5.7-magnitude earthquake strikes Northern California

 http://www.foxnews.com/us/2013/05/24/57-magnitude-earthquake-strikes-northern-california/?test=latestnews

May 24, 2013

 

GREENVILLE, Calif. –  A magnitude 5.7 earthquake hit Northern California Thursday night that was widely felt across the region, but there were no reports of serious damage.

The temblor struck at 8:47 p.m. and was centered near Greenville, about 25 miles southwest of Susanville in far northeastern California, said Rafael Abreu, a geophysicist with the U.S. Geological Survey's National Earthquake Center in Golden, Colo.

Abreu said there were no reports of serious damage in the early field reports.

But Allen Shephard, who runs the Quail Lodge at Lake Almanor near Greenville just a few miles from the epicenter, said the lodge suffered damage.

"Dishes plum out of the counter, computers thrown everywhere," Shepherd told the Redding Record-Searchlight.

The Susanville Fire Department said it had received no reports of damage, and a Plumas County Sheriff's Office dispatcher said calls were flooding into its office but no reports of damage.
KCRA-TV in Sacramento reported that the Plumas County temblor was felt in downtown Sacramento, about 145 miles south of the epicenter.

People in Yuba and Sutter Counties, south of Plumas, said they felt a rolling quake, according to the Marysville Appeal-Democrat.

Others reported feeling the quake as far away as the San Francisco Bay area, according to the USGS's website.

There have been eight aftershocks ranging from 2.6-to-3.5-magnitude.

"People in the area felt a strong jolt, but it was not enough to generate serious damage, based on early field reports," Abreu said.

Aftershocks shake Northern California after 5.7 earthquake

 http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-aftershocks-follow-57-earthquake-northern-california-20130523,0,4019959.story

by Robert J. Lopez, May 23, 2013

 

 

 Map shows the location of a 5.7-magnitude earthquake north of Sacramento. (U.S. Geological Survey / May 23, 2013)

More than a dozen aftershocks were reported Thursday night following a 5.7 earthquake about 150 miles northeast of Sacramento, officials said.

The initial quake hit about 8:47 p.m.; its epicenter was about 27 miles southwest of Susanville and seven miles west northwest of Greenville, according to the U.S. Geological Survey.

People on Twitter told The Times they felt that quake in Sacramento and Lodi, as well as South Reno and on the northwest shore of Lake Tahoe.

Police officials in Susanville and Sacramento said that the quake set off a number of home and car alarms and rattled windows but that there were no immediate reports of damage.

"We got a bunch of alarm calls and a bunch of barking dogs," dispatcher Taylor Richards of the Sacramento Police Department told The Times. "It was a good solid feel here."

Within minutes of the quake, more than 7,000 people reported feeling it on the USGS website. 

A man in Chico told The Times he felt a slow roll that lasted about 30 seconds.

The aftershocks' magnitude ranged up to 3.5, according to the U.S. Geological Survey.

"House shook pretty hard," one man near Truckee told The Times.

Posted on No 710 on Avenue 64 Facebook Page

May 23, 2013

Val Marquez of CONCERNED NEIGHBORS OF EL SERENO shares this picture of the new L.A. Mayor wearing a No 710 sticker. Great to have Eric Garcetti's support! Thanks Val!

 

Metro Board adopts budget for 2013-14 fiscal year

 http://thesource.metro.net/2013/05/23/metro-board-adopts-budget-for-2013-14-fiscal-year/

By Steve Hymon, May 23, 2013

 

Here's the news release from Metro — the big news is no fare increases and added service on the Orange Line, Expo Line and Gold Line:

The Metro Board of Directors today adopted a balanced $5.075 billion budget for Fiscal Year 2013-14 that begins on July 1, 2013.

The spending plan keeps fares at current levels, however, Metro CEO Art Leahy has urged Metro directors to begin discussing fare restructuring for future years. He notes Metro fares are among the lowest of any major transit agency in the world, and Metro riders only pay 26 percent of what it costs to operate their buses and trains.

