Today's Headlines - more at Metro

2/05/2013

TAP, 710, LA City Planning, AQMD, CEQA, Car Share & More

February 5: This Date In Los Angeles Transportation History (Local politicians and transportation officials take action to move rapid transit in Los Angeles from the "talking stage" to the "do-something-now" stage in on this date in 1964. By August, the agency had been replaced by the Southern California Rapid Transit District)
Metro Transportation Library Primary Resources Blog

Anaheim Releases Questionable Emails ("Anaheim officials Monday released an email chain that has raised questions at City Hall over whether local officials planned to misrepresent information to a federal agency in order to obtain transportation grant funding.")
Voice Of OC

AQMD Votes To Increase Environmental Oversight Of Los Angeles, Long Beach Ports
Los Angeles Daily News

Battery-Powered Intercity Trains Possible, Government Study Says
The Guardian (U.K.)
Battery-Powered Trains: Feasibility Study For Battery Energy Storage And Propulsion On Trains (70p. PDF)
U.K. Transport Research Laboratory

The Birth And Growth Of City Planning (How the 1926 and 1928 Standards Acts created Los Angeles as we know it today)
KCET

Dayton Offers Game-Changing Transit Plan (In a budget unveiled last month, Minnesota Governor Mark Dayton proposed a .25 percent sales tax increase to fund an expansion of the Twin Cities metro area's public transit systems. The proposal has garnered enthusiastic support)
Minneapolis Post

Fixes On TAP At Metro ("Metro is overhauling the signage around its vending machines in an effort to make the process clearer and also has tweaked the on-screen instructions for people trying to buy a ticket. Behind the scenes, a broader do-over of the computer screens is underway, with a series of focus groups offering input on how to create a truly user-friendly process.")
Zev Yaroslavsky, Los Angeles County Supervisor, Third District

"Friends Of Pershing Square" Reimagines Downtown LA's Faded Historic Central Park (numerous photos illustrate both the design flaws of Pershing Square as well as concepts that might be in store for its redesign and revitalization)
DTLA Rising

A Half-Century Of Delivering Research That Works: Lessons From A Proven Organizational Model (17p. PDF)
National Cooperative Highway Research Program

Highland Park Parklet Not In Front Of A Restaurant? Attempts To Create Public Space For All
StreetsBlog LA

How Virtual Traffic Lights Could Cut Down On Congestion
The Atlantic: Cities

Incorporating Greenhouse Gas Emissions Into The Collaborative Decision-Making Framework (108p. PDF)
Strategic Highway Research Program

Internships: An Invaluable Resource During Tight Budgets
Western Planner

Lowering Parking Minimums Is Nowhere Close To A "War On Cars"
StreetsBlog Network

Lyft's Ridesharing Program Takes Off In Los Angeles. What Does It Mean For The Taxi Industry?
LA Weekly

Moderate Michael Rubio Takes On California's Environmental Law (If the 43-year-old California Environmental Act is going to be changed -- as Gov. Brown hopes -- most agree the legislation will be championed by Michael Rubio, a young, moderate Democratic from the Central Valley in the second year of his first term in the senate)
Sacramento Bee

Report: Most States Have Poor Safeguards Against The Revolving Door ("The “Revolving Door” series highlighted how billions in federal funding for transportation get funneled, with no oversight, to states where money and politics corrupt policy and lead to shocking amounts of waste...The group graded all 50 states, and not a single one scored an A. Only five states managed Bs. The rest were all mediocre-to-abysmal." California is one of the five with the highest grade of "B")
StreetsBlog DC
50 States And No Winners
State Integrity Investigation

Riders Bitched, Metro Fixed: TAP Card System Will Be More User-Friendly
LAist

Secretary Villaraigosa? Not So Fast
StreetsBlog LA

Three Government Committees Reject Current Plans To Widen 710 Between Long Beach And Pomona
StreetsBlog LA

What We Can Learn About Walkability From Looking At Pictures
The Atlantic: Cities

Why The 5.5 Billion Hours Americans Spend In Commuter Traffic Justifies More Infrastructure Spending
Think Progress


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