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This week kicks off a multi-episode mini-series at SGV Connect focusing on the LA 2028 Olumpoc games and what the events can mean for San Gabriel Valley Communities.

This first episode features an interview with Alissa Walker, co-host of the LA Pod and editor of the Torched Newsletter. When not hanging out with celebrities and appearing on Netflix specials, Walker has become the go-to source of information about the upcoming games.

The 2028 games will feature four venues in the San Gabriel Valley. Pasadena will host the soccer finals at the Rose Bowl, the Santa Anita Racetrack will host equestrian and dressage, the Pomona Fairgrounds will host the cricket tournament, and shotgun events will be held at the Shotgun Center in El Monte.

Walker reports that San Gabriel cities are well positioned to host these attractions, as the venues all host major events (outside of the Shotgun Center) and know how to do so without causing headaches for neighboring communities. She is also excited for the possibilities that could occur with cities hosting official and unofficial events to bolster their profile and their coffers. It also allows for city and regional officials to think about creative ways to use the games to improve their transportation options in the short- and long-term.

Transcript:

Damien Newton - As mentioned in the pre show, I'm recording with podcast royalty today.

Alissa Walker - Who is it? Who's gonna be on? Oh, me.

Damien - , the LA Pod is the only podcast that I download and listen to when I run.

Alissa - So you listen to it more than me.

Damien - I almost never listen to this podcast unless it's one that Chris is doing completely on his own. So I understand what you're saying there.

Alissa - It's not that I don't want to listen to it. It's just, , I've already listened to it.

Damien - I relate. No, it's a great podcast. I was saying to you before we started recording that I ran into your co host in the grocery store this morning, and he referred to you as a unicorn. Because you're so much on top of things that when you guys are sending story ideas back and forth, he never finds an article on the story before you do.

Alissa - Oh, I don't know if that's true. You're talking about Mike Bonin, my cohost, because I think Mike is actually pretty good at that stuff too, though.

Damien - Yeah, he's pretty on top of things. When he was my city council member, both as a reporter and as a constituent, I never found him unprepared for a question, even if we were trying to catch him off guard at a neighborhood meeting.

Alissa - Ohhhh, you were out there yelling at him about bike bike lanes. You were yelling. Well, that's what I said to him on the most recent podcast that I felt like he did in 2010 when I went on the John Mulaney show, having people yelling at me about bike lanes. I was like, now I finally understand what it feels like, Mike.

Damien - Yeah, that was wild. They put me on the neighborhood council after they approved that project. So I got in. Everyone that Googled me knew who I was, so I just got to listen to people screaming at me about that. And honestly, I had had no input at all on it. Joe was the Streetsblog editor. I had nothing to do with it.

Moving on,we're talking about the Olympics, because in addition to being the podcast royalty, you're also the editor and writer of Torched, a subscription newsletter that's covering the Olympics and Los Angeles. It is a must read. Torched is where we go if we need to find something out about the Olympics, which is why we're here today, because the Olympics are theoretically and hopefully coming in 2028.

Alissa - Yeah, what will they be like now? We're not sure,

Damien - Right? It's been a long time. It feels like it's been at least four or five decades since it was approved, two or three years ago.

Alissa - More than that. It's been a while, 2017, that's a long time. And think of what, think of what Paris accomplished in that time compared to us.

Damien - Oh, that's a hint. I think about the tone of this podcast.

Some San Gabriel Valley cities are in line to host Olympic events. Some have been announced. Some are, quote, unquote, in the works. Having done some writing that I do for Santa Monica Next, I know that it's not necessarily a slam dunk for a city to host an Olympic Games, just be a smaller part of the game.

So we wanted to talk a little bit about what these cities can be looking forward to, what they might want to be considering on their own, and all sorts of other various issues. If there's any breaking news, you would probably know it ahead of me. That being said, that usually takes us four or five days to get a podcast up, so it probably won't be breaking anymore. But anyway, that's the longest intro we've ever done. Welcome Alissa.

Alissa - Thank you so much. I'm so glad to be here.

Damien - So let's start talking. Last I checked there were two or three San Gabriel Valley cities that were hosting events, shooting and horse events. What can you tell us about what's going on with the San Gabriel Valley and the Olympics?

Alissa - Yeah, and you missed one: cricket. Well, I mean, does the Pasadena Rose Bowl also count as San Gabriel Valley?

Damien - I mean, it's in... We always debate this, because geographically it is, but Chris always argues that it's culturally a very different city than the rest of the SGV.

Alissa - All right. Well, you can, you can try to lump it in, maybe if needed.

Most people know about the Rose Bowl. The Rose Bowl is going to be used as soccer finals. And it's going to be the third time that the Rose Bowl has hosted Olympics events. They hosted events in all three Olympics, which is kind of cool, but the bigger announcements are definitely this last batch of announcements.

The LA 28 did them in phased delivery. First, we got the big Oklahoma City events. Some things are going there.

And then we got kind of a revised version of a few more events. And then this last dump was the rest of the venues, including, I believe, all three announcements that you just talked about. So the ones for your listeners to track will be equestrian events at Santa Anita, cricket at the Fairplex and shotgun shooting in Whittier Narrows.

It's not just about the venues that are being officially hosted by LA 28 as I'm sure , there's all these plans for, like fan festivals and viewing parties and cultural events. There's a whole Cultural Olympiad that goes on top of everything else, plus all the Paralympic events as well. None of those venues have been announced officially.

For example, Pico Rivera has already voted to have a fan festival in their city, just as part of what's going on. Because as you're moving from one venue to another, you might want to stop in Pico Rivera and have a drink or watch whatever sport is on the big screen. So there's going to be a lot more stuff happening. These are just the latest, like official announcements.

Damien - One of the things that we covered with Santa Monica was that the Olympics have sort of a contract they sign with the cities that are doing these events that outline a lot of what you can and can't do. And obviously, Santa Monica is in a different situation, because they're already a tourist hub, and they're so close to LA. They're doing things like planning bus routes to get people from the hotels…but they said no to beach volleyball, so that they didn't have to abide by all the Olympics rules, thinking that they would get a better deal otherwise.

Is this something that smaller cities in the San Gabriel Valley that maybe don't have a large beach right next to them, maybe aren't considered as touristy as Santa Monica should be, should be thinking about? With all the rules they're going to have to follo worth it or is it just having an event going to be good enough to make this a financially good decision for a smaller city?

Alissa - The thing about beach volleyball is it can be played anywhere. In Paris, they played it just in front of the Eiffel Tower, if you remember. The matches weren't anywhere near a beach. It wasn't even done by the Seine. You really could have put it anywhere.

The thing about Santa Monica's specific situation is they hired a firm to do this economic analysis of how they would benefit from the games or if they decided not to host anything. And I think the conclusion they came away with was that it was probably going to be a better deal for them for many reasons. They might have had to close the pier for the entire summer, or a large part of the summer to the public. It just didn't make sense for them. They could make more money by just being Santa Monica for the summer and then hosting some of these other little interventions that I was talking about.

A really big opportunity for them are these things called hospitality houses. In Paris, there were like 30 of them all over the city.

Every country that's bringing athletes there would set up in some kind of public or private building and have these viewing parties or VIP events. But a lot of stuff that was open to the public and you could go hang out.

So they've been approached by a lot of countries to host those. So if you've got a few hospitality houses, and you have your own viewing stuff on the pier and then on the beach…you're pretty much set.

But most of the deals that you're talking about signing are not public. You haven't been able to really go through them.

Long Beach's, for example, is online. It's public. You can look at it and it describes this thing called “Clean Zones,” a square mile around every venue.

That means you're delivering like a blank slate: there's no advertising, there's no signage. There's very specific rules about trash pickup, and all these other things that have to happen. No street vendors, it seems like. You are making a big trade off when you make a deal with LA 28.

But for a place like Long Beach who really wants to be put on the map through this and has, to their credit, done a lot of work to prepare…they have this thing called Elevate 28 which is a huge capital program leading up to 2028. They're doing things such as improving infrastructure, not just for the games, but also fixing sidewalks, adding to their cycle ways, and improving parks. Improving fire stations, libraries, all sorts of great things that'll have legacy impacts afterwards.

Can every city prepare for it that way? Probably not, and maybe not even the city of LA. But for a place like Pomona, to be able to put something at the Fairplex, it's probably not going to be that big of a deal to like the residents of Pomona. The Fairplex is very large and kind of self contained, and does these things all the time.

Damien - I don't have a great grasp of all the geography of where the venues are, but the event centers aren't located in the middle of town like it would have been for Santa Monica.

Alissa - The Zone would have encompassed all of downtown Santa Monica. So…what do you do in that situation?

Damien - It would have been really intrusive. And yeah, the race tracks and the Fairplex…

Alissa - They've got parking lots, just giant parking lots, yeah?

Damien - Which raises a different point, though. There was the promise of the car free Olympics, and I don't know how you do that for the Fairplex.

Alissa - They're having the new station opening right there. It'll be open.

Damien - I'm sorry, yeah, the other one.

Alissa - Yeah, Santa, Anita,

The A line gets pretty close, and they'll do shuttles. You can walk there if you're determined, it's not the worst thing in the world to walk from that station.

For Pomona, it's really exciting. I rode out there for the LA County Fair last year, and got to look at the station. I'm sure your viewers or your listeners are really excited about this too, but you've got a really cool, brand new station that's going to be opening later this year. It'll basically be right across the street. You got to walk through the parking lot, but you also have two different Metro link options as well that aren't that far away either.

Santa Anita…it's not that hard to get there from the A line. They'll have shuttles.

But the other thing that'll be really cool is there's these festival zones around all the venues. So you won't be walking through like a mile of parking lot. You'll probably be walking through a very cool fan experience with other things to do. And they want people to come and hang out and be in the environment, even if they're not necessarily ticket holders to that event. And on days where they don't have the event that day, they'll, it'll still be set up as a cool place to go.

Damien - So this is not going to be as not going to be as, let's say, onerous for the existing residents, as some of the more urban Olympics events venues might be. We've covered the transportation. Is there any other sort of surprises that the cities might be thinking about, or the residents might be bracing themselves for. You're making it sound like a pretty good deal for Pomona and Santa Anita.

Alissa - Yeah. These places are used to doing this scale of events all the time. The one funny one will be the Whittier Narrows shooting range. I guess you could, you can get pretty close. You can get pretty close. They'll be shuttle buses and stuff. But it's not the end of the world.

Damien - Crowds at past Olympics…you have the shooters’ family. I mean, it’s not like it’s just 20 people in a room (with guns!), but it’s also not 20,000 fans.

Alissa - It's not that far from the A Line station. And, like, they will have little shuttles to get people that last like a little bit. I wouldn't worry too much about the traffic impacts.

These others are large venues that are used to absorbing large amounts of visitors. And I don't think it'll be spectacularly different. Some of these things are happening at the same time in different parts of the valley at the same time so that’s a little different.

The one thing I am super concerned about, and the reason that the LA County Fair is being held in the spring, it actually just ended, instead of in the summer, is the heat.

The Fairplex made this big decision to move the fair out of the summer months and into, our May Gray veil of outside my window right now, it's perfectly misty and foggy outside, because they were so worried about not just attendees, but also their workers, having very adverse effects from some of the worst heat and also air quality of those summer months.

So, sticking a bunch of people in the hottest parts of LA County in July and August is not advised. I was thinking that they were going to pivot towards more coastal choices. I understand why they picked the venues that they did, and I think I'm glad overall that they're more transit adjacent, and they're more…they're in LA. They're not in Oklahoma City. But I'm very, very worried about the heat. And you don't hear too much about their plans for that yet?

Damien - Well, I mean, two years, maybe we won't have heat anymore,

Alissa - Yeah, maybe it'll all be reversed,

Damien - They got some time. I hear the government's very interested in reversing climate change.

Alissa - They are very. They're going to take swift action and give money to help cities cope with it. It's their top priority.

Damien - All right. Well, we are. We're starting to push 20 minutes, which for our dual podcast, is about how much we aim for. But you had mentioned in our pre-show that you had fun things to cover. Or are there more fun things to come?

Alissa - One thing that’s exciting is how groups like Active SGV can really get everyone thinking about how to move around differently, not just for the games, but in real life.

The games offer this tremendous opportunity. And of course, we also have the World Cup coming up next summer. Even though all the action is going to be at Sofi, you will see fan festivals and viewing parties too. There's going to be things popping up around the area next summer as well.

You've probably heard much about the car free games. The promises of the car free games have really started to walk those back from the top officials. There's a story in The New York Times that I was quoted in today as we're recording this, and they're basically saying, like, "Oh, we didn't really mean it. We didn't really mean car free."

Damien - Aspirational! I haven't read the article yet. But I always love when government officials tell me "something was aspirational."

Alissa - Yeah, I mean, but it's good, it's a good aspiration. I'm still gonna keep saying it, but now they say “transit first,” but now they're even walking that back even more.

I think, because they're concerned they won't be able to get the 2000 extra buses to be able to move people around. Have things like Park and Ride, similar to what the Hollywood Bowl does, to get people on kind of these regional, dedicated bus networks that can move people from one place to another. But in the meantime, we've got to really be thinking about just the very, very small scale. How do we get from one place to another? And things like E bikes, and things like really good dedicated bike infrastructure.

Active SGV is leading the way out there, really getting this stuff in the ground, but also getting people to think differently about how they move. You have some really cool kind of grassroots ideas that aren't official, things like the festival trail, this 50 mile car free Greenway type concept that's going to connect some of the venues. Now, we've got venues that are a little bit further away. How can you plug into that network from the Arroyo and get all the way to the Fairplex?

People will be wanting to do those types of things, to move around during this time safely, even in the heat of the summer, of course, let's have a lot of hydration zones.