In FY 14 more service will be added midday to relieve overcrowding on the Metro Orange Line busway in the San Fernando Valley. Additional late night service will be added on the Expo and Metro Gold Lines, and there also will be more weekend service on all Metro Rail lines.

Hundreds of new buses and rail cars are on order, and construction is underway for a new state-of-the-art bus maintenance facility in downtown Los Angeles. Augmenting these efforts, Metro will spend $261 million in the next fiscal year on deferred maintenance for bus and rail vehicles and facilities and another $37 million on capital improvements for safety and security including $20 million for gates and other safety enhancements on the Metro Blue Line.

The budget altogether includes $165 million for Safety and Security, a major focus of Los Angeles County Supervisor and Metro Board Chair Michael D. Antonovich. The sum includes paying for law enforcement on the Metro system in addition to capital improvements and various passenger safety and security measures. This will be a $13 million increase over the current fiscal year.

Gates in the subway and many of the light rail stations will be latched, a phased in approach that will start June 19 just before the start of the new fiscal year. Next year Metro also plans on unveiling a master plan for Union Station that will address how the historic facility will accommodate transit system expansion.u3

Fulfilling the voter mandate for Measure R that is greatly expanding transit options for Angelenos, in FY 14 Metro will advance design and early construction for the Purple Line subway extension, the Regional Connector rail line that will connect the Metro Gold, Blue and Expo lines to eliminate transfers, and the Crenshaw/LAX Transit Corridor light rail line among other transit projects and programs. Construction is well underway for the Expo light rail segment from Culver City to Santa Monica and the Metro Gold Line Foothill Extension from Pasadena to Azusa and will continue in FY 14.

Taking a multi-pronged approach to easing traffic in Los Angeles County, Metro will expand its highway program in FY 14, advancing more than a dozen small and large highway projects and managing the I-10 and 110 ExpressLanes congestion pricing demonstration project. The I-405 Sepulveda Pass Improvements Project should wrap up next year. Metro also will pursue new initiatives to promote bicycling.

Metro’s FY 14 budget is $500 million or 11 percent more than the agency’s current $4.575 billion budget. This reflects major rail and highway planning, design and construction in the next fiscal year as mandated by Measure R. In 2008 more than 2 million Los Angeles County voters approved the Measure R half cent sales tax to advance a dozen major transit projects and 15 highway projects. In the new fiscal year Metro will be spending $1.289 billion on Measure R transit projects and $141 million on Measure R highway projects.

There are risk factors for the newly adopted budget. Metro is not immune to the state and federal budget woes that could cut transportation funding. The economy is still shaky, and collective bargaining agreements with Metro unions are being negotiated.

Metro funding comes largely from local transportation sales tax revenue along with transit assistance and grants from the state and federal governments, farebox revenue, and other revenue sources such as advertising, land leases and commercial filming.

Metro Board votes to fully fund Leimert Park, Hindy stations on Crenshaw/LAX Line

  Metro Board votes to fully fund Leimert Park, Hindy stations on  Crenshaw/LAX Line

 http://thesource.metro.net/2013/05/23/metro-board-votes-to-fully-fund-leimert-park-village-and-hindry-stations-for-crenshawlax-line/

 By Steve Hymon, May 23, 2013

 Supervisor Mark Ridley-Thomas explains his motion to the Metro Board on Wednesday.

Stations at Leimert Park Village and at Hindry and Florence avenues near Westchester for the Crenshaw/LAX Line light rail project were funded today by the Metro Board of Directors, ending a two-year long controversy over whether the stops would be built.

The vote was 10 to 1. The motion by Supervisor Mark Ridley-Thomas included five other co-signers — including Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa and Supervisor/Metro Board Chair Mike Antonovich — meaning supporters only needed to drum up one more vote to secure approval from a majority of the Metro Board.

Voting for were Ridley-Thomas, Villaraigosa, Antonovich, John Fasana, Jose Huizar, Ara Najarian, Pam O'Connor, Don Knabe, Richard Katz and Mel Wilson. The vote against was from Diane DuBois, who expressed concerns about taking reserve fund money from Metro that may be needed later for other purposes.

