Hey it’s Election Day; How We Roll, Nov. 3

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Happy Election Day, folks. A few pertinent items:

•Metro, as is now our custom, is offering free bus and train rides today to help people voting in person get to and from the polls. More info here.

•Metro rail and bus stations where the public can safely and securely drop off their ballots until 8 p.m. today at Vote-by-Mail drop boxes include:

El Monte Station and Union Station. El Monte Station can be reached via the J Line (Silver) and Union Station by the B (Red), D (Purple), L (Gold) and J (Silver Lines).

On the B (Red) and D (Purple) Lines: North Hollywood, 7th Street Metro Center in downtown Los Angeles, Hollywood/Western, Vermont/Santa Monica, Wilshire/Vermont stations and Union Station.

On the E Line (Expo): Expo/Vermont, La Cienega/Jefferson and Downtown Santa Monica stations.

On the A Line (Blue): Willow and Willowbrook/Rosa Parks stations.

On the L Line (Gold): Mariachi Plaza, Union Station and Sierra Madre Villa stations.

On the C Line (Green): Aviation/LAX, Harbor Freeway, Willowbrook/Rosa Parks and Norwalk stations.

On the J Line (Silver): Harbor Freeway, Harbor Gateway Transit Center, Union Station and El Monte stations.

On the G Line (Orange): Sepulveda Station.

Union Station and El Monte Station are being used as official vote centers through Nov. 3 for voters who want to vote early. The voting center at Union Station is located in the Ticket Concourse in the west side (Alameda Street) of the station.

•If you’re new to riding Metro or this blog, we encourage to follow us on Twitter. We have two main accounts: one for service alerts and one for general agency news. Obviously we’re hoping for a quiet rest of day and evening.

•Metro’s Customer Call Center is extending their hours and will be open until 9 p.m. — they can be reached at 323.GO.METRO or 323.466.3876.

•This is the first presidential election since 2004 that Metro hasn’t had a sales tax ballot measure on the ballot. Measure R in 2008 and Measure M in 2016 were both approved by voters while Measure J in 2012 lost by a half-percentage point.

•The election today will determine one seat on the Metro Board of Directors. With L.A. County Supervisor Mark Ridley-Thomas termed out, the race to replace him in the 2nd district is between either State Sen. Holly Mitchell or L.A. Council Member Herb Wesson. All five L.A. County supervisors automatically get a seat on the 13-member Metro Board.

•Indirectly, longtime Metro Board Member and Duarte Council Member John Fasana did not file for reelection over the summer — so he’ll be leaving the Board later this year. An elected official from the San Gabriel Valley will replace him.

Transpo news on social media

That’s quite a development. Housing (or the lack thereof) hasn’t been in the news as much this year as last (for obvious reasons) but in my limited travels around town, some developments are rising. It’s heartening to see the new apartments at Wilmington & 118th Street — right across Wilmington from the Willowbrook/Rosa Parks Station that’s getting an overhaul and which serves the A and C Lines and multiple bus routes.

Art saves the day!

A bus shuttle replaces train service between Union Station and Pico/Aliso while we build the second tunnel entrance for the Regional Connector that will unite the A Line (Blue), E Line (Expo) and L Line (Gold). More here.

I hope that was the first and only neutral site World Series. Much to my surprise, I liked the expanded playoffs.

Cincinnati Reds at Dodgers next April 26-28. Hoping things change enough virus-wise between now and then.

 

Losing the parking lots on the southern and western sides makes a world of difference. The E Line (Expo) runs between the park and the USC campus.

Scandinavia doesn’t mess around when it comes to transit, bikes and pedestrians.

Media stories…

•Good story in the New Yorker last month on the architect who designed the addition to LACMA. The Miracle Mile is under going quite the transformation between the overhaul of LACMA, the new Academy of Motion Pictures and Sciences museum and the D Line (Purple) extension of the subway.

•Santa Monica is already bike-friendly — even with all the car traffic — and the City Council last month approved 19 miles of protected bike lanes, reports the Patch.

•There’s some flirting between a developer’s monorail proposal and Maryland officials, reports the Washington Post.

•Bond sales to fund a Las Vegas to Victorville bullet train were postponed again and no bond sales means no project, at least for now, reports the Las Vegas Review-Journal.

Music to pass the time…

Hat tip to KCRW for playing this yesterday. One of the great all-time songs getting a lovely new treatment. Have a good and safe rest of your Election Day, folks.

Dept. of Walking

Election and everything else in the world giving you the jitters? Grab your face covering and go for a walk. The days may be short (daylight savings time forever!) but the light is nice and the sunsets been good later. I caught this one on Saturday. The first reader who guesses the location (it’s in So Cal) in the comments section will be declared The World’s Best Transit Rider, At Least For Now.

Photo courtesy Steve Hymon.

 

 

 

 

 

Categories: Transportation Headlines

4 replies ›

  1. Oddly enough, the sculpture in Rotterdam is named “Saved by the Whale’s Tail”.

  3. FYI, the location of the picture is in the filename of the image. Do you want to re-upload it with different alt text?