I would really like to challenge everyone to think about alternatives. Can we get something like a month-long e-bike rental for LA County residents to get cars off the road? You don't want there to be traffic, right? So can we start to think of some solutions that shift people's behavior, as we saw in 84. A lot of people rode the bus to get to the Olympic events. It was a huge success. And a lot of people who hadn't taken transit before, took it during those weeks. So I think we could, we could really look to the San Gabriel Valley to be a leader in this.

Damien - Well, that's a great wrap up. Anyone that's been listening to it for a while knows that there's actually a lot of really cool things going on in the San Gabriel Valley. And you outlined a lot of them there too.

When you were talking about E bikes and how the cities have been reacting to them…I'm still going to call it the Gold Line…the Gold Line coming through. But thinking about this major event coming as a way to accelerate that transformation that we've been seeing going on is a very optimistic way to look at it.

Alissa - And we don't need federal money to do it for the most part. So we don't have to rely on those jokers.

Damien - I get the feeling that it's not coming.

Alissa - I don't know why. I didn't know why.

Damien - All right, well, anyway, thank you so much. We've got two more years till the Olympics, so we might try to check in with you again on this podcast. We generally don't do sports, but here we are.

Alissa - You've actually got three so don't worry, three years. (Damien: Oh, yeah, right, it's 2025) but let's pretend just so we can get all this stuff done last year you're going to be very busy.

Damien - You'll be on CNN and NBC. Where were you last week?

Alissa - Netflix, Netflix.

Damien - Thank you so much for spending time with us today, and we always look forward to getting to see you. And I'm gonna use the picture of you with “smart” written over your head that other Streetsblogs plugged in.

Alissa - Perfect. All right, thank you. Applause.

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Last week, Chris visited the mutual aid group Memories of El Monte's bi-weekly food distribution at the Klingerman Apartment projects in South El Monte to interview group members and get an update on the construction of their physical location, The People's Cafe. The regular food distribution gives the community the opportunity to receive $200 worth of groceries for $5, according to Memories of El Monte. For those interested in receiving groceries or volunteering with set-up and tear-down, the distributions take place on the second and fourth Thursday of each month, with ticketing at 8am and distribution at 10am. The drives are held behind the meat market at 2313 Mt. View Road, just off Peck Road, adjacent to the Klingerman Apartments. Click on this link to read transcripts of the interviews with Georgina Flores, Carlos Ortega, Cassandra Flores, and Aron Montenegro. (Note: this week’s SGV Connect podcast is being broken into two parts. Part 1 with Habib Balian can be found here.)

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(Note: this week’s SGV Connect podcast is being broken into two parts. Part 2, which is a series of interview about The People’s Cafe in El Monte, will be broadcast tomorrow.)

Last week, news broke that bids for the next extension of the Foothill Gold Line - from Pomona to Montclair - would be delayed because the only bid to design and build the project was hundreds of millions of dollars higher than anticipated.

Earlier today, Damien Newton sat down with Gold Line Foothill Construction Authority CEO Habib Balian to discuss the causes of the delay and how it impacts the timeline of providing rail service to Montclair.

Meanwhile, major construction on the extension from Glendora to Pomona wrapped up earlier this year. Bialin anticipates that Metro will announce next month the exact date that extension of the Gold Line will open to the public - probably sometime later this summer.

During the podcast, Bialin uses the terms “design build” and “construction manager at risk“ to discuss the different processes that agencies and contractors can use when making agreements on how a project will proceed and who carries which liabilities. For those interested, the links on the terms above explain what those processes are.

A transcript of this podcast is available after the embed of the broadcast.

Streetsblog’s San Gabriel Valley coverage is supported by Foothill Transit, offering car-free travel throughout the San Gabriel Valley with connections to the A Line Stations across the Foothills and Commuter Express lines traveling into the heart of downtown L.A. To plan your trip, visit Foothill Transit. “Foothill Transit. Going Good Places.

Sign-up for our SGV Connect Newsletter, coming to your inbox on Fridays, and catch past episodes of SGV Connect and #DamienTalks on LibSyn, iTunes, or Overcast.

Transcript: This transcript is lightly edited for clarity.

Damien NewtonSince the last time we've checked in, there's been a lot of good news, and then last week we had a little bit of concerning news. So let's get the "bad stuff" out of the way, and then we can talk about where we are with the project going forward. Last week, we heard that the next phase of the extension -not the one where the construction is completed, but the next phase - is going to be delayed at least a little bit because bids did not come in as low as hoped. Can you explain what happened there and what the next steps are for the Construction Authority?

Habib Balian Over the last three years, in preparation to go out to bid for the next phase of the project from Pomona to Montclair, we did our own independent cost estimate. We brought in outside estimators - people that are very well known in the industry - to look at the project, look at our design, look at the specifications, and help us foresee what a potential bidder might bid on the job.

We went about this process, as any owner would, whether you're building a billion dollar light rail or remodeling the bathroom of putting some feelers out there what you think the job is going to cost. We went after it three times over the last three years. We even had Metro look over our shoulder and look at our estimates to come up with a validation of that number. And we rounded out with these estimators and Metro of a range of bids of what we thought the project was going to cost. We then started this procurement. We got some feedback during the procurement that our process to build the project using "design build" was not favorably received by the industry anymore. They don't want to take on that risk.

We, as the owners, want to shove that risk off on the contractors. And that's worked very well for us over the last 20 years and the three phases of the project using design-build. But that model was getting some resistance in the building community.

We also understood that a lot of potential bidders for the job would not be interested in competing with Kiewit (who had been the incumbent contractor for three consecutive projects that we built on the job from Union Station to Pasadena, Pasadena to Azusa/Glendora, and then the Azusa/Glendora border all the way to Pomona). Bidders were saying, 'Kiewit, seems to know the job so well, we may not be interested in bidding a job and competing with them, since they know it so well and probably could outbid us or underbid us.'

So we were very nervous about this. Going into it, we took what we thought were very conservative precautions. We did a lot of outreach to the contracting community. We hosted these forums available for people to ask questions. And we also incentivized potential bidders with $9 million worth of recuperance of the potential bid that any work that they put into it - the design that went into this, the cost of them bidding the job, they would, as a course of a participant, be able to receive a four, three and $2 million payment for the work that they perform.

Any design that they had done in furtherance of a bid that they would be able to give that to us, we would buy it from them, essentially based on their submitting a good bid that was responsive to the procurement.

So even with all those incentives, Bid Day rolled around and, going into it, we knew we were only gonna have one participant. Which made us very nervous that there would be no other bids coming in. We knew that through the RFP process, and basically held our breath for a couple months until the bid came in. The bid came in, it was substantially higher than we expected, I believe, 54% higher than what our estimators and Metro thought the project would cost. We talked to them, went through a best and final offer and were not able to reach... achieve any substantial reduction in it.

Then I took it to the board with the recommendation that we cancel that procurement and instead go out and re-procure through a different contracting method - CMAR (construction manager at risk, as it's known in the industry) - and proceed ahead with the project. It will be a bit of a delay, but it is a plan to get the project built, which is our mandate: to Montclair. We are starting in earnest with that procurement. It'll likely be on the street in June, and we'll be able to hire that designer and then bring on a construction management firm as well, and begin that process. And in furtherance of completing the project, with probably about a year delay we're expecting.

Damien So with the year delay, could you outline what the rough timeline looks like now, to get that phase?

Habib So we'll go through a procurement process beginning in June, probably June to September or October. We're nailing down the schedule right now, we will go and we'll seek a designer. That designer will engage them. That designer will complete the design, take it from our 20-30% complete and to a complete design.

About midpoint of that we will start a procurement for construction manager. That construction manager will look over the shoulder and work with the designer to prepare a bid and confirm that they can build the project for our budget. So that will take about two years from now, and then that'll be a 'thumbs up or thumbs down' with that design, with that builder. If it's within our budget, we'll award the contract to them. And then from that point, it's about a four-year construction project. So roughly, 2030-31.

Just as a footnote, should that builder that we bring on - the construction manager - say, 'we need more money,' or 'it's an inadequate budget,' we then have the ability of going out and soliciting a new builder for that project and hiring them and going out for construction based on a new bid.

DamienSo it sounds like a lot's going on, but the plan is still to move forward and to keep going.

HabibAbsolutely. The mandate of the legislature...back in 2000 they determined that the project would go from Union Station to Montclair. Just so, you know, originally [it] was supposed to only go to Claremont, and then it was later amended by the legislature to take it from Claremont to Montclair. That is our mandate.

It's very important for this project to work at its maximum. And that requires it get to these hubs. And the nearest hub for this project is, in fact, getting to Montclair - to the Montclair Transit Center, the bus center. It's very important for ridership and for moving people from the Inland Empire into LA County along the Gold Line route from Montclair.

DamienAlright, so that covers last week's news. But since the last time we've talked, there was some good news involving construction of the current extension, so to speak. So why don't we talk a little bit about where we are in that process, which I believe is mostly done.

HabibThat's correct: mostly done. We achieved substantial completion by the contractor in early January, satisfied with their work. It was turned over to Metro for them to begin their preparations for operation. They'll start, doing their own testing and training of operators for over the next several months, with the anticipation that they will put it into service some time this summer. Metro - once they get underway with their testing fully - they'll be able to determine, probably in the May period, when they're going to announce a operations date with exactly when they're going to operate it some time this summer.

DamienI said "mostly" I know your part is mostly done. It's "Metro's part" now that is still worked on. I just wanted to make it clear that when we said completed, it doesn't mean it's opening tomorrow. It's opening in probably July or August, if things go well.

Habib That's correct. And just footnote to that is keyword is "still on the job." There's a long list of punch-list items that they're completing, some landscaping, some wall improvements, fare gates, something that's been a design change. Metro has come up with different fare gates system that is being retrofitted in. Our design originally didn't have them. Now it does, and they're being built as we speak, and installed.

So,some of those last minute details are being done. So if any of your listeners actually go along the line and take a peek at what's going on, you're still going to see construction workers out there.

There's still activity, nothing to the degree, obviously, of when construction was at full tilt. But right now, there is work going on, some cleanup activities, and handrails and fencing and gating is still going on,

DamienI think we covered the two big topics on the checklist. Was there anything else you wanted to say before we before we sign off until July?

Habib We're very excited about July. This is going to be very big for the San Gabriel Valley to connect further into the San Gabriel Valley, into Los Angeles, and ultimately to Long Beach. It's going to be very exciting for passengers, I think, and people are really going to enjoy this ride. It's a great system, and the stations look great. The artwork looks great. So we have a lot to show off this summer.

DamienWell, we look forward to talking then and when the first phase of the extension open. I got this cool pin set, so I still have my fingers crossed to get another pin… Well, thank you very much. And we will. We'll talk again soon.

Habib Okay, take care. Damien, thank you. Bye.

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The Eaton Fire has left a tremendous scar on Southern California’s culture and politics for the foreseeable future. Thankfully, it’s stopped advancing for some time now, but the statistics are still top of mind: 17 dead, 14,000+ acres burned, 9,000+ structures destroyed, 1,000+ structures damaged.

During the early weeks of the fire, social media was a frenzy of good and bad information on destruction and safety, spite directed at elected officials, renewed revelation about the exploitation of incarcerated firefighters, and finger pointing over the funding and capabilities of Los Angeles City and County first responders.

There have also been scenes of hope, though. Ordinary people have stepped up to bring mutual aid to neighbors, including those who’ve lost everything. From food, to clothing, shelter, donations, and DIY air filters – L.A. residents have thrown their arms around the survivors, and many have found a greater purpose in doing so.

This week on SGV Connect, we look at how these actions have changed public perceptions of our collective responsibility and power.

In part one of our episode, we’ll get an overview from L.A. Public Press Mutual Aid reporter Phoenix Tso, who covered distributions for both those directly displaced in Altadena, as well as unhoused people affected by poor air quality. A transcript of the interview can be found here.

Then in part two, we’ll listen to how north Pasadena journalist and resident Tamika Adams-Furniss went from fleeing in a terrifying evacuation to spearheading deliveries of home made air filters to her neighbors. A transcript of her interview is available here.

If hearing about these life-changing experiences inspires you to help those affected by the Eaton Fire, but you don’t know where to begin, check out these databases of displaced families’s fundraisers, and organizations distributing donations and supplies.

Streetsblog’s San Gabriel Valley coverage is supported by Foothill Transit, offering car-free travel throughout the San Gabriel Valley with connections to the A Line Stations across the Foothills and Commuter Express lines traveling into the heart of downtown L.A. To plan your trip, visit Foothill Transit. “Foothill Transit. Going Good Places.”Sign-up for our SGV Connect Newsletter, coming to your inbox on Fridays!

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Ok, I’ll admit it. I’m using this week’s SGV Connect to encourage listeners to start listening to my other podcast, StreetSmart which appears at Streetsblog California.

This week’s SGV Connect features clips from three different StreetSmart interviews.

The first is with Jeanie Ward-Waller where we de-mystify the California Transportation Commission. A little-heard-of board that approves billions of dollars of state transportation funds every year. In this clip, we discuss why it’s important to have progressives and activists in some of the voting board positions. For the full podcast, and transcript, click here.

Our second interview is with a UCLA researcher who literally may have forgotten more about transportation than I’ll ever know, Juan Matute. In this podcast, we discuss the state of transit funding as the state continues its economic recovery from COVID and loses a funding partner for its most ambitious projects. In this clip, Matute pushes expansion of Bus Rapid Transit, as a way the state can spend smarter. For the full podcast, and transcript, click here.

The third clip is from an interview that we haven’t published anywhere else yet, it’ll debut on Streetsblog California next Tuesday. In this one, I’m interviewing both Adriana Rizzo of Californians for Electric Rail and Roger Rudick, the editor of Streetsblog San Francisco, about the status of High-Speed rail in the state. In this clip, we’re talking about how the project is shaped as a loser in the press, but never actually loses at the ballot box. For the full podcast and transcript, you’ll have to wait until next Tuesday.