To read the entire motion, please see this post from earlier today.

The Los Angeles City Council voted on Wednesday to use $55 million in Measure R local return money to help build the two stations — $40 million for Leimert Park Village and $15 million for Hindry.

The motion directs Metro to add another $80 million to that from Metro's general fund for the coming year's fiscal budget. The motion says that it will cost up to $120 million to build the undergroud Leimert Park Village station and $15 million for the street-level Hindry station.

Metro will soon release bids from construction firms that want to build the $1.763-billion Crenshaw/LAX Line. The Metro Board had previously asked those bidding if they could construct the optional stations within the project budget, meaning there was no assurance the stations would definitely be built; it would depend on the bids.

In the meantime, both community and political support for the station has continued to grow. Many community members continued to protest that Leimert Park Village — the traditional center of African American culture in Los Angeles — would not be well served by a station one-half mile to the north at Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard and Crenshaw. There were also complaints, too, that other Metro Rail projects included stations as close — or closer — together.

The Crenshaw/LAX Line is being funded by the Measure R sales tax increase approved by Los Angeles County voters in 2008 as well as a federal TIFIA loan. The 8.5-mile rail line will run between the Expo Line at Crenshaw and Exposition boulevards and the Green Line, just south of Los Angeles International Airport. The project is currently forecast by Metro staff to open in 2019.

One issue remains unresolved. The Crenshaw Subway Coalition has called for undergrounding the line between 48th and 59th streets, an 11-block section where the train will run at street level through Park Mesa Heights. Putting the line in a tunnel there would cost more $200 million and the Metro Board has thus far not committed to change the project to that extent.

 

Anthony Foxx: Transportation Projects Are Economic Drivers 

 http://www.wnyc.org/blogs/transportation-nation/2013/may/22/dot-nominee/

 By Martin Di Cado, May 22, 2013 

 Anthony Foxx (seated; red tie) at his Senate confirmation hearing.

In a cordial Senate hearing that would seem to bode well for his confirmation, Anthony Foxx said that as secretary of transportation, he would prioritize safety, efficiency, and multi-modal infrastructure.

 Foxx testified before a Senate committee on Wednesday, one month after President Obama tapped the Charlotte mayor to replace current Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood.

As mayor of the nation’s 17^th largest city, Foxx trumpeted the power of transportation projects to
serve as catalysts for economic development. Foxx was a strong supporter of Charlotte’s Lynx light rail system, which he said cost $462 million in public money to construct -- but spurred more than $1 billion in private investment since 2007.

Foxx faced a warm welcome from the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation whose members expressed support for his nomination. Their questions concerned both local and federal issues-- not to mention the enormous funding challenges the next secretary will face during a time of federal budget tightening.

“Do you think it makes sense to move beyond the current formulaic funding programs towards a more multi-modal strategic model?” said Senator Jay Rockefeller (D-WV).

“I do believe a multi-modal approach is necessary to move our country forward,” responded Foxx. “We have a variety of transportation systems in this country. All of them are important. But we do have to work in a way that helps communities, states, and local governments, as well as the federal government, move this country forward in a very robust way.”

Foxx promised to continue current Secretary Ray LaHood’s crusade against distracted driving and support the development of the NextGen air traffic control system.

In light of the recent commuter rail derailment in Connecticut, Senator Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) asked Foxx about safety on the nation’s rail lines.

“It speaks to the issue of maintaining a good state of repair with our existing infrastructure,” Foxx said. “And you have my commitment to keep safety as the number one priority whether it is rail or any other mode of transportation.”

“What that accident shows is that our rail lines are deteriorated and outdated and decrepit in many sections of that Northeast Corridor. Would you agree with me?” said Blumenthal.

“I think we have some general challenges with state of good repair and I think rail is one of them,” said Foxx. “I know of some tracks that are probably 100 years old that haven’t been repaired adequately in the past.”

