Here is the description of President Obama’s speech to Congress tonight from Metro’s government relations staff: Moments ago, President Obama delivered remarks before a joint session of Congress in which he outlined his plan to jumpstart America’s economy. The President’s plan, delivered with the national unemployment rate standing at 9.1%, [continue reading]
There’s a lot of talk about infrastructure needs and jobs these days. President Barack Obama will address both Thursday evening, with L.A. Mayor and Metro Board Chair Antonio Villaraigosa in the audience. It will certainly be a closely watched speech here at Metro as the agency hopes to hear the [continue reading]
Former Pennsylvania Governor Ed Rendell was pegged as the lunchtime keynote speaker at Mobility 21 — for good reason. These days, Rendell is one of the leading voices for increased infrastructure investment, serving as one of three co-chairs of the Building America’s Future coalition along with former California Governor Arnold [continue reading]
We’re blogging this morning live from the Mobility 21 Conference in downtown Los Angeles, where more than 1,000 public and private sector people in the transportation industry have gathered. Los Angeles Mayor and Metro Board Chair Antonio Villaraigosa took center stage during the morning’s events with a speech and subsequent [continue reading]
As many of you know, the great ongoing debate in Washington and many state capitals across the nation revolves around this question: what’s the best way to create jobs and spur the economy? Is it to downsize government, allowing for lower taxes and more money in individuals’ pockets? Or is [continue reading]
As we noted in May, Santa Monica’s Big Blue Bus had plans to shake up its service to improve connections with Metro Rail. Well those changes — detailed here [PDF] — went live on Sunday and there’s some good news for Metro riders. The BBB has extended the eastern terminus of [continue reading]
As many of you know, a multiyear federal transportation bill was last approved by Congress in 2005. The followup to that bill should have been signed into law in 2009 but Congress has never been able to agree on the size and scope of the bill. So nothing has [continue reading]
Here is the latest news from Foothill Extension Construction Authority CEO Habib Balian: Equipment is being mobilized this week for the upcoming foundation work on the I-210 Bridge. As you can see from the images, a large drill rig and crane have been trucked in and are being assembled on [continue reading]
The federal gas tax — 18 cents per gallon — is due to expire at the end of September. If it vanishes — as some politicians would like — a lot of federal funding for transportation (and Metro) goes with it. The above video helps explain the gas tax and [continue reading]
In advance of the 900-person Mobility 21 Summit next week, we asked M21 executive director Marnie O’Brien Primmer to speak to us about transportation and traffic in Southern California. The Summit is a gathering of Southern California leaders who meet annually to create solutions to our mobility problems. Primmer’s responses follow. Though most transit riders have not [continue reading]