Meanwhile, Chris is working on a podcast featuring stories from the wildfires that raged last month. Stay tuned.

SGV Connect is supported by Foothill Transit, offering car-free travel throughout the San Gabriel Valley with connections to the new Gold Line Stations across the Foothills and Commuter Express lines traveling into the heart of downtown L.A. To plan your trip, visit Foothill Transit. “Foothill Transit. Going Good Places.”

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Foothill Transit’s Director of Marketing and Communications joins Streetsblog Editor Damien Newton for an ask-me-anything style interview probing the bus agency’s recent trials and successes.

Friesema took questions on: how Foothill’s bolstered services to Mt. San Antonio College and Cal Poly Pomona will connect with soon to open Metro A Line service in the San Gabriel Valley Foothills, the agency’s hopes for a bus rapid transit service contract in the 60 Freeway corridor, what level of challenge is still faced after the initial stage of the Covid-19 pandemic, and the agency’s move towards hydrogen fuel cell technology since its battery electric vendor Proterra went bankrupt.

Plus, as a bonus we heard about Friesema’s favorite local mystery writer, Naomi Hirahara, whose novels are set in the SGV, Chinatown, Japantown, and Manzanar to name a few.

You can read a transcript of the conversation here, or listen to the podcast below.

Streetsblog’s San Gabriel Valley coverage is supported by Foothill Transit, offering car-free travel throughout the San Gabriel Valley with connections to the A Line Stations across the Foothills and Commuter Express lines traveling into the heart of downtown L.A. To plan your trip, visit Foothill Transit. “Foothill Transit. Going Good Places.”Sign-up for our SGV Connect Newsletter, coming to your inbox on Fridays!

Sign-up for our SGV Connect Newsletter, coming to your inbox on Fridays, and catch past episodes of SGV Connect and #DamienTalks on LibSyn,iTunes, Google Play, or Overcast.

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The post-election special featured a pair of Streetsblog editors, Joe Linton of Streetsblog L.A. and Melanie Curry of Streetsblog California, joining Damien Newton and Chris Greenspon.

Most of the talking was done by Curry, Linton and Newton, and the trio kicked off the discussion by outlining the impact of the Trump administration on federal transportation funding, particularly high-speed rail and public transportation. In a new administration, California will face challenges securing federal funding.

In LA County, some important county measures including the “climate bond,” Measure A for maintaining the county’s homeless services and Measure G which will expand the Board of Supervisors and create a county executive position.

In LA City, progressive Isabel Jurado won over Kevin de Leon, potentially improving transportation and livability. Local elections in the San Gabriel Valley saw Sasha Renée Pérez elected to the State Senate and Nan Wong to the Alhambra City Council.

Find yourself wanting more SGV Connect? You can hear more on County Measures A and G in our last podcast featuring homelessness solutions super hero Shawn Morrissey and Supervisor Hilda Solis. You can also check out our last podcast State Senator-elect Renee-Perez here of an appearance on Greenspon’s SGV Weekly here.

SGV Connect is supported by Foothill Transit, offering car-free travel throughout the San Gabriel Valley with connections to the Gold Line Stations across the Foothills and Commuter Express lines traveling into the heart of Downtown L.A. To plan your trip, visit foothilltransit.org. “Foothill Transit. Going Good Places.”

Sign-up for our SGV Connect Newsletter, coming to your inbox on Fridays, and catch past episodes of SGV Connect and #DamienTalks on LibSyn, iTunes, Google Play, or Overcast.

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With many mail-in ballots already in voters hands, it's time for the SGV Connect election special. This week we talk with a pair of experts about two ballot measures that L.A. County voters will decide this fall.

First, Damien interviews Supervisor Hilda Solis about Measure G. Measure G was put on the ballot with the support of three of the five Supervisors and would change the way L.A. County's elected government works. The measure would expand the Board from five to nine members, create new reforms designed to increase transparency for L.A. County departments, and create a county-wide elected position that would serve as the CEO for the County. The reforms to how the Supervisors are elected wouldn't take place until after the next census, so even if it passes dont expext too many changes to happen too soon.

After that, Chris interviews Shawn Morrissey of Union Station Housing. Shawn has appeared twice before on the podcast giving overviews on the county-wide politics around homelessness. Today he's explaining and promoting Measure A. In 2017, voters approved a 1/4 cent sales tax to fund homeless services that will expire in 2027. Measure A would erase that sunset and increase the sales tax to 1/2 a cent.

Both ballot measures need a simple majority to pass. SGV Connect will be back after the election to review what voters decided locally, regionally and across the state.

SGV Connect is supported by Foothill Transit, offering car-free travel throughout the San Gabriel Valley with connections to the new Gold Line Stations across the Foothills and Commuter Express lines traveling into the heart of downtown L.A. To plan your trip, visit Foothill Transit. “Foothill Transit. Going Good Places.”

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With the Foothill Gold Line Extension to Pomona at 90 percent completion, SGV Connect pays another visit to the Construction Authority’s office to chat with chief executive officer Habib Balian. The podcast can be found below, but you can read a transcript of it by clicking here. For clarity’s (or maybe confusion’s) sake, we are of course referring to the thrice renamed Metro “A Line.”

Since 2020, tracks have been laid and station platforms have been poured from Glendora to Pomona. Now those stations really look like stations, and the last leg of the route has been funded: $798 million to build the last 3.2 miles to Montclair.

2025 is going to be a big year for the light rail line: construction is expected to finish, stations will be dedicated, and hopefully, service will begin. Listen to our interview with Habib Balian, and check out progress pics from our tour of the construction sites! AUDIO PLAYER HERE

A construction crew works on the decorative glass canopy above the ticketing machine at the Glendora Metro A Line station. The decorative glass canopy above the ticketing machine at the Glendora Metro A Line station. The ticketing machine at the Glendora Metro A Line station. The pedestrian tunnel connecting the platform and parking lot at the Glendora Metro A Line station. The pedestrian tunnel connecting the platform and parking lot at the Glendora Metro A Line station. The passenger drop off turn out at the La Verne Metro A Line station. Crews install a wall which will eventually support public art work at the La Verne Metro A Line station. Crews install the platform roofing at the Pomona Metro A Line Station. A layover building for train drivers under construction at the Pomona Metro A Line station. Media relations professional Albert Ho gestures at the construction progress on the Pomona Metro A Line station. Thanks as always to Albert Ho, Media Relations Director for the Metro Gold Line Foothill Extension Construction Authority, for keeping SBLA and its readers up to date on the project. Streetsblog’s San Gabriel Valley coverage is supported by Foothill Transit, offering car-free travel throughout the San Gabriel Valley with connections to the Gold Line Stations across the Foothills and Commuter Express lines traveling into the heart of downtown L.A. To plan your trip, visit Foothill Transit. “Foothill Transit. Going Good Places.”Sign-up for our SGV Connect Newsletter, coming to your inbox on Fridays!

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Just last week, the legislative session for the year ended in Sacramento meaning a batch of legislation was passed that, if signed into law by Governor Gavin Newsom, would change the way the state conducts its transportation business. In this episode of SGV Connect, co-host Damien Newton goes it alone, interviewing Streetsblog California editor Melanie Curry.

As an aside, both Newton and Curry will be at the Streetsblog San Francisco/Streetsblog California anniversary party next week at Manny’s in the Mission on Thursday, September 12, at 6:00 p.m. along with a bevy of transportation reform superstars including mayors, transit board chairs and Senator Scott Wiener. If you happen to be in the area, drop by and join us. Reserve your ticket, here.

But for now, buckle in and enjoy today’s podcast. A full transcript can be found beneath the audio player below.

Damien

Before we get into the podcast, let me remind everyone that SGV Connect is supported by Foothill Transit, offering car-free travel throughout the San Gabriel Valley with connections to the new Gold Line Stations across the Foothills and Commuter Express lines traveling into the heart of downtown L.A. To plan your trip, visit Foothill Transit. “Foothill Transit. Going Good Places.”

Hello, welcome to SGV Connect episode 127. My name's Damien Newton. We have a bit of a throwback episode here in that I am doing it on my own - or well, I'm not on my own, I have a guest: Melanie Curry, the editor of Streetsblog California, who's going to give us an update on legislation that has been passed and is awaiting the signature of the governor…hopefully.

We timed this episode to coincide with our Streetsblog San Francisco/California anniversary dinner next Thursday. If you’d like to join us on September 12, click here for more details.

And a link with all the information is in the email, excuse me, in the text of the story that accompanies this podcast. Boy, I'm struggling today, Melanie. I hope you're on your A game.

…and she gave a thumbs up. You guys can't see that because we're not recording the video.

All right. So it just so happens that the first couple pieces of legislation we want to talk about were authored and introduced by Senator Scott Wiener, who happens to be one of our guests of honor next week.

Isn't that an amazing coincidence? So why don't you start off by telling us a little bit about these two pieces of legislation? And again, these are passed by the legislature, but awaiting signature or possibly something worse from the governor.

Melanie

Oh, we don't want it to be worse.

This is one of the reasons that we are giving a Streetsie to Senator Scott Wiener - because he got SB 960, a complete streets bill, passed… again. He's tried three times with this bill and last time it was vetoed by the governor. So we're crossing our fingers that that doesn't happen again.

It's a little bit different this time around. Caltrans pushed just as hard against it as it had in the past. They keep saying, “we're already making complete streets a priority.”

Damien

…um…are they already making complete streets a priority?

Melanie

It's hard to say. At the headquarters level, their talk is good, but how it comes out on the ground is a different story. CalBike is working on a report about that very issue, which they're not quite ready to release, but we'll find out soon what they have to say.

At any rate, Caltrans says they have a complete streets policy. But they're not really doing it. So what happened with SB 960 is Caltrans pushed back. They got language that they are more comfortable with, which is kind of similar to what they already have: they'll make complete streets when they are working on maintenance projects where feasible, which still gives them kind of a lot of outs.

However, the bill is a lot stronger than last time around. It specifically includes a requirement to create a transit priority policy at Caltrans - which is a huge difference. It requires better transparency, so Caltrans has to report on their complete streets and how much money they're putting into it.

It also requires them to come up with a shorter encroachment permit process - which sounds really wonky and kind of is - but it makes it easier for cities to make their own changes on their streets if they want to build a bike lane or something like that without having to go through

the onerous process that Caltrans makes them do..

Anyway, it's been passed. We've got our fingers crossed. It's not the solution, but it's a really good step in the right direction for making Caltrans make complete streets on all of their facilities when they are repairing them..Not freeways, but all the other ones.

Damien

If this is a stronger piece of legislation than last time, doesn't it seem less likely that Governor Newsom will sign it?

Melanie

Well, it's interesting. It's stronger in ways that are outside of the when and where. It's stronger because it has transit priority, which it didn't before. It's stronger because it calls for better transparency and a shorter permit process. But in terms of requiring when and where complete streets are to be incorporated into Caltrans projects, it's really similar to what the current Caltrans policy is.

It's kind of an interesting argument. [Newsom] said “give Caltrans a chance” when he vetoed a similar bill in the past. But at that time, there was a new Caltrans director. So they got a chance. That was four years ago. They had their chance. We haven't seen any results. So we're back with this bill.

I think it will take something to get the governor to sign it, but it might not be as onerous as it would have been four years ago. I mean, weigh in, call the governor! I don't know. It definitely needed support to get passed by the legislature, but I think it has a better chance than the last one did.

Damien

But that's not the only thing that Senator Wiener's done that has him on our list of “legislation to talk about today.” He's also done something with passive speed enforcement. You might need to explain this one a little bit.

I know you just did a story on it, and I read the story. I could totally talk about this if I had to, but, you know, people would rather hear you talk about it than me.

Melanie

Are you sure?

Damien

I assume.

Melanie

I don't know. My voice can get a little whiny. No, it's not enforcement. It's assist. So it's in-car technology that tells people, hey, you've gone over the speed limit. And it does that with, like, a beep.

So this one was going to be a great bill. We were excited about it when Wiener first [introduced it] because he was looking for something more active - which is also a, technology that exists where … it prevents you from going over the speed limit. But that was just too crazy. So - not too crazy, it's a known and used technology. European cars have it. But there was too much pushback. So he said, “OK, passive speed limit assist technology in all new cars starting in 2030.”

And that passed. And you know it's better than nothing. A lot of new cars already have this technology…

Damien

…almost every rental car too

Melanie

It would be very surprising if it didn't get passed. It's a help. There's actually surveys that show that drivers like it.

And what's really strange to me is that about six or seven Republican legislators in California wrote this strongly worded letter to Governor Newsom telling him to veto it because enforcement is a better way to [handle this issue]. And they said it puts an “undue burden on the majority of responsible drivers,” which, uh, wait a minute.

Damien

Wait, but they're speeding, right?

Melanie

Yeah. Yet it's an “undue burden.” Like it's going to beep at you. Like one beep. It's only a one-time notification. So I don't know where they get any of that, “Undue burden on responsible drivers?”

If you're going over the speed limit, wouldn't you want [your car] to tell you? I don't know. I really don't know where this comes from. I imagine all of them just want to speed like crazy for as long as they want to.

Damien

These are the people that obviously rent rental cars and then speed in them.

Melanie

And they don't like that one beep.

Damien

They don't like that beep…Not that I know from my recent road trip what that sounds like.

Melanie

Does it continue or is it just one [sound]?

Damien

I think it depends. The car that we had, it beeped every time you went 10 miles over the speed limit. So, we obviously heard it once and then adjusted our driving for the rest of the drive across the country because, yeah.

Melanie

Yeah. Right. Which is what people want. You know, like what if you're in a place that you don't know? What if you're driving in Oregon and there might be a cop that's going to pull you over?