On the issue of tolling highways, Foxx sought middle ground. Tolling new lane capacity through the use of public-private partnerships has become a major issue in states like Virginia, where electronic toll lanes have opened on the Capital Beltway to mixed reviews. Virginia is currently building more HOT lanes on I-95 and considering a similar approach for heavily congested I-66.

“Tolling… has a place,” Foxx said. “We’re not going to toll our way to prosperity as a country. It is a tool that can be used in some instances, for example, to add capacity and to pay for that capacity privately. But I don’t think it is a complete solution to how we deal with our surface transportation issues.”

If confirmed, Foxx would succeed former Congressman Ray LaHood, who said in January he would not stay on for Obama's second term.

Long Beach: 710 Expansion Update; All Community Alternative 7 Options Considered

Long Beach: 710 Expansion Update; All Community Alternative 7 Options Considered 

 http://la.streetsblog.org/2013/05/23/long-beach-710-expansion-update-all-community-alternative-7-options-considered/

By Brian Addison, May 23, 2013

 

The Long Beach City Council I-710 Oversight Committee’s latest meeting was a lengthy one that attempted to quickly go over the more recent updates about the 710 expansion project that is planned to run from Ocean Boulevard in Long Beach all the way to the 60 freeway in East Los Angeles.

The general update was focused on the redistribution of the EIR that was approved earlier this year following a resounding rejection of the RDEIR that was attached to the project, particularly given it lacked a zero emissions aspect. That new EIR — which mainly avoided the deeply flawed 5A and 6A options that had 10 general purpose lanes extend the entire length of the expansion — has since had its 90 days of public comment review with some 3,000 comments attached.

This update was to expand upon the geometric engineering plan — to be finished within the next few months — and the environmental updates that involves mainly leaving behind a smaller footprint, such as avoiding the Los Angeles River. Or, as Jerry Woods of the Gateway Cities Council Government put it, “go over a lotta more details than before.”


Alternative 6C (a full-blown widening of the freeway to 10 general purpose lanes along a zero emission corridor), Alternative 6D (eight general purpose lanes along a zero emission corridor), and Community Alternative 7 (a public-private partnership for an employer-operated freight system which avoids the 710 expanding all together, as well as including a public transit element and a biking/pedestrian element) were all addressed.

“The recommendations provided by the Technical Advisory Committee (TAC) have all been taken into account,” Woods said, acknowledging that they hope to have solid presentations that show how each alternative could actually be accomplished “relatively soon.”

The complications with these updates revolves around SCIG, which was recently approved by the City of Los Angeles; if the near-dock railyard — which has been largely contested by the groups which proffered Alternative 7 — is or isn’t built, that alters the way the 710 project should or should not move forward. Therefore, the modeling of what this project will look like unfortunately revolves around assumptions.

Environmentally speaking, the most promising of updates is the fact that Community Alternative 7 is actually being studied as a true alternative with all its components — including avoiding interference with Shelter Partnerships, Bell Shelters, the Long Beach Multi-Service Center, and Seasons at Compton senior housing.

“Everything that has been asked for [within Community Alternative 7] is being taken into consideration and entirely taken seriously,” Woods said to 8th District Councilmember Al Austin.
Meanwhile, the feasibility study that has been underway for the last 15 months analyzing the installation of sound walls is now complete. Succinctly put, the study attempted to gauge where “early action” sound walls could be placed quickly without interfering with current or proposed freeway construction. This could mean an entirely new sound wall, treating an existing sound wall, or entirely replacing an old sound wall.

Almost all the new sound walls — five — will be placed south of the 91 in Long Beach if built, mostly west of the 710 with a handful on the east side. According to Woods, all of the proposed sound wall revisions are environmentally sound and could be built without the attachment to the 710 expansion project.

The meeting of the larger I-710 Oversight Committee — which is comprised of all cities involved — will meet in Paramount on May 30.

