it looks like that investment is paying off. Of course, it helps that the city is pretty flat and many commuters only live a few miles from work. Plus, all those tourists help.

No reason it can’t happen here. We just need the willpower to put the bike lanes out there.

Oh, and this:

Woah! Metro #BikeShare recommended for a H U G E expansion and influx in ATP grant funding! https://t.co/dpUNJ1LPEN #bikeLA pic.twitter.com/vg1djWkUKC

— ActiveSGV (@ActiveSGV) August 1, 2017

Tesla Model 3: this is the car that Elon Musk promised (The Verge)

No keys — your smart phone is the key! Pretty much a rave view after the writer goes for a short drive Friday night after the car made its debut.

Now comes the hard part: making enough of them to satisfy the thousands of people who already have left deposits for the electric cars, which begin at about $35,000.