Damien

Or what if the speed limit drops and you miss the sign?

Melanie

Exactly.

Damien

If we drove through a county and you know at the speed limit dropped 10 miles an hour, and then all of a sudden we went from driving roughly the speed limit to driving 10 miles over the speed limit…that's where we were.

Melanie

And that's where you're likely to get a ticket, too. So it's really helpful to be told by your car.

Damien

Was it the ticket lobby that was against this?

Melanie

You know, I don't know who those people are. I don't know if they're a lobby. They're just Republicans. I could find the letter and read you their names if you want, but they're Republican legislators who just hated it.

Damien

I'm just flashing back, as I always do, to the efforts to set the speed limit…legislation that we fought for for so long and finally got passed by Laura Friedman a couple of years ago, and the dumb arguments we would hear about it.

Melanie

Yeah, it's weird to me…. I'm looking at some of the names of the people that signed it, and I have to say some of them say some really dumb things in the hearings.

So I don't want to say they're dumb, but they're not very well informed.

Damien

We can say that if you want to.

Melanie

And this letter proves that…And they have an agenda that doesn't make a lot of sense.

Just the idea there, they are law-and-order Republicans and for some reason they really love the idea of giving people tickets to enforce this [issue]. I don't understand their thinking. I have the feeling that's not going to have much sway with Governor Newsom. Who knows?

Damien

I mean, you never know these days. And he's been… he's been more conservative in the past year than I would have thought.

Melanie

Yeah. I'm not a politician for a reason. I don't understand the way you think about things when you're a politician. It's not always logical.

Damien

Speaking of not always logical, let's talk about a bill that had to do with when you can and can't paint sharrows that was passed, but without the support of its initial sponsor, Streets for All…So what happened there?

Melanie

Gosh, who knows. So, this is SB 1216 from Catherine Blakespear.

This was also a[similar] provision in another bill from Laura Friedman, AB 2290, but that one was just held back. It didn't go anywhere.

So what this was trying to do was limit the use of Class III bike routes, which are, you know, they are signs and sharrows painted in the street, at most. They might just be signs, but they were really trying to get away from calling those even bike routes. People like Caltrans will put them down and say, “look, we made you a bike route.” But they don't really have any kind of good standards for when they use them, so the legislature tried to limit their use..

Plus, [the sponsors] wanted to eliminate funding for those projects. And actually, they sort of succeeded. When it was in the Assembly [Transportation} Committee, the bill was amended to restrict sharrows to roads that are 30 miles an hour or slower.

Imagine riding your bike at, what, 10 miles an hour on a 30 mile an hour road, and there's a sharrow there telling you to go ahead and use it. So whoever decided that 30 miles an hour or slower made sense is not a bike rider. And [the committee] would not remove any limitation on using bike route signs, so they can mark a bike route wherever they want, which doesn't also doesn't make sense.

Thinking of fast streets in the San Fernando Valley, for example, they could just call those bike routes. So when you look on Google Maps, it's going to tell you to go that way…and you get out there and you're like, “ah, I don't want to ride this road.”

It was so bad that the sponsor, Streets for All, just gave up. But! One good thing about that bill is it does have a provision that says that … Active Transportation Program projects can no longer use [ATP funds] for Class III bike routes, after January 2026.

I have a feeling that it doesn't really do that much anymore because the people who run the program are pretty aware of what makes a good bike route or a good bike project, and Class III doesn't really count. However, Caltrans is still going to use class III bike routes and claim credit for creating bike facilities. We have to keep our eye on that.

Damien

One piece of legislation that we covered in our Santa Monica publication is Malibu would now be able to put speed cameras on the PCH as part of the pilot program.

There's a lot of reasons this is interesting.

A) that so many communities want to get in on a pilot program. There were three cities in Senator Ben Allen’s district, but only Malibu made it on this piece of legislation.

B) is the need for this extremely complicated pilot program that a year after the legislation was passed, no cities actually have speed cameras up. Yet they're allowing other cities - and yet we [already] know from the entire rest of the world that speed cameras work - to join this complicated pilot program.

Do you want to talk at all about this legislation, what it actually does, and if maybe I took all of the thunder away on the interesting things, tell me to be a better interviewer. But if I did not, then fill in some other interesting things about this.

Melanie

SB 1297 from Senator Ben Allen adds the city of Malibu to the speed camera pilot program that was created by AB 645 last year. That was from assemblymember Laura Friedman that allowed Glendale, LA, Long Beach, San Jose, Oakland, and San Francisco to do pilot programs with a limited number of cameras under all these really tight restrictions about where they could be, how they could be deployed, how they collected information from them, how they gave tickets, and they had to keep the the tickets out of the court system, and the fines had to be low and all kinds of really really tight restrictions.

None of those cities, as far as I can tell, have put up any cameras yet.

San Francisco, Oakland, and San Jose have chosen locations for them, but they're not going to install them until next year. I can't find out about the other cities. At any rate, the city of Malibu will be able to add five cameras along the Pacific Coast Highway in Malibu [under this bill].

So what do we do about all the other cities like Santa Monica that might also want to put up speed cameras? They're all gonna have to wait. There's so much pushback from privacy groups and law enforcement, all these people who object to these programs. For law enforcement, this will make their life easier, but okay, whatever.

Damien

The whole thing baffles me. Allen introduced this after there was a high profile crash that killed a bunch of Pepperdine students standing on the side of the road late last year. The PCH in Malibu has always been a safety disaster for bicyclists, for pedestrians, for car drivers, for everyone. Allen tried to address this - there are several different project programs that are going on, educational programs, enforcement programs…this effort was sort of added on to those.

But as soon as he announced it, all the other cities in his district were like, “ooh, us too, us too.”

Because cities want these. It just feels weird to me that the state is making it so hard, with a cumbersome pilot program and only certain cities.

This feels like an effort to keep them out, not an effort to promote them.

Melanie

Yeah. What's fascinating to me about it is one of the arguments - which is a valid argument - against this was that street design is a more [effective] way to slow people down.

Yes, it's true. So one of the provisions in the original bill is that other street design changes had to be made. And especially if they put up a camera and it didn't slow speeds, then they had to make those street design changes.

Well, PCH really needs some design changes. And the ones – the responses that they have [had] to that crash are just pathetic. I'm sorry, they put up speed feedback signs and they put up signs. Education, enforcement, those are fine, but those are not the kinds of things that make people slow down or actually change the street so that people have to drive slow.

We just have so much resistance to creating calm streets. And because the PCH is such a heavily used thruway, people want to zoom on it. It doesn't make sense for people to be zooming on it. But it's just part of our speed culture that we just can't change [yet]. It's a bummer.

Damien

I say romantic, I don't necessarily mean romance; but how many pop culture references over the years feature the hero or heroine in their convertible speeding up the PCH?

Melanie

Absolutely. It's glamorized for sure.

I say people who want to go fast and feel the wind in their hair should roll their windows down and stick their heads out the window while they drive and feel the wind that way because it feels like you're going fast even if you're going like 20 miles an hour.

Damien

Is it a little weird to hear the argument that it's road design that really slows streets down so we can't…we shouldn't do speed cameras 10 minutes after we were just discussing how Caltrans doesn't want to be mandated to do safe road design.

Melanie

Yeah, we're in a very strange tangle trying to make sense out of all of this.

I mean, we can see it, advocates can see it. But the arguments can be complicated. I maintain hope that we will prevail sooner or later. And it's partly because we have super smart people working on these issues. But man, it's not easy. It's not easy.

Damien

There was one more piece of major legislation we wanted to talk about before we might run down some of the other pieces, and that was what's been going on with e-bikes. It doesn't appear like there's much of an effort to make statewide e-bike policy. Instead, it's an effort to define what different communities can and can't do.

Melanie

Yeah, and I wouldn't even call these major legislation.

Both of the authors of these two e-bike bills, [Assemblymembers] Tasha Boerner and Damon Connolly, had started off with bills that were going to require a license to ride e-bikes, at least class 2 or class 3 e-bikes. I'll go over the classifications in a minute. They're all about speed and throttle and stuff like that. But it became pretty clear those bills were not going anywhere. So both of them changed them.

In Boerners case San Diego and in Donnelly's case Marin County - they allow local jurisdictions to create e-bike restrictions.

Borners would allow San Diego to pass an ordinance banning children under 12 and from riding class 1 or 2 e-bikes. You have to be 18 to ride a class three e-bike [already]. What is a class 3 e-bike? Let's see, [it’s] a little complicated: You have to use the pedals. You can't use just the motor, but it can go up to like 28 miles per hour using pedals.

You have to be 18 to ride that kind of bike. So Boerner wants it to change it so no one under 12 can ride a class 1 e-bike, which has a little bit of pedal assist up to 20 miles an hour at the most, or class 2, which has a throttle assist up to 20 miles per hour. And then after that, you would have to use your pedals, but [a class 2] could go 28 miles per hour.

Connelly has a similar bill, but he doesn't want anyone under 16 [to ride]. So [his bill would] allow Marin to pass an ordinance to require people to be at least 16 to ride a class 2 e-bike. And they could, if they wanted to, [also] pass an ordinance requiring any e-bike rider to wear a helmet. Even adults.

So it's a problem because they're inconsistent. They're local ordinances. Local helmet ordinances from the get-go are a bad idea. There's a lot of people from Berkeley who ride into Marin. So like, what are they going to do suddenly? There's a different law for them over there?

Damien

I remember down here when one city was talking about banning scooters and others weren't, and it was like, well, what's gonna happen to someone riding on a scooter when they cross a border…Is it just gonna, like, stop?

Melanie

Yeah. Well, yeah, actually they can. They do put speed limiters on scooters! Not cars…not cars where they could really do some good.

Those [bills] are like mostly annoying. They both passed, though. They're on the governor's desk. He may well sign them. Whether San Diego and Marin County passed those ordinances is a different question.

Another e-bike bill was from Senator Dave Min, which is kind of [an] interesting [one]. First it says that any e-bike sold in California has to have an e-bike battery that is certified to be safe, either the UL or the EU certification [or the like]. People are worried about battery fires and that would prevent that.

It’s not without its controversy because when they were talking battery standards for the e-bike incentive program, there were a lot of bike sellers who were mad about that. They were selling bikes that didn't have that certification. And they were like, “they're fine!

But anyway, that passed. So if he signs it, they'd have to be certified.

And then the other thing that [the bill] did was clarify the definition of e-bikes. The reason that was an issue was because there is at least one manufacturer that makes these bikes that they sell as class 2 ebikes.

So class 2 has a throttle assist and you can go with the throttle up to 20. With pedaling you can go up to 28 miles an hour. So they were selling these as class 2 e-bikes, but they had a switch on them that would allow them to go “off-road.” [That would allow them to] go way faster with just the throttle, which means they're basically mopeds. Min’s bill made those illegal. If you sell something that's switchable, it's not an e-bike.

Wait, it's not illegal. It's a moped, which means, you know, age restriction and helmet restriction, etc. Because if you can go over 28 with a throttle, it…Yeah, that's not an e-bike.

And the thing is, like, how do you enforce that?

Can a cop tell from looking at it whether a bike is an actual class 2 e-bike or is it something else?

Damien

So let's try and run down the rest of the legislation we had that we were going to at least touch on today.

Melanie

Just a few things…One thing that passed that I think is really important because it makes me nervous is Assemblymember Aguiar-Curry worked really hard to get a bill passed that said you could not have any autonomous vehicle big rigs being tested on California roads unless there was a human operator present.

It was amazing how hard she had to argue for this.

Newsom had vetoed a similar bill last year, so he may veto this again. But meanwhile, the DMV is already … starting to put out draft regulations… for autonomous big rigs.

Isn't that fun to think about: driving on a road like Highway 5 and knowing the truck next to you has nobody in it?

If he signs this, there will have to at least be a person in the vehicle.

Damien

Yeah, he's not, he's not signing that, I bet.

Melanie

Maybe I can just like curl up in a ball and stay home for the rest of my life. Or they hurry up with that train so I don't ever have to get on a highway again.

Damien

You saw the video? I mean, it looks like it's just about finished.

Melanie

Uh no… but okay it's happening.

I would say one more more [bill] that's kind of cool is AB 2503 which gives a CEQA exemption for zero emission trains. There’s a problem with that, of course, as it's another way that they're poking holes in CEQA instead of just reforming CEQA, and also it specifically says zero emission trains and people are still calling hydrogen trains zero-emission trains, and they don't understand why I refuse to do that. So, okay…a CEQA exemption for clean energy trains.

We need that, but still it's not great.

Senator Blakespear had got passed SB 689 so that you would not need to conduct a study to convert a vehicle lane into a bike or a transit lane in coastal areas. That was specifically to overcome problems with the Coastal Commission process.

And then there's another one, AB 3177. Streets for All sponsored it, and it's a little wonky. It says that you cannot require a new housing project to pay a mitigation fee to be used towiden a road. So that’s big. And then there's one more, AB 2086, which calls for more transparency from Caltrans - they have to create a dashboard that shows their funding which is very complicated

None of these have been signed, however.

Damien

Right. None of these have been signed. Based on previous years, some of them might not be slam dunks, but if people have heard anything today that they want to weigh in on - again, you can contact your governor.

Sorry. It's a little play of words off the, you know, contact your representative today. Contact your governor. It's the same governor I have. I think he's in state right now. So it's a good time to get him

So again, if you want to talk to us about this in person, we will be in San Francisco next week at Manny's in the Mission at 6 PM on Thursday. Feel free to stop by. Feel free to buy a ticket. Feel free to say hello. More information on that event is on Streetsblog California and Streetsblog

San Francisco, and of course, links to all of that are included with the text that accompanies this podcast.

Thank you for your time today, Melanie, and we will talk to you again probably at the end of the year. We'll talk about which of these bills have been signed and not signed and what we're looking forward to in 2025, which is getting closer.