Charting a Course to Transform California’s Freight System

 http://blog.ucsusa.org/charting-a-course-to-transform-californias-freight-system-107

Don Anair, April 24, 2013

 

 

Last Friday, the first of three freight policy forums was held in Sacramento. The series is exploring some of the strategies to address the impacts of California’s freight and goods movement system on air quality, climate, and community health with researchers, policy makers, and other experts to inform better policy. 

UCS, along with our co-hosts UC Davis Policy Institute for Energy, Environment and the Economy and the Institute for Transportation Studies, hosted the first session, The Role of Freight Transportation in Achieving Clean Air, Climate Goals, Economic Growth, and Healthy Communities in California, which focused on the key motivations for transforming the freight sector, from air quality and climate change, to public health and a strong economy.

The speakers included myself; Jack Kitowski Assistant Chief of the Stationary Source Division for the California Air Resources Board; and Professor of Preventive Medicine, Dr. Ed Avol from the University of Southern California. The speakers presented a compelling story of why, despite progress in reducing diesel pollution from the freight sector over the past decade, transformational change is needed to meet our long term air quality, energy, and climate change goals.
Some key points made in the presentations include:

Dr. Ed Avol of USC’s Department of Preventive Medicine speaks about the role of freight pollution on public health.

• Communities near rail yards, sea ports, airports, warehousing, and freeways experience the most direct health risks from freight pollution, while poor regional air quality affects an even greater number of people. Research has linked air pollution with low birth weights, heart rate variability, hospital admissions, asthma, cancer, pneumonia, heart attacks, and much more.
• Global warming emissions in every sector of the freight system, including trucks, rail, ships, and aircraft, are expected to increase substantially over the next 20 years unless investments are made to improve efficiency and commercialize innovative solutions.
• Upcoming federal air quality deadlines in 2023 and 2032 can not be achieved through improved diesel emission controls alone. Even if trucks in the near future achieved emissions 80 percent below the cleanest truck standards today, California won’t achieve healthy air. Zero-tailpipe emission solutions will need to be part of California’s freight system.
• Freight accounts for one quarter of the nation’s oil consumption, leaving shipping companies and consumers vulnerable to spikes in international oil markets.
• Freight congestion is expected to increase rapidly as population grows and demand for goods increases in the coming decades.

So what technologies are likely to provide the emission reductions we need?

Losers in the mayoral race: Latino leaders?

 http://www.laobserved.com/archive/2013/05/losers_in_the_mayoral_rac.php

By Kevin Roderick, May 22, 2013

 

 

 

The lasting impact of Tuesday's vote on the power of labor in LA elections will be debated until the next time that influence is tested at the polls. The few million spent by unions on behalf of Wendy Greuel, led by $1.65 million from the DWP's International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 18, didn't get her into the mayor's office. The labor-hatched John Choi also lost his bid for City Council — but labor candidates Gil Cedillo and Curren Price did win seats on the council. So the tally sheet is mixed. As of now, though, can anyone claim to be a kingmaker among local Latino politicians? Supervisor Gloria Molina, Councilman Jose Huizar and Valley electeds such as Rep. Tony Cardenas and Sen. Alex Padilla endorsed Wendy Greuel for mayor. They couldn't deliver even the Latino vote: 63 percent of Latino voters cast ballots for Eric Garcetti, according to Fernando Guerra, who oversaw Tuesday's exit poll by Loyola Marymount University.

Oscar Garza, a KPCC editor who was formerly the editor-in-chief of the late Ciudad magazine, writes that Garcetti is a new kind of Latino figure for Los Angeles. Sample from his story for the NPR station's website:

Eight years ago, when I was editor-in-chief of Ciudad Magazine, we heralded the election of Antonio Villaraigosa as L.A.'s first modern-day Mexican-American mayor. At another junction during the magazine's three-year life, we published a cover story titled: "The New Angelenos Are Half-Latino: How They're Changing the Face of Our Wildly Diverse Metropolis." The story examined how Latinos in L.A. are increasingly the children or partners of people from other ethnicities and races.

And now L.A. has a mayor who fits that bill.

