Today's Headlines - more at Metro

10/21/2011

Green Line LAX, Westside Subway, Amtrak, Calif Cap & Trade, Rail Yards & More

Amtrak Reports Record Ridership Along California Corridor
CBS San Francisco

Amtrak Soft Launches Wi-Fi, But With Content Filtering
Greater Greater Washington

BART Proposes Policy To Govern Cell Phone Blackouts
Silicon Valley Mercury News

Beverly Hills, Century City Property Values Will Tank
Beverly Hills Courier

Beverly Hills Subway Extension Needs To Go Under 90210 High School, Metro Says: District Blasts Earthquake Report
LA Weekly

Bicycle Awareness: For Those In Power, Ignorance Is Still Bliss!
StreetsBlog LA

Big Surprise: MTA Will Put Tunnel Under Beverly High (update from Oct. 19 story)
Beverly Hills Courier

Buresh Hosts Community Walk Through Of Potential BHHS Tunnel
Beverly Hills Courier

California Adopts Nation's Most Sweeping Cap & Trade Plan
KQED

California's Government 2.0: How Local Governments Are Using Technology To Become More Accessible ("Enough with long lines at the DMV and other horrors of local government. It's time for cities to drag themselves into the 21st century. Here are the steps some are taking." Spotlight on smartphone graffiti and pothole reporting)
Fast Company

Can Smartphone Apps Replace Permanent Airport Signage?
Future Travel Experience

Century City Area Tunneling Safety Report (130p. PDF)
Parsons Brinckerhoff for Metro
Century City Area Fault Investigation Report (40p. PDF)
Parsons Brinckerhoff for Metro
Executive Summaries (14p. PDF)
Century City Area Tunneling Safety And Fault Investigations (13p. PDF)
Tunnel Advisory Panel
Related Documents for Westside Subway Extension
Metro

Chicago Proposes "Congestion Fee" On Parking To Fund Transit
StreetsBlog NY

City Considers Making Homeowners Responsible For Sidewalk Repairs And Legally Liable For Mishaps
Los Angeles Daily News

City To Cancel Some Driveway Apron Parking Tickets
Eastsider LA

Comprehending A Comprehensive "Green Line To LAX"
CityWatch

Congress Is Broken, And HSR Pays The Price
California High Speed Rail Blog

Fight On Westwood: Ignore The UCLA Subway Station Diversion
CityWatch

Freight Facility Location Selection: A Guide For Public Officials
(80p. PDF)
National Cooperative Freight Research Program
Background Research Material For Freight Facility Location Selection: A Guide For Public Officials (125p. PDF)
National Cooperative Freight Research Program

FTA Distributes $1 Billion To Local Transit Agencies
StreetsBlog DC

If Faults Are Dangerous, Why Did MTA Staff Hide The Data?
Beverly Hills Courier

Hard Work Of De-Grunging Westwood Village Has Begun
Curbed LA

Healthy El Monte, Not Just About Transportation But About Healthy Eating
StreetsBlog LA

It's The Parking, Stupid: One Transportation Consultant's Tough Love Approach
The Atlantic: Cities

Lawsuit Delays Metrolink Extension
Inland News Today

Legislation Allowing Electronic Signs On Big Blue Buses Becomes Law
Argonaut

Metro Experts Support Constellation Boulevard Station: Scientists Have Advised The Metro Board Of Directors Planning Committee To Select The Subway Route That Requires Tunneling Under Beverly Hills High School
Beverly Hills Patch

[D.C.] Metro Line To Dulles Could Run $150 Million Over Budget, Officials Say
Washington Post

Metro's Geotechnical Experts Recommend Tunneling Under Beverly High
(p. 3)
Beverly Hills Weekly

MTA Experts Recommend Constellation Station In Century City
LA Observed

No More Play: Conversations On Open Space And Urban Speculation In Los Angeles And Beyond
Metro Transportation Library Primary Resources Blog

Omnitrans Readies New Coaches For Service
Omnitrans Blog

Passenger Rail At A Glance 2011: Transit Trends (Data and infographics from a survey conducted by APTA of 117 transit agencies)
Progressive Railroading

Plan Proposes To Convert Industrial Land Into "Green" Community
(Cornfield Arroyo Seco Specific Plan)
EGP News

Railroads Sued Over Diesel Soot At California Rail Yards: Environmental Groups Demand That Three Rail Companies Replace Older, More Polluting Locomotives And Trucks, Ban Idling Near Homes And Adopt Technologies Designed To Reduce The Particulate Matter
Los Angeles Times

Reframing The Transportation Debate
("In sum, the U.S. has already spent over $6 trillion in direct costs for transportation infrastructure, not including a good deal of associated infrastructure and land values, and not fully accounting for replacement costs in 2011 dollars. (If I had to guess, I’d peg the current present value of all of it at perhaps double that: $12 trillion.) The mere existence of that infrastructure, which is to say our complete dependence on it, means that we’re already committed to spending at least $1.6 trillion additional dollars per year in maintenance, new vehicles, and fuel (leaving out the associated costs, like military expenditures). Again, the real numbers, if we had them, would be substantially larger.")
Smart Planet

Remembering Glendora's First Passenger Rail System: The Pacific Electric's Monrovia-Glendora Line Ran Through Glendora To Downtown Los Angeles ("The first Red Car reached Glendora in Dec. 1907. On average, 24 daily cars went in and out of Glendora in 1949 for a fare of 50 cents.")
Glendora Patch

Seismic Experts Back Subway Extension Under Beverly Hills High: The Conclusions Come After An Investigation Of Tunneling Safety And Fault Locations In The Proposed Westside Subway Area
NBC Los Angeles

Senate Panel To Vote On Transportation Bill Next Month
StreetsBlog DC

The State Of Private HSR Financing
California High Speed Rail Blog

Subway-To-Sea Route To Track Beneath Beverly Hills High School?
KABC Los Angeles

Techies Embed In City Hall
("While some cities like San Francisco and New York have been leaders in developing a software side of the city, others simply don’t have the time or resources to upgrade to Government 2.0. A program entering its second year is on a mission to help those cities get there, and so far it has produced some promising results.")
The Atlantic: Cities

Three Infrastructure Ideas That Already Have Bipartisan Support (details about state-issued transportation bonds, surface transportation grants, and national infrastructure bank)
Washington Post

To Win Riders, Mass Transit Should Get Wired ("A survey we administered to riders waiting at curbside boarding locations showed that almost half consider Wi-Fi important when they choose a travel mode, and about 55% plan to send texts or emails on their trip. The ability to freely use portable devices, while undoubtedly less important than the low fares, helps explain why so many affluent travelers now hop on curbside buses, even when travel times are longer.")
The Atlantic: Cities
Privacy Invades Public Space: The Growing Use Of Portable Electronic Technology On Intercity Buses, Trains & Planes Between 2009 & 2010 (22p. PDF)
DePaul University Chaddick Institute For Metropolitan Development

Transportation Technology Is Moving Ahead (Interviews with 10 transportation professionals about interesting career options)
Diversity Careers

U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood Says Intelligent Transportation's Safety Technology Will Put People Back To Work
ITS America

With Little Hope For Near-Term Federal Support, California High-Speed Rail Struggles
Transport Politic

What are transportation community leaders around the nation tweeting about today? Check out the Metro Library Twitter Daily, our online digest in newspaper format updated every day.