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This week's SGV Connect returns to our regular formula with a pair of interviews by Damien Newton and Chris Greenspon.

First, Chris interviews Melissa Mora Hidalgo, a queer entertainment writer living in Whittier. The interview goes back and forth between fun and serious, as the two discuss both her work and the performative allyship that occurs during Pride month. In short, Hidalgo would prefer a city that works to create safe environments for all its residents to one that puts up rainbow flags one month a year.

You can read a transcript of the interview here.

After that, Damien interviews Jonah Kanner, an advocate for safer streets with the Pasadena Complete Streets Coalition. Kanner recently authored a post for PCSC's blog entiteled, "Pasadena Is Almost a 15-Minute City." Kanner explains what a 15-minute city is, and what little things Pasadena can do to come ever-closer to joining the 15-minute club.

You can read a transcript of the interview here.

SGV Connect is supported by Foothill Transit, offering car-free travel throughout the San Gabriel Valley with connections to the new Gold Line Stations across the Foothills and Commuter Express lines traveling into the heart of downtown L.A. To plan your trip, visit Foothill Transit. “Foothill Transit. Going Good Places.”

Did we mention SGV Connect won a big award at the L.A. Press Club this week? Read all about it here.

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This week Chris brings us a special feature interview with artist Isabel Pan. Pan is the artist in residence at C.A.S.A Zamora in El Monte. Her project has been a documentary-style, slice of life comic strip depicting the impact of sweatshop labor and refugee crises on the children of immigrants in the San Gabriel Valley.

Pan’s subject is the son of a sweat shop worker, Denny. His parents came to El Monte in the late 70’s, fleeing the Vietnam War. They endured the loss of family en route to America, and the struggle of working in the garment industry once here. Pan’s comic strip is titled Má, which is what Denny calls his mother.

Má explores the generation gap and communication breakdown that Denny experienced growing up with parents who were traumatized by their escape from Vietnam and exploited by employers in Southern California. Denny’s mother was a work-from-home seamstress, payed cents per piece, who provided a home for her children.

Pan - raised in part by working class grandparents - talks frankly with SBLA about the physical and emotional burden of this labor, as well as the beauty of sharing these experiences with other Monteros. Her comic can be found at Matilija Lending Library in El Monte.

Streetsblog’s San Gabriel Valley coverage is supported by Foothill Transit, offering car-free travel throughout the San Gabriel Valley with connections to the Gold Line Stations across the Foothills and Commuter Express lines traveling into the heart of downtown L.A. To plan your trip, visit Foothill Transit. “Foothill Transit. Going Good Places.”Sign-up for our SGV Connect Newsletter, coming to your inbox on Fridays!

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This week’s SGV Connect continues our theme of focusing in on various areas of the SGV for our podcast episodes by looking at the Greater Pasadena area.

First, Damien and Chris traveled to El Sereno to meet with some of the Reclaimers, unhoused residents of El Sereno who moved into Caltrans owned properties during the pandemic. Benito, Sandra and Fanny return to SGV Connect (their first appearance can be found here) to advocate for affordable housing and community spaces, discuss the ongoing eviction battle between Caltrans and the Reclaimers. Personal stories and experiences are shared, emphasizing the need for accountability and justice from those in power: especially Caltrans, the county’s homeless services provider, and Los Angeles City Councilmember Kevin DeLeon. A transcript of their discussion can be found here.

This discussion references the Roberti Act, passed in the 1970’s to guide Caltrans on how to manage and eventually sell these properties. A good description of Roberti can be found in this article about the competing vision between the Reclaimers and DeLeon for El Sereno.

Rick Cole has been a regular commenter at Streetsblog and Santa Monica Next for years. After his election to the Pasadena City Council in March, we reached back out to him to discuss the need to improve Pasadena's transportation infrastructure and engage the community in a more inclusive and proactive approach to address gentrification. Cole emphasized the importance of prioritizing safety, affordability, and alternatives to car use, and the need for a more inclusive approach to urban planning, involving the public in decision-making processes. A transcript of their discussion can be found here.

SGV Connect is supported by Foothill Transit, offering car-free travel throughout the San Gabriel Valley with connections to the new Gold Line Stations across the Foothills and Commuter Express lines traveling into the heart of downtown L.A. To plan your trip, visit Foothill Transit. “Foothill Transit. Going Good Places.”

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This week's SGV Connect is focusing on the election to replace Councilmember and Vice-Mayor Sasha Renée Pérez of Alhambra. Pérez has given up her seat to run for the State Senate.

Chris interviews Nicolas Kiet Quach, the president of the Alhambra Library Board of Trustees. While only 18, Kiet Quach is no newcomer to politics having worked for and with Pérez. If you choose, you can read a transcript of the interview, here. Next, Damien talks to Je-Show Yang, a community activist who has appeared a couple of times in Streetsblog articles about the Fremont Avenue exit ramps, Alhambra bicycle and pedestrian master plan and other stories. If you choose, you can read a transcript of the interview, here. Normally, SGV Connect likes to provide a little more context in the text that accompanies the podcast, but since we're talking to a pair of political candidates and we're a federally recognized non-profit we're going to pass on anything that could be seen as editorializing. These are both exciting candidates and we hope you enjoy the podcast. SGV Connect is supported by Foothill Transit, offering car-free travel throughout the San Gabriel Valley with connections to the new Gold Line Stations across the Foothills and Commuter Express lines traveling into the heart of downtown L.A. To plan your trip, visit Foothill Transit. “Foothill Transit. Going Good Places.”

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We continue our tour through the San Gabriel Valley with an episode focused on the City of Glendora, known as the Heart of the Foothills.

It might surprise you if you're not familiar with what's going on at this small suburban community, but Glendora is working hard to build out a bike network, calm traffic on its streets, build up a downtown in its 'village' area and continue to plan for the coming A Line (Gold Line) Station. Our first interview is with Steve Mateer, who is responsible for executing the vision for a new and green Glendora. We talk about how the City Council is pushing a smart growth vision for the city and how their community outreach strategy has helped reach consensus instead of conflict on new projects such as bike lanes or parklets.

Second, Chris interviews Adam Cousins, the satirist behind the Memes of Glendora Instagram page. The social media site provides a tongue-in-cheek view of suburban life in the San Gabriel Valley.

The audio of our podcast can be found below. If you prefer the written word, you can find a transcript of our interview with Steve here and with Adam here.

SGV Connect is supported by Foothill Transit, offering car-free travel throughout the San Gabriel Valley with connections to the new Gold Line Stations across the Foothills and Commuter Express lines traveling into the heart of downtown L.A. To plan your trip, visit Foothill Transit. “Foothill Transit. Going Good Places.”

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Welcome to the first SGV Connect podcast of 2024! We start our new year with the first in a new series that focuses on different regions and communities in the San Gabriel Valley and examines both the state of their mobility projects and cultural and community projects.

This week, both interviews were completed by Chris Greenspon. The first is with David Diaz, the executive director of Active SGV, where they discuss several projects going on in the area: a multimodal projects coming soon to the area, a linear park and greenway on Merced Avenue, the Rosemead Boulevard Complete Streets, and projects on Rush Street, Santa Anita, and Parkway Drive.

The second interview is with Pedro Gonzales, the librarian at Libros Monte, a lending library run by the South El Monte Arts Posse and staff member with Mt San Antonio College’s El Centro: Latinx Student Program. The conversation bounces back and forth between Libros Monte and El Centro at Mt SAC (and some soccer).

If you prefer reading rather than listening, you can read transcripts of the interview with David Diaz here or Pedro Gonzalez here.

SGV Connect is supported by Foothill Transit, offering car-free travel throughout the San Gabriel Valley with connections to the new Gold Line Stations across the Foothills and Commuter Express lines traveling into the heart of downtown L.A. To plan your trip, visit Foothill Transit. “Foothill Transit. Going Good Places.”

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Last Friday, Foothill Transit celebrated its 35th anniversary with a party in the parking lot of its West Covina headquarters. Joe Linton and Chris Greenspon were among those on-hand and they had a chance to catch up with a handful of people that helped shape Foothill Transit's past and will guide the agency into the future. Those short interviews are included in this podcast and include:

Congressmember Judy Chu

Foothill Transit Executive Director Doran Barnes

Former Duarte Mayor John Fasana

Former Glendora Councilmember Bob Kuhn

Deputy Chief Executive Officer of Foothill Transit, LaShawn King Gillespie

You can also read Linton's coverage of Friday's event here. A full transcript of the interview can be found below the podcast.

SGV Connect is supported by Foothill Transit, offering car-free travel throughout the San Gabriel Valley with connections to the new Gold Line Stations across the Foothills and Commuter Express lines traveling into the heart of downtown L.A. To plan your trip, visit Foothill Transit. “Foothill Transit. Going Good Places.”

Chris Greenspon (in studio): Welcome to SGV Connect 121, this is a shorter episode, but it’s a special montage of interviews from the 35th anniversary celebration of Foothill Transit at their headquarters in West Covina. Joe and I heard from board members past and present, local legislators, and higher ups in the transit agency about its history and where it’s going. Before we listen to that, I’d just like to remind you that: Streetsblog’s San Gabriel Valley coverage is supported by Foothill Transit, offering car-free travel throughout the San Gabriel Valley with connections to the Gold Line Stations across the Foothills and Commuter Express lines traveling into the heart of downtown L.A. To plan your trip, visit Foothill Transit dot org…… “Foothill Transit. Going Good Places.” Now let’s revisit the celebration that took place last Friday. Judy Chu: Well, good afternoon. I'm Congress member Judy Chu. And I just had to be here to say congratulations to Foothill Transit on your 35th anniversary. I can't believe it's been 35 years but I can believe it because Foothill has made such an impact on the San Gabriel Valley. And I am a huge admirer of this agency. I'm especially thrilled because it's addressed an issue that Southern Californians have had to deal with, which is traffic and congestion on our roadways, carbon emissions and having better ways to get to work school and to other communities in the San Gabriel Valley. But Foothill Transit has been at the forefront of solving these problems and ensuring that communities in the San Gabriel Valley that are underserved by transit have a convenient, sustainable connection to the rest of the Los Angeles area. And I especially admire Foothill Transit because it's leading the way in terms of clean energy. You're the first transit agency in the world to deploy heavy duty, fast charge electric transit buses in service. How about that? And I always boast in Washington DC about the fact that Foothill Transit is pushing for a 100% clean fueled fleet, and they're well on their way to getting it. And just look at all the tremendous steps that happened this year alone. In June, we celebrated the grand opening of Foothill transits Mount SAC Transit Center, which provides on Campus Transit to thousands of students, staff and faculty members. And by implementing the new Foothill Transit Rose Bowl shuttle service thousands of people can get to and from Rose Bowl events without having to deal with the hassle of traffic and parking. So you are making public transit more accessible for everyone. You're reducing the number of cars on our overburdened roads, and you're helping to fight climate change and building a greener and healthier community. So congratulations Foothill Transit and everyone here on this wonderful milestone. Thank you for all the work that you're doing to serve our communities, improve our public transit, and protect our environment. And I'd like to present a certificate of congressional recognition to Foothill Transit for 35 great years... CG: First of all, first name, last name, who you are, why do we care. Doran Barnes: Hi, Doran Barnes, Chief Executive Officer here at Foothill Transit. CG: So when/why/how was Foothill Transit founded? DB: Well, Foothill Transit was created to be responsive to the communities that we serve, to really focus on the San Gabriel and Pomona Valleys, to be here to be located here, to really understand the conditions in the community and how we can best serve the community and its residents.