Some Latinos quibble with Eric Garcetti's pedigree. His mother is Jewish, and his Italian surname comes from a European ancestor who emigrated to Mexico. But he is firm about his ethnic bona fides.

“Both of my father’s parents were proudly Mexican-American, both spoke Spanish as their first language," Garcetti told KPCC last year. "My grandfather was born in Mexico, my grandmother’s parents were from Mexico.” He's also spoken of his grandparents' former house in Boyle Heights being his second home.

Garcetti, argues Garza, "represents the 2.0 model of Latinos in L.A." At his press conference today in Echo Park, Garcetti talked about the multi-ethnic face of the city and of his own family, then shifted seamlessly into Spanish to deliver his message of Los Angeles as a world capital to the viewers listening on Univision and Telemundo. Garcetti, raised in the Valley partly by grandparents who spoke Spanish at home, famously spoke better Spanish than Antonio Villaraigosa when they both got to City Hall.

 

Election post-mortem in quotes (some very pointed)

 http://www.laobserved.com/archive/2013/05/election_aftermath_in_quo.php

 By Kevin Roderick, May 22, 2013

 

 

 

 

Eric Garcetti surrounded by supporters and media in Echo Park on Wednesday. 

 Quotes often tell the story. These are from a variety of sources.

"Enthusiasm — real grassroots enthusiasm — trumps money, trumps endorsements, trumps everything." — Eric Garcetti on his election victory.

“This election was never for sale. People want you to be independent.” — Garcetti today in Echo Park.

"Soy uno de vosotros." — Garcetti. ("I am one of you")

"You showed the daughters, sisters, wives and mothers of Los Angeles that one day we will have a woman mayor of Los Angeles." — Wendy Greuel.

"Eric cares deeply about Los Angeles and he will work tirelessly and be a strong and innovative leader at a critical time in the city’s history." — Greuel to the media.

“They would be so proud... They never would have thought I would run for mayor of Los Angeles.” — Greuel emotionally discussing her late parents.

"In the end, [Greuel] proved unable to carry her home precinct in Studio City." — Michael Finnegan and Ben Welsh, LA Times

"We did much better in her base than she did in ours." — Garcetti strategist Bill Carrick, in the LAT.

"In the Valley, Republicans, especially in the western part of the Valley, deserted her." — Fernando Guerra of Loyola Marymount University, in the Daily News.

"I am flabbergasted; I thought women would really want to see the first woman mayor of LA but somehow that just didn't resonate." — Guerra on Greuel splitting the female vote with Garcetti.

"The most liberal man in the race carried Republicans by a substantial margin. To me, that can all be traced to the DWP, and the perception that was created around the DWP. " — William Wardlaw, chairman of the Riordan and Hahn mayoral campaigns, in the LAT.

"Garcetti may be the most politically progressive mayor Los Angeles has seen in recent history." — Times editorial.

"Voters showed they want something new." — Daily News editorial.

"It was one of the worst run campaigns I've ever seen in my life." — Parke Skelton, Mayor Villaraigosa's former election strategist, on the Greuel campaign to the LA Times.

"Greuel has been a high-profile public servant who believes in Los Angeles and has devoted much of her career to improving it. But boy, did she run a lousy campaign for mayor." — columnist Jim Newton

"Labor gambled and lost." — columnist Steve Lopez

"The potential for [DWP workers] going on strike, or having walkouts or slowdowns, is real. The potential for that happening when it's 110 degrees in the San Fernando Valley is also real." — City Hall lobbyist Steve Afriat, in the LA Times.

"Eric is a true leader who I trust to guide our city into its bright future. I know I am leaving Los Angeles in good hands....Wendy, like Eric, is a dedicated public servant who I've worked with for many years. She has devoted her career to making our city a better place, and I know she'll continue to do so in the future." — Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa

"I think the election signals a new generation of leadership for the city." — Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky, to Los Angeles Magazine.

"I made a mistake and I can't turn back the clock." — City Attorney Carmen Trutanich, on the pledge not to run for DA that led to his defeat, in the LA Times.