CG: But just for a little context, it wasn't the first agency serving this jurisdiction, right? DB: It was not. Originally, this area was served by the Southern California Rapid Transit District. We were part of the county wide service that provided service here in the San Gabriel Valley. Our community leaders wanted to have that local control and that local responsiveness. So that's how we were founded. CG (in studio): All right, now let's listen to some of those electeds for a more detailed picture of Foothill Transit's past. John Fasana: John Fasana, I was a council member in Duarte for 33 years. I also was on the Foothill Transit executive board for a while and served on the Metro board for 27 years. Joe Linton: The longest serving person on the Metro board. JF: Yeah, I was. I was an original. JL: So talk a little bit about what your role has been with Foothill Transit and maybe a story about what what Foothill Transit has done? JF: Well, Foothill Transit, I think in the early days, what it came down to... the SCRTD was going to cance routes, they're having budget issues. And in the San Gabriel Valley, the were going to do substantial cancellations of routes. So in the early to mid 1980s, people like Supervisor Schabarum, and at the Transportation Commission, Sharon Neely and others were looking at strategies, "Well, rather than canceling lines, is there a way to get better efficiency in the lines or better performance?" And people like Bob Bartlett in Monrovia, Don McMillan, Judy Wright and Claremont, McMillan was in El Monte. They were coming together like, "Yeah, we don't want to lose all our routes. What can we do to still keep our routes and still provide the service that people need?" So they looked at forming this agency, it started off very small. They talked with cities in the San Gabriel Valley. First they were going to do the entire valley. Then they scaled it to 20 cities, I believe, mostly in the eastern Valley. And it's been a success. I mean, over the years, they've done a lot of innovation. They've run a great service. They had clean buses at the time in the early 90s. And Metro buses had a lot of graffiti in them. So the Foothill buses were very popular, and the Metro I think, has improved their services and runs a good service. But cost wise, I think Foothill is still extremely efficient. And they continue to be the eyes and the ears of the San Gabriel Valley in terms of what's needed out here. They've been a key stakeholder in terms of also informing us about what some of the transportation needs, how do you keep that 10 busway moving for, for example, keep people moving and not having the busway gridlock. There's some of us I know that was formed as a bus way originally. And then there was a transit strike that after it sat empty, people couldn't deal with that so they let cars in. And it's been a good story. But Bob Kuhn out of Glendora, who was on the council back then, also would have a lot of that ancient history of how it started. CG: Hi, Bob, what's your name? What's your claim to fame? Bob Kuhn: Okay, I'm Bob Kuhn. I was on the Foothill Transit Board in the early years. I've been a city council member for the city of Glendora, former mayor. I currently serve on three different water boards right now. I don't know if that's a claim to fame, or just a fact. CG: That seems more like a humble brag. JL: So tell us tell us about this: Foothill has been around 35 years, when did you come into the picture? And what was it like then? BK: I got into the picture on an early end of it. And that was from the standpoint of talking with Pete Schabarum and the fact that he wanted to bring an independent transit agency out into the San Gabriel Valley. He wanted to see cleaner buses, he wanted to see on-time production. And he also wanted to see some of the school districts served, that was really a big issue for him. At that time, Metro wasn't doing a particularly good job of servicing the school districts. And that was basically the ridership. And so he made a pitch to Glendora, which I had just gotten elected. It was my very first meeting as a city councilman. And my mistake for me personally, was calling the guy who made the presentation on Pete's behalf, it was a guy named Bill Forsyth. And I called Bill the next day. And I said, "Bill, I really do understand English, but I didn't understand a single word you said. You were talking in transit." He was involved in the 1984 Olympics and set up their transit system. So he was asked and tasked to set this up. And I didn't understand the routing. I didn't understand really what he was saying about about on time. Those were all issues that just didn't, didn't register with me. So he and I sat down for about two hours. And then he said at the end, he says, "I need an elected to go with me to some of the different city councils and make presentations." He said, "It's always good to have staff, and it always looks better when you're talking to electeds to have electeds there." And I said, "As long as I don't have to talk, I don't mind being there." And that's the way it worked out. I went with him. And toward the end, I was making the presentation and he was sitting there watching and it just came to be. It was just something that was destined at that time. CG (in studio): Okay, let's bring it back to the present now. LaShawn King Gillespie: I'm ready. I don't even have to take off my glasses because you don't have a camera. Isn't that great? Hi, I'm LaShawn King Gillespie and I serve as Deputy Chief Executive Officer here at Foothill Transit. JL: And talk a little bit about what you do. What's your day to day job? LKG: My day to day job is to support the team in both the operations, the planning, the day to day operations. I also work with our operations contractors at both locations, so that they can have what they need to provide the excellent service that we've committed to providing our customers. JL: Great. And what's an accomplishment that you're proud of recently at Foothill? Or even in the past of Foothill, what are you proud of having done? LKG: I think there's a few things that I'm super proud of. Of course, our commitment to technology and innovation, but our commitment to our community, both those who live here, who are educated here, those who play here, and making sure that we provide the highest level of service that we can, and what that looks like is clean buses, on-time performance, friendly operators/customer service representatives, and reliable service. JL: Any any like stories like some time you were out on a bus or you were talking to a customer, if you've got a story, that'd be awesome to add. If you don't want to add, you're done. CG: Her head jerked. That means yes. LKG: I probably have more stories and you want to hear about. One of my favorite stories, and I think they talked about this during the presentation today is our Rose Bowl service. When I go out on January one, at eight o'clock in the morning, the parades going on, and I see 70 meticulously clean Foothill Transit buses, there, ready to provide service to the thousands of customers or 1thousands of people who are going into the Rose Bowl, and the service that we provide that community and the feedback that we get after doing that service. That is one of my favorite things ever. Just imagine 70 buses -- am I getting a little too excited -- 70 buses lined up along the parade route. You see the floats going by and the buses, and then we are ready to just get people from that parking lot out to the Rose Bowl, seeing that. So that's one of my favorite things. In some of my day to day service... I do take the service, because we need to know our product. I remember when I first started, I got lost, I got lost and I was stranded. And I'm like, "Oh my gosh," it was before a lot of the technology was available, but calling our customer service representatives and them helping me and guiding me on how to get from where I was back to the office. I was like, "Alright, this is a cool place to work because they care." They absolutely care. CG (in studio): And let's close out once again with Foothill Transit CEO, Dorian Barnes. CG: Okay, two questions about the future. How close are we to getting... well, we're looking at about an initial purchase of about, was it 30 Fuel Cell buses? Are they all in pocket now? DB: Yeah, 33 Fuel Cell buses, they're here, they're operating so you can take a ride on those fuel cell buses today. They're out in the field, more to come. We're looking at additional zero emission technology, really looking at how that technology is evolving. And it's up to our policymakers to make those smart decisions about how fast we move. CG: And Foothill Transit has service to like we already mentioned L.A. but also the fringes of Orange County and the Inland Empire right into them, not to the edge of them. Are there any future plans or hopes to bolster up these inter-regional connections? DB: Well, we're really part of a mosaic of services throughout the region. So we do connect to Omnitrans at Montclair, we connect to OCTA in Brea. And then of course, connecting into downtown Los Angeles, where there lots and lots of different operators. We're constantly looking at those partnerships, looking at how do we not only serve our communities, but provide connectivity beyond our communities with our partners. So it's really an ongoing process looking at how do we make improvements. CG: Okay, last question for you, Doran. I know your time is very valuable. So there's been some development from the San Gabriel Valley Council of Governments. They've been working on a transit study and Bus Rapid Transit plan, how hopeful and how aggressive might Foothill Transit be about pursuing service provision for that line? DB: We've been very much involved with the creation of that study that's looking at additional lines in the region, BRT style lines. We're very hopeful that we'll be the operator of those services. As they're getting closer and closer to finalizing the preferred routes and the highest priority routes. We think there's some pieces that could fit really nicely into our network and further expand what we do for the communities we serve. CG: Just as an addendum, why do you think Foothill is the strong agency to do that? DB: Well, again, we're we're focused on the San Gabriel Valley. So blending those services into what we do makes it even more seamless for our customers. Certainly, whoever operates the lines, we'll want to make sure that we're interfacing very closely. But again, we think it fits into our network very nicely. CG: All right, Doran, thanks so much, and enjoy the rest of the party. DB: Thanks. I'm looking forward to it. CG (in studio): To see photos of our coverage of the Foothill Transit 35th anniversary celebration, look at Joe’s most recent stories, linked in the text for this episode. We’ll be back with more SGV Connect after the winter holidays.

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Jeanie Ward-Waller is not a household name in California, but until recently she may have had the most important job in the state as far as Streetsblog readers are concerned. Ward-Waller served as the Deputy Director of Planning and Multimodal Programs at Caltrans, where she not only oversaw many of the great programs that we regularly highlighted at Streetsblog; but also served as the internal whistleblower to make certain the agency was working to meet its own climate and equity goals.

While we were all surprised when Politico announced earlier this fall that she was fired/demoted, in retrospect maybe the surprise was that she lasted as long and accomplished as much as she did.

Below you can find the audio of a twenty minute chat we had last week, and then a stack of links about her time at Caltrans and Calbike before that and then a lightly edited transcript of the podcast.

Jeanie Ward-Waller Streetsblog Highlights, going from most recent backwards:

Analysis of her reassignment

I Lost My Job at Caltrans for Speaking Out Against Highway Widening

2021 Interview About Her Work at CaltransOn a panel about speeding up busesOn the challenges of incorporating equity: JWW created new Walk and Bike Technical Advisory Committee at Caltrans, with wider representationHired at CaltransAt CalBike advocating to get Caltrans to adopt a Complete Streets policy:SBCA gave out very few "Streetsies" and this was the best oneStanding up to California Transportation Commission

Interview Transcript:

Damien Newton

So as mentioned in the intro, I'm here with Jeanne Ward-Waller, who recently was the Deputy Director of Planning and Multimodal Programs at Caltrans. We're talking today about some of the changes that have happened at Caltrans recently, including that she is no longer the Deputy Director of Planning and Multimodal Programs at Caltrans.

For those of you that don't know, Jeanne has been a frequent guest on Streetsblog, California, or I shouldn't say guest frequent source person quoted in stories. Not just with Caltrans...but before that she was with Calbike. When she was first put in this position, we were all very excited. And I'll actually put some links to some of our old Streetsblog California stories in the text that accompanies this podcast if people are interested. But having said all that, welcome to our podcast, Jeannie.

Jeanie Ward-Waller

Thank you. Thank you, man. That's great to see you. Great to be with you.

Damien Newton

Thank you. So I did mention that you have a much longer history than just working at Caltrans recently. So why don't we do a little bit of your biography to give some people that might not be as familiar with you an idea as to why there were so many people across the state really excited when you were originally tapped for this position to Caltrans.

Jeanie Ward-Waller

Thank you. Yeah. I appreciate all those nice things. I am originally I don't know how far back you want me to go. But I'm a trained engineer. I did start my career as an engineer working in Boston. I transitioned into advocacy via a bike trip across the country, which was where I kind of cut my teeth on advocacy and fundraised for the Safe Routes to School National Partnership. And just like very serendipitously, at the end of that trip, I met the founder of that organization, Deb Hubsmith, who hired me to move to California and start working in advocacy here in Sacramento.

I consider myself so lucky, because I just absolutely...it was the career shift that I needed. I loved being in advocacy so much, and certainly have found my passion in the world of sustainable transportation. But I spent a couple of years working for Safe Routes to School, as you said, I then moved to the California Bicycle Coalition as a policy director there. And then found my way to Caltrans, about six years ago. I started at Caltrans as the Sustainability Program Manager, helping to build that program, which was really pretty new at the time, and had grown out of that Caltrans reform effort from about 10 years ago.

And so I was really excited...I felt like if I was ever going to try to make change inside of government, that that was the place to do it. And that program was new, growing and really came out of the idea of how do we change. The Department of Transportation and make it more modern, more oriented towards schools of climate inequity and community quality of life, the things that we want to see in our transportation system today. After a few years in that program, I was appreciated and recognized for my brand of change.

I was promoted into the Deputy Director role over the planning and modal program, which is a pretty large portion of Caltrans, kind of the part of Caltrans is responsible for looking into the future and deciding how the policies and the work of the department need to shift. And that was my job. I took it very seriously because both as an advocate, and then as a civil servant, public servant, I felt like that work is really, really important.

Damien Newton

When people describe what these positions were, the shorthand is, "It's Jeanie's job to make sure that Caltrans is actually trying to meet the climate goals that the governor and the legislature have put out." But sometimes shorthand is inaccurate. Sometimes it doesn't go far enough. Sometimes it glosses over. Is that accurate? Were you the internal person who was trying to make sure that Caltrans was helping them meet climate goals?

Jeanie Ward-Waller

It is accurate, but I wasn't the only one. There is also a deputy director of sustainability, who is a governor appointee. That person's job is also oriented around our climate goals. But because I oversaw the planning program, and also the modal programs, multimodal programs, which included our rail and transit programs; I was more on the implementation side of how we get future projects to be better aligned with our climate goals. And thus reach the goals that we have set out in our statewide plans like the California Transportation Plan, which the legislature requires that document show the path to our 2050 Climate goal; which is an 80% reduction in GHG, which is massive. So that's a very ambitious plan.

And somehow what we do today, and the projects that we're initiating, that are coming in the future; need to kind of put us on the path to those goals. So that was the work of the Planning Program, which was in my purview.

Damien Newton

What are some of the things that you were able to work on at Caltrans that were exciting to you, or particularly things that you can point out and be," Wow, the six years that we've spent there up to now we're really worthwhile looking at these great things."

Jeanie Ward-Waller

Oh, my gosh...so many things. And I'm incredibly proud of the time that I spent in Caltrans.

And I also want to say, it's not just me. I don't want to take credit for all of the great things that were happening. I was in a leadership position, which is important to help set the course. But there are just so many good people at Caltrans, so many people that I worked with that were on my team. Some work in different parts of the department that are really responsible for making change happen. And so, it was really fun work, a lot of things that I'm really proud of.

We were working on something called CSIS or the Caltrans System Investment Strategy. And that is a set of metrics that help us determine whether the projects that we're doing in the future are aligned with the goals that we have, not just climate, equity, safety; but multiple different policy priorities. And that, I think, is really fundamental to trying to make good decisions in the future. That's something that's still ongoing. It's not complete, it will be something that iterates over many years and gets better with time. But we've spent a huge amount of time on that.

Now, the thing I take a lot of pride in is helping to really create the equity program. I founded a Caltrans office of race and equity and brought people together from different parts of the department that were working on Native American liaison issues and community engagement issues, and we created a kind of cohesive unit in headquarters that was responsible for leading that work. And there have been policy policies that have grown out of that work, also something that we call the equity index, which is also telling us about where and what are the characteristics of communities where we're doing projects? And how do we make them better, from an equity perspective, reduce harm, improve benefits.

So those are a couple of things.

There were other things that were actively underway, like we were working on transit priority policies and projects, which I think Caltrans has a huge amount of opportunity to improve how transit flows, especially, not just on the state highway system that Caltrans owns, but also across the system, often on local streets. That's also still underway. It's to be seen, what comes of some of those efforts. Without me there, I think all those things need a really strong champion to to really be implemented and live up to the goals that we have.

Damien Newton

A lot of the headlines have used the word "fired," that you were fired, or let go from your position. But you were really internally reassigned, but the reassignment was done in such a way that it's just basically the same thing. Because you haven't left Caltrans, you're still there, but you're currently on family leave. Let's just untangle all of that at first so people can understand exactly what's going on.

Jeanie Ward-Waller

Because I was in an executive role, it's a little bit of a unique state government position, where you can be terminated in an executive role. Because as I mentioned, before, I had come into Caltrans in a civil service classification as the sustainability program manager, I had return rights...legal rights to return to that classification. And based on the longevity I have at Caltrans actually one level above that level. The details are not that important, but functionally it is kind of a demotion, if I accept my rights of return, which I have I've done and at this point. I've been on family leave for the last month and a half, but I am still an employee of Caltrans.

But I will not return to Caltrans in the role I was in before and it's not clear what my role will be when I return

Damien Newton

In the meantime your old position still exists. And hopefully, it's still working on some of these issues. It's been reported in a lot of the press, including Melanie and Streetsblog, California that the impetus for them making a change was really the opposition you were giving internally to a freeway project in the Sacramento region. I think a lot of us were sort of caught off guard when all this happened. I remember when we all read the Politico story, at Streetsblog we're like, "wait, what's happening? Really? That doesn't make sense." Can you sort of explain what you think happened as best you can, without tripping on the legal case that you have against Caltrans? I mean, was this a surprise, or was it something you saw coming as you were expressing opposition to some programs, or some projects, that Caltrans was pushing that really weren't living up to the goals that the agency was publicly expressing?

Jeanie Ward-Waller

Short answer is that it was a total surprise to me.

And I'll tell you, the reason that I was surprised by the change by the termination is that the questions that I was asking about this specific project in Sacramento are the kinds of questions I asked every day in my job at Caltrans: is this project aligned with our goals? Are we living up to the public benefits that we're claiming we will get from these projects? Those were the kinds of questions I asked every day as an employee of Caltrans.

And frankly, I felt like that was my job. I was put in a job where I'm a change agent. It's part of my job description, to sort of look into the future and figure out how the department needs to change. And so it would be me not living up to my duties in that job, if I wasn't asking questions, like I was asking. Frankly, as a public servant, I take really seriously that we need to be telling the truth to the public, and we need to create the required opportunities to have public engagement and public input to our work. So that requires being transparent, and also requires being honest in our analysis. And I was concerned that wasn't happening on those two projects that are the exact same location.

So it kind of functionally seemed like one project, but this location on I-80. I was very surprised by the termination. And the timing of it was right on the heels of me saying I was concerned about accountability. And not really seeing any response to those questions prompted me to say, "I really think this warrants an external audit, this is the kind of thing whistleblower opportunities exist for when you're asking questions, and they're not being answered, and nobody's taking it seriously. I just felt like I had an obligation to appeal to other forms of accountability and government. So again, none of that was different from what I had always done in my time at Caltrans. And so it was a big surprise. when the next thing to happen was that I was terminated in my role.

Damien Newton

I'm down here in Greater Los Angeles. Caltrans has been getting beat up a lot recently in the past week...I mean by Streetsblog, always...but in the past week in the mainstream press because of what went on with the I-10 fire in East LA. When we were doing our pre interview you were talking about how the role of Caltrans keeps changing and expanding. And to be fair to people working at the agency, it's really hard to keep up with all of the "extra things." 20 years ago, it was "build the freeways" and maybe be a landlord for some random houses along the 710 corridor.

But now there's all these different things they have to take into account. So I guess what I'm trying to ask is, how fair is it to just level some of these larger accusations at the agency? How difficult is it to sort of be at Caltrans these day. You're someone who is got a few things to say about the agency, but you also bring a different perspective than I think your average person that just exists in California or even your Streetsblog editor.

Jeanie Ward-Waller

I think it's incredibly hard, especially at the leadership level trying to make decisions about priorities. I think the job of Caltrans today is so much more complicated than it was, as you said, even 20 years ago. The crises of the past that Caltrans has dealt with and responded incredibly well to are things like earthquakes and damage to the system...mudslides. We see a lot of these emergencies, crises, where the system gets impacted severely, and Caltrans can respond in an incredible fashion, and usually does and I think will to this fire and the damage that was done to the 10 freeway. That is really the bread and butter and what Caltrans does really well.

And building and maintaining the highway system is what this agency was established to do and has done through its whole history. The "new stuff" is complete streets, and how do we deal with these other users that aren't in a car that maybe want to be in a bus or train or have options, or, maybe don't want to travel want to have like, options to not have to travel as much or as far. Those are like way more complicated problems that interact with air quality land use, community opinions, and all of this other complicated stuff.

Certainly being landlords of folks who are unhoused in particular is just such an intractable difficult issue and to think about engineers who are trying to build highways, suddenly having to figure out how to, like, take care of people. It's just...it's not what people came to Caltrans thinking that they would be doing. And so I do think that the agency's job has become incredibly complicated, and I'm very sympathetic to that. I think we need to appreciate what Caltrans does well, and keeping the roads open and keeping them working pretty well is impressive. The other things are very hard. And there, it's gonna take a lot of time and a really strong push.

You need people like me, right? You need people to push for change to actually change an organization like that. And sometimes it takes a generation. You need to bring in all new people with all new ideas, trying to think about problems differently, before you really get true change in an agency.

Damien Newton

All right, well, we are hitting our artificially created time limit of 20 minutes, but you know, it's the internet. So it's not like it's a hard and fast rule. I always like to close with the assumption that maybe there's something I missed or a question I didn't ask. So if there's a question I didn't ask that you really want to answer; feel free to ask it now. If not, I think maybe just take a short look into the future and tell us what should advocates who are interested in working on issues with Caltrans...what should we be looking for in 2024 and beyond. You can just answer your own question or mine or do both in either order.

Jeanie Ward-Waller

That's a really good question. Maybe I'll at least partly answer it, because I don't have a magic looking glass. So I don't know exactly what's going to come in the future. But I do think that there's so much more work to do with Caltrans and with all of Caltrans partners. Down in your neck of the woods, obviously, LA Metro is working hand in glove with Caltrans. So there's a lot of kind of accountability and influence and engagement to do with all of the folks that are making these decisions. But it's so important...I would just say there's more money in transportation now than there ever has been.

Caltrans' budget is bigger than it's ever been. And that's because there's both more state money as well as more federal money flowing into transportation right now. And so the decisions that get made in the next five to 10 years are going to create the system and the communities of the future. And so I just think it's such an important time to be engaged and to be doing this work, and to be paying close attention to asking the hard questions for what Caltrans and other agencies are doing. So I really appreciate the work of advocates. I talk to advocates all the time. A lot of them are my good friends.

I think it's important that we all be honest with each other both about what we're doing well, and what we need to improve. So I just want to leave with maybe some appreciation.

Damien Newton

All right, well, hey, thank you so much for your time. Again, there's some links and some of Jeanie's story that go back to... I don't know if we have one's back to your Safe Routes days. I'm sure if I look hard enough, we can find some quotes or two.I often say the the people that do open streets and the people that do Safe Routes to School don't know how lucky they have it, because the opposition to taking kids to school safely or to doing an open street event is so much less than the opposition to so many of the other issues we work on.

Jeanie Ward-Waller

It's like mom and apple pie! And biking across the country....that was part of why I picked it as an organization to focus on biking across the country. We were biking through the south and all across the country everybody cares about their communities being safe for kids to be able to walk and bike to school. So I agree with you. It's an issue that goes to my heart, and always will be.

Damien Newton

Thank you so much for your time today. And again, there's some links to some old Jeanie Ward-Waller stories on Streetsblog, California that are included with the text that accompanies this podcast and we will keep in touch and keep an eye on what's going on.

Jeanie Ward-Waller

Thank you so much, Damien. This is fun.

View Details

This week's SGV Connect podcast is a special episode where the Streetsblog San Gabriel Valley team, Chris Greenspon, Joe Linton and Damien Newton, sit down and discuss the great success that was ArroyoFest 2023. All three were at the event but experienced it differently with Linton and his family biking the route, Newton completing the "Run the 110" 10k race and Greenspon walking along the 110 later in the morning.

Of course, this is Streetsblog so we also discuss what the success of the event could mean for future open streets and open freeway events in the region and Newton even dreams of permanent freeway closures and replacements.

A lightly edited transcript of the podcast appears after audio links. There's also one correction that's noted in the transcript but not the audio. At one point Newton states there were 1,700 people that completed the race. The number is actually over 4,000.

SGV Connect is supported by Foothill Transit, offering car-free travel throughout the San Gabriel Valley with connections to the new Gold Line Stations across the Foothills and Commuter Express lines traveling into the heart of downtown L.A. To plan your trip, visit Foothill Transit. “Foothill Transit. Going Good Places.”

Catch past episodes of SGV Connect and #DamienTalks on LibSyn, iTunes, Google Play, or Overcast.

Transcript:

(Note: Text in italics is audio that was taken during ArroyoFest itself.)

Chris Greenspon 0:09 Hi, it's Chris Greenspon You're listening to SGV Connect #120, our ArroyoFest after special. We're going to take you through our experience. We all did a different mode of transportation there. And we all recorded some on site narration of the things we were experiencing, seeing and hearing. You're gonna hear that kind of audio laced into the episode throughout. So anyway, Damian hit us with that ad copy.

Damien Newton 0:34 Oh, right. Well, this and every episode of SGV Connect is sponsored by Foothill Transit. Offering car free travel throughout the San Gabriel Valley with connections to go Gold Line Stations across the Foothill and the Silver Streak into downtown Los Angeles. To plan your trip, visit Foothill Transit at Foothill transit.org Foothill Transit! Going good places.

Joe Linton 0:53 This is Streetsblog editor Joe Linton, reporting from the off ramp to the Avenue 60. On the 110 freeway on the morning of ArroyoFest. My daughter and I are here got up at the crack of dawn. It's colder than I thought it'd be but it's warming up, I can see the sun arriving. And it's not quite crowded yet with cyclists but there are definitely 10s...probably hundreds of cyclists.

Damien Newton 1:26 Alright, so I am near the starting line now. And there are 1000s of people in front of me and we are 18 minutes away from the start. So this is going to be a pretty pretty big race, maybe the biggest 10k I've done attendance wise. I do look forward to seeing the final numbers for this, this is going to be a big, well attended race.

Chris Greenspon 1:53 I'm walking towards the 110 on Orange Grove Avenue just past the cover band and a row of porta potties. Both are always an encouraging sight and sound at these open streets events. We're about to get on the 110. And now let's talk about what we and so many other people have glowingly said about ArroyoFest, Joe.

Joe Linton 2:19 Yeah, I think I mean, this is some people have been saying this online, but I think it really had some of the energy of the of the very first open streets event in Southern California. I mean, actually ArroyoFest 2003 is sometimes as good as that. But CicLAvia itself started in 2010. And people didn't know what to expect. And just you know, 10s of 1000s of people, more than 50,000 people showed up and it was downright crowded. With bicycles, the walk side, you guys can probably speak to that but wasn't wasn't quite as crowded early on. It wasn't quite as crowded. But it really got to a point on the freeway, you know, where three lanes of three car lanes wasn't enough to hold lots of cyclist wishing by so there was a lot of slowing down and, y navigating space with other human beings, the things people do in cities around the world every day.

Chris Greenspon 3:16 Yeah, it's almost like it should have been widened. Damien, what did you make of the vibe out there? And that was in jest, SGV Connect devotees? Please, Damien, and take over.

Damien Newton 3:27 Yeah, thank you. Thank you, Chris, almost giving me a heart attack before you put the microphone out. Maybe if we had extended it instead of widening it. Anyway, usually when I do these types of events, I'm doing that with my family who is completely bored of hearing me drone on and on about the benefits for open streets events, or I'm doing them with other activists. So this was new for me, because I'm doing it with running groups, not just like my friends that run but like surrounded by people, and it was a different discussion. No one was talking about the broader impacts it was more "oh, it's gonna be cool, we get to run on the freeway." It was pretty much a vibe. But then when we were actually out there running there were "Oh, this is cool." There were people way more people stopping to take selfies, and I was...depending how you view it...I was either at the back of the fast group or the front of the middle group timewise. And so I was around people that were serious runners, and they were stopping and taking pictures. They were talking about how cool it was they were they were doing this race. This is not normal conversation for a race unless you're in like a themed race like a Disney Race or a Rose Bowl Race or something like that, where you're in a unique environment. And that's what it was. It was a unique environment. And if you're not a runner, most five and 10 k's are on streets that are closed. That's just that's how they do them. You're in downtown or you're in the west side or your wherever it is a lot of it's on the road...but on the freeway had a very different feel for people and you saw I see way more pictures from other runners than I'm used to for these types of events. Usually pictures are at the start of the end with your friends. They're not in the middle of the race.

Joe Linton 4:55 Damien, can you can you talk about a little bit about like so what was the route? Also, I think something that's unusual on runs to is that they gave people tap cards right and forced you guys onto the train. So talk about like, where it started and where it ended and how it basically worked.

Damien Newton 5:13 Well, it started. I'm about 200 yards away from the South Pasadena station and we ran onto the freeway. We actually ran north for a little bit just so that we could I guess, be at exactly 10k..runners don't want a 9.8k medal. So then we turned around and ran basically south to the end. And it ended at the activity center at the south end of the route.

Joe Linton 5:32 Yeah, which is in the Lincoln Heights right? Cypress Park, close to Dodger Stadium.

Damien Newton 5:38 It was. One of the theories that I had as to why...there was a lot of discussion online that we'll get into is...why are we doing this only until 11. I was like, well, when they were planning this, they didn't know if the Dodgers were going to be in the World Series. And that was probably part of it. I mean, it'd be really hard to have a Dodgers World Series game and have a chunk of the 110 close until just a couple hours before the game starts. I was thinking that that might have played into that decision making but yeah, it was right there. And a lot of runners got on the Gold Line to get there because between the heavily heavily heavily advertised lack of parking...I probably got an email from the Ron the 110 every day in the week before telling me not to bother to drive and park. Between that and the free tap cards not just free. tab cards unique tab cards, all I can show mine off to the people in the room with me. I would guess almost everybody that ran took Metro to get there.

Joe Linton 6:29 And what was the run? Like? Was it quiet? Was it loud? Was it fast? What's what was what was actually being out there running on a freeway? What was your experience?

Chris Greenspon 6:39 And downhill at that?