"He's a very good lawyer. He's not a very good politician." William W. Carter, chief deputy to Trutanich.

"It would definitely seem that people did their homework." — Ron Galperin, on voters choosing him over Councilman Dennis Zine in the city controller race.

"It’s got to be disturbing to people who like good government." — Raphe Sonenshein, director of the Pat Brown Institute of Public Affairs, on the low voter turnout, to KCRW.

"Well I'd say this mayor's race is about complete. IBEW boss Brian D'Arcy just gave me the middle finger from his 2nd floor office window." — LA Weekly reporter Gene Maddaus tweet.

Happy Days Are Here Again in This Temple of Democracy

 http://ronkayela.com/

May 22, 2013

 

Sunshine peeks through the clouds, the cynics with all their money and power vanish to their private enclaves, double-dipping Dennis Zine roars off on his Harley to his posh desert hideaway never to be seen again — the costliest, most tediously painful, anti-climactic city election is finally over.

Happy days are here again in this wonderland called L.A.

Enjoy it while you can because come July 1 order will have been restored, Garcetti will be BFF with everyone from Bill Clinton to Brian D’Arcy, Galperin will have his marching orders from labor and the party, and Feuer will posture and preen to the same political pretenses without even being told.
All’s well that ends well. Nothing really changes.

L.A. — you got to love it, the light and dark, the creative genius of it so visible in a new generation
of artists, chefs, entrepreneurs and gangsters, so fading in an old guard that sees itself as so much better than the millions of minions so far below, the poor, the immigrant, and most of all the bourgeoisie they despise as nothing more than cash cows.

It has always been that way in L.A.

Nothing that happened Tuesday is going to change that unless you believe in miracles, believe that a man who has known privilege all his life, who believes that City Hall is “a temple of democracy,” a man who has trouble keeping his word will “rise to the occasion,” as editorial fantasists put it, and find strength and courage to stand up with love and respect for all for the greater good.

Unknown to world of self service that clothes itself in the noble language of public service, something great and wonderful is happening, mainly among the young in all their diversity filled with hope and mutual respect.

A new culture filled with promise is being born.  Like everyone who has ever been drawn to the place where dreams are manufactured and sold, their imaginations are lit by the myths of unlimited freedom and endless possibility.

It is not the discontent of the alienated, apathetic and defeated that needs to be tapped but the dreams of something better of those who seek their destinies without access or control by the world where all that talks is power and money.

It’s the beauty of the existential dilemma of living in L.A. now that the Grand Coalition of business, labor and civic elites that bet on a loser who, like them, was incapable of articulating a single idea, not even a single phrase, that contained a word of truth, of real hope.

Garcetti has barely a month to put an agenda on the table that sends the unions, the developers, the political apparatchiks, the big shots reeling back on their heels and inspires the forgotten and ignored.

We don’t need sound bites and pieties. We need leadership, bold and courageous.

If Garcetti wants to be President like most politicians, he needs to make his mark now or he will find he won’t even be mayor all that long.

Democracy isn’t about voting, especially when the system is so closed that it’s always a choice between the lesser of two evils.

It’s about empowering people to feel they matter and that they can be effective at achieving their goals individually and collectively to create a community that reflects their values, meets their needs and serves their interests.

This is L.A. and nothing can stop any of us in our pursuit of private dreams and personal lives wherever that journey may lead us. It’s our collective lives that are lacking.

Maybe that’s why we have been so indifferent, so myopic and self-absorbed, so disengaged that we let the forces of greed and selfishness in all their forms operate without impunity for the last three decades.

Personally, I set out five years ago this month to do what I could to make a difference.

I posted 1,910 blog items, drafted 161 others and killed 3. I started protests and activists groups, went to hundreds of meetings, created an online citizen journalism project. It was all for nought except to know in my heart that I did what I could.

Now, it’s time to get on my shiny new bike and start riding down the billion-dollar bikeway in the L.A. river channel from Winnetka to Long Beach even if it takes me five more years.

The Evolution of Moscow's Subway Maps

http://www.theatlanticcities.com/design/2013/05/moscows-subway-maps-through-history/5679/

 By Mark Byrnes, May 23, 2013

Moscow's subway system turned 78-years-old last week. It started as 19 stations on one line; today it has 188 stations on 12 lines. As the system changed so have the maps, reflecting not only the growth of the subway system but evolving design trends as well.

Many of these maps can be found on a website run by Artemy Lebedev, founder of Art. Lebedev Studio. Lebedev's impressive online collection of Moscow Metro ephemera includes images, tickets, tokens, and maps (official and unofficial).

He and his firm have been pushing their own design concept for a Moscow subway map as well, first proposing a new map in 2010. Lebedev and his team won an online vote earlier this year for best redesign of the city's subway map. The firm's new design includes landmarks, parks, rivers and alternative transit options.

Below, courtesy Lebedev, a collection of official and unofficial maps of Moscow's subway system
since its inception in 1935:
1935. "Source: Master Plan for Development and Reconstruction of Moscow. M."
1935. "From the booklet: What Everyone Should Know passenger subway / / Moscow: Moscow Worker."
1935. "Plan of subway lines and a variety of information from the brochure."
1946. "Plan runs underground with all official branches and Congress. Source unknown."
1946. "A large underground ring of the Moscow Metro [Circle Line subway] / / Spark. Number 2."
1947. "From the book: In the Old and the New Moscow / / Moscow Detgiz."
1952.
1967. "Source: Planning map of the USSR Exhibition of Economic Achievements. Moscow: Publishing House of the Soviet Era."
1967. "Metro map on silk, made Moscow Silk Factory"
1970. "The scheme of lines of the Moscow underground after V. I.Lenina / / [scheme-flyer.] MM: Advertising"
1979. "The scheme of the Moscow metro / / [Annual Booklet "clamshell".]"
1980. "Guide to the Moscow Olympics / / Moscow Vneshtorgizdat. Ed. Number 805r."
1980. "Source unknown."
1985. "Source unknown"
1990. "Source unknown."
2013. Current map in use. 
2013. The new official transit map to be rolled out during this year. Designed by Art. Lebedev Studio.

Bike Trains are the Lightest Rail

 http://ladotbikeblog.wordpress.com/2013/05/22/bike-trains-are-the-lightest-rail/

By Elizabeth Gallardo, May 22, 2013


 

 Safety in numbers!

Jump on the train! The bike train that is… A group of enthusiastic bicyclists have organized LA Bike Trains: routes across Los Angeles, encouraging Angelenos to ditch their cars and join a bike train to work.

What is a bike train? It’s a slow and steady bike ride to work taking a regular route in the company of other bicyclists. Bike trains are led by reliable Conductors that monitor the speed and safety of the ride, ensuring all commuters are on board and comfortable. Bike trains encourage safety in numbers and provide a festive morning commute. Bike Train Conductors are dedicated volunteers, experienced urban cyclists who recognize that biking to work can be daunting for an individual, but easy and enjoyable in a group.

Right now the LA Bike Trains have 5 routes:

Route 001 : Silver Lake to Hollywood
Led by Bruce Chan - Meets Wednesdays at 8:00am at Cafe Tropical.

Route 002 : Mid-Wilshire to DTLA
Led by Nona Varnado - Meets Wednesdays 9 am at Cafe Americano .

Route 003 : Sunset Triangle to Santa Monica
Led by Wes High - Meets Tuesday at 7:45am at Sunset Triangle Plaza.

Route 004 : Silver Lake to Downtown
Led by Alex Rixey - Meets Thursdays at 8:00am at Caffe Vita on Sunset and Hillhurst, near the Vista Theater.

Route 005 : Westlake to Long Beach
Led by Christopher Lovejoy - Meets Wednesdays 6:45am at 7-Eleven on 7th Street.

LA Bike Trains is eager to expand! To provide input where you would like to join a bike train, fill out their Commuter Survey.