Damien Newton 6:40 Well, I was gonna mention the downhill because I've well stated on this podcast and elsewhere, I was in a Halloween costume. And I was not expecting to have my strongest race day. But I did really well in large part because it was downhill. Also, I ran into one of my run partners who's in a lot better shape than me and she dragged me along with her. So that helps too. But yeah, it was a lot of it was downhill. There was more talking than usual on the race. But I mean, other than that, it was quiet. And I think the talking was people going "oh, wow, this is cool." Which I actually said a few times out loud to the people I was running with. My friend Juanna who I was out with, we talked about how this was like a really cool race. And she's the type of person that does like 40 mile races and stuff like that, like, you know, my marathons are wimpy. And she was like, "No, this race is fantastic. This is one I'm gonna remember."

Joe Linton 7:31 The freeway is so crowded. Lots and lots, hundreds 1000s of bikes, people on bikes, escapes, wheelchairs, scooters, more people arriving by the minute.

Chris Greenspon 7:46 Now this is a sight, we're finally coming down into the much more green area of the 110 just got under a bridge then of course, down straight away in the distance. You see Mount Washington, people waving

Joe Linton 8:03 People getting lost people find each other. And it's it's I think it's one of the most crowded open streets events I've ever seen. And the walk side is just as crowded as the bike side.

Damien Newton 8:14 Okay, so I am done the race. I have done the festival I have seen there were 1741 people registered for the 10k. (Note, this is wrong, there were 1741 people that had finnished the race when I checked my times on the app. There were actually over 4,000 people that ran the race). Of course, we saw plenty of people running along the route that were not signed up, which is great. You know, I wanted my fancy medal but not everybody does. And it was a it was a great time. It really was a unique experience. Got a lot of great pictures. A lot of fond memories. Hope I get to do this again before I'm 65. Now I'm gonna go back out and walk the route a little bit.

Chris Greenspon 8:48 Okay, so now do you want to go into the wrinkles? of the show of the whole event?

Joe Linton 8:54 Yeah, just some of the buzz online. A concern raised by some cyclist was...advocates...on you're not some cyclists called it a shitshow some some called the dangerous. There were a lot of crashes of cyclists here and there. I mean, and when I say a lot, it's probably, you know, 50,000 cyclists and you know, two dozen of them maybe fell or something. I should say 50,000 participants probably. That's a guess. But certainly 10s of 1000s of folks participating in any event and I'd say more than half of those. probably more than two thirds of those, would be bicyclists. So probably 30-40-50,000 bicyclists. I think that we we don't share space that well in Southern California and that's drivers, bicyclists, pedestrians, people taking transit. We're not used to these spaces where there's lots of people, and everyone's moving, and we need to really look out for each other. I talked to my daughter, "You need to know who's behind you and who's in front of you." You know? Every day on Southern California freeway's one or more people die. The freeway was safer than you know, every day in Southern California. But I think there were a lot of small scale crashes and probably a few broken bones. And anybody else want to touch on that?

Chris Greenspon 10:35 I would say? One thing that maybe should have been a hard rule would have been none of the three wheeled scooters with the two in front. maybe I'm misunderstanding physics here, but it seems like those were easier to tip forward. I saw at least three or four kids fall straight forward onto the freeway. With those again, the the really flimsy three wheeled scooters, as opposed to like some of the more modern razors that look like they're set up pretty stable. What about you, Damien, did you observe any precociousness or precariousness?

Speaker 2 11:10 Well, again, I was in a really different situation, almost a controlled environment as you're gonna get in that sort of event where you know, everybody was running. So there wasn't a lot.. I mean, we did see a person trip. But like, that's not unusual. I will say when, in the early morning when you're running, even if you're running fast on the southbound side, you're watching the bicyclists zip pass on the northbound side, some of them pretty fast. It wasn't very crowded yet. We were very happy for that separation. And I know some of the people that ran back the other way that I talked to afterwards said the same thing like that separation was great. As far as the people on two feet instead of two wheels were concerned...you two wheeled menaces you. So it was great. As far as we thought on foot. We didn't have the "Oh no, we're too crowded." It was like up there they are over there going much faster than we are.

Chris Greenspon 12:01 Towards the end, I did see a few bikes on the walking side.

Joe Linton 12:05 Yeah, I wondered that too:the speed differential. And so you had, four year olds on bikes with training wheels, and what they call MAMILS, middle aged men in lycra, fancy road bikes trying to get their miles in. And I think that there probably could have been some notice to...I hate to second guess the organizers did an awesome job...and this is sort of reaching for criticism, but it's sort of slow cyclists on one side. If you're going less than eight miles an hour or something, you're welcome to be on the walk side. If you're willing to be really chill. It's kind of like bicycling on a sidewalk in LA. It's often a good choice, if you're willing to slow down. And if, if you want to go fast, it doesn't really make sense. Anyway, I hate to dwell on the small number of crashes with the so many people and so many smiles and people what was fun as event got going. So there's a concrete barrier that's maybe three, two or three feet wide at the top.

And a lot of people were climbing up on the barrier and shooting selfies and getting the pictures of the freeway signs, Downtown to your right or whatever. It was really was a great vibe. It was it was fun to be in that space. And it's something where I think, "every CicLAvia is fun for me." And it's sort of like church. I had my great Sunday's whatever. And yet, there was a feeling at ArroyoFest, sort of like the first CicLAvia, that this was something big and new, and actually media wise, that has borne out. Open streets now under especially funded under Metro, there's maybe a dozen a year. Not quite one a month, but they rarely make the news. And this one, we got front page coverage in the LA Times lots of gorgeous photos. And TV news covered it. And how was your feed? Every other thing on my Instagram and Facebook was people's people's photos at this event. So it felt like it felt like a real happening and a real newsworthy thing. And not just another sequel?.

Chris Greenspon 14:36 I think considering that. It was the first time that probably almost anybody...the majority of the people who participated ever got to do a thing like that go hang out on the freeway. The turnout scale was bound to be legendary. And with that considered, I think safety wise, it actually went pretty well. And honestly It was kind of nice that despite the like you said, the proliferation of media coverage, it was nice to go do something like this. And I didn't see a single TV camera the whole time. And I guess it feels like you can be more yourself. Maybe that was what I liked most about it. The sense of isolation, even though obviously, there was 10s of 1000s of people. It felt like being in another place in another world at times.

Joe Linton 15:28 Yeah, it does. I mean, the quiet in the middle of the city in a space like that, it did feel kind of uncanny in some way. So let's talk about the future. I'm going to preface this with in 2009, everybody was like "CicLAvia will never work in Los Angeles" In 2010, we did it! I was one of the people who was working on the first one, although there were a lot of people doing it. I'm not the author. But I'm one of the one of the folks. And I think there was a sense after CicLAvia that, "This changes everything. We've demonstrated that if you build it, they will come." And yet, here we are, you know, a decade later. And I think less has changed than I would have hoped for at the time. So what's the implications for the future for this event?

Chris Greenspon 16:18 So I think this, without a doubt has to raise Active SGV's credibility with the entire San Gabriel Valley Council of Governments Consortium. I mean, they're already very well regarded. But in the towns where they haven't really done much yet. I think this gives them if not a blank check, a very, very, very strong resume point. I mean, being having a successful event on the cover of the LA Times makes me wonder whether we might see an event on on Temple, in La Puente,, in Baldwin Park over to Walnut. That's something I would enjoy personally. But I can't imagine that we will not be seeing more Active SGV open streets events, especially along the L line as those continued to complete in the coming years.

Joe Linton 17:06 So I do think that yes, it will make Active SGV, who did a phenomenal job, getting all the permits and organizing them in and bringing it all together. I think it'll make them more in demand for doing 66 Golden Streets. Communities can see this, the success and the happiness of stuff like this and ask for more open streets.

But I also wonder, going beyond events to permanent treatments of public space. I think that car free space is at such a premium in Los Angeles. And people go to malls and the beach and stuff like that. And they have this experience of sharing space. And I think we need to look at our downtowns, Los Angeles, of course, but Pasadena and all the you know, these A Line stations. You guys call it the L Line, I call it the A Line or the Gold Line. I think we do need to look at instead of, you know, widening streets and building massive parking structures around our transit stations, to look at where can we do Paseos and bike facilities and shared space that we keep cars out of that people can come together in? That's what I hope grows out of it.

I think we've accepted, "we" being Southern California, we've accepted that we can come together for CicLAvia you know, for 626 Golden Streets, for ArroyoFest, once a month, twice a month, but I think we do need to look to can we do this, if not 24/7, even weekends.

Why don't we close a few blocks of a street in historic downtown area in Arcadia for example. But why don't we do that, you know, every weekend for two months during the summer or something like that. So why don't we make this space proliferate? And if it's too hard to close the street permanently? Can we do it all weekend? Can we do it for a season? Can we do it for four Sundays in a month or something like that? So I think there's kind of so I'm talking about there's kind of two ends of the open street spectrum: one is massive event like Heart of LA orArroyoFest, you know, close and iconic area, bring lots and lots of people. But I think the other end is important too. It's a little bit more like a farmers market. Can we take an area and actually I mean, the folks you've written about...the Complete Streets plan in El Monte... and looking at revitalizing some of the downtown areas that are having trouble drawing in customers. Activate that space by keeping cars out of it, and bringing music and vendors and people into it. And I don't know I say all this and I'm not, I don't want to be naive that that's an easy task. That's against the grain of what of what we do in Southern California. But these carfree spaces are really are important, are precious, and are perhaps the future of bringing people together.

Chris Greenspon 20:37 What I want to go out on is...nonstop we were hearing leading up to this, you know, in our previous interview with Marcus and Robert, about the history of ArroyoFest and people were saying, you know, just regular everyday people were saying, "Oh, who knows this isn't going to happen again, for 20 years." That joke certainly got beaten to death. But I'm wondering in your seasoned opinions. Do you think that within a more reasonable timeframe, we can do an open freeway event again, maybe not on the 110? And if so, where would you suggest but do you think it's within grasp?

Joe Linton 21:16 Yeah, I mean, I think the wild rousing success of ArroyoFest says there's an appetite for this, that this is a fun thing, and that Angelenos will show up. I think you need to pick a freeway that's close to transit. A lot of freeways are really boring spaces that I think the Arroyo Seco Parkway, the 110 Freeway between downtown and Pasadena is probably head and shoulders, the most picturesque freeway on the west coast...maybe not the west coast, but certainly in Southern California. But I think you have to pick it well. I think you can't just say, "Hey, we're gonna close the, the 405 in Westwood, everybody show up." There's folks thinking about this at Active SGV at CicLAvia that could probably figure out where, where it makes sense to do it. But it is very difficult to work with Caltrans to repurpose Caltrans space for anything other than lots and lots of cars all the time. And I think there there are glimmers of change at that. But when you do a bike path project, and it takes three inches of Caltrans space away, it takes decades to get that project approved. And I think some of that's changing, but I mean, hopefully the success of a royal fast helps pull Caltrans into a more multimodal acceptance of this sorts of shared space. But I've perhaps been in the trenches too long to expect that we'll see ArroyoFest three anytime soon, and that we'll see other open streets events on freeways soon, but I hope I'm wrong.

Damien Newton 23:03 Well, and there's the holy grail to have a freeway closure. I mean, on the west side, we had the 90 freeway debate briefly. We talked about possibly doing a study and the local advocacy group Streets for All was his was trying to get a federal grant to do a study and everyone seemed on board with it. And then a couple of neighborhood councils found out about it and flipped out because that's the role of our neighborhood council system to flip out and stop good things from happening. And they were successful. The mayor was, I believe one person said it might have been Ted Rogers, that she was "for it before she was against it." And she came out against it. And these freeway closures, though that I mean...that's after CicLAvia for a couple of years, we had pretty good momentum and building bike infrastructure. And as far as I mean, some of it was Sharrows. But 2010 We were happy just to get Sharrows some places. You know, Villaraigosa had, Mayor Villaraigosa the mayor of LA, had a goal for 200 miles of bike infrastructure year, including those dastardly sharrows. But still, it was happening and there was momentum and for whatever reason, maybe it's Villaraigosa got rid of the low hanging fruit. Maybe it's because Garcetti was too tactical, but that momentum really stalled and fizzled during the Garcetti years. So is the momentum here to do another ArroyoFest? Or is the momentum to go that big next step and look at the freeways that aren't seeing huge volumes of traffic, aren't seeing a regular influx of cars and say, "do we need this or can we do something else with this land?" The 90 may be off the table now, thanks to some crazy angry people. But they've been entirely...

Joe Linton 24:36 ...It does look like it lost a lot of momentum. But I don't think it's a shut book just yet.

Speaker 2 24:42 That's exciting for me. But, you know, the battle over the 710 extension was was decades and I think that ArroyoFest shows that maybe we don't need those freeways, especially the ones that aren't your commuter freeways. And that's a lot of land to do something else with. They always say, "we're not growing more land or making more land," but we kind of can if we repurpose land that's not being utilized to the best extent that it is.

Chris Greenspon 25:06 Well, that's a fabulous note to go out on.

Joe Linton 25:09 Well, actually one one more closing note. I heard at least a few folks showed up at a row fest that was their first open streets event. So there are regular open streets events, and the next one coming up is in South LA on Martin Luther King Boulevard, the date is December.

Damien Newton 25:30 I think it's the 3rd but I'm looking at I think it's December 3, but I'm just double checking it, but it's definitely the first Sunday in December.

Joe Linton 25:36 Yes, the first time in December. We think it's December 3 on Martin Luther King Boulevard in South LA. So check them out there. They're always a treat. And I think they do give you a sense of what NLA that's less totally festooned with cars might look like.

Chris Greenspon 25:54 All right, well, that wraps us up for SGV Connect 120. In the meantime, listen to these sounds of ArroyoFest.

Transcribed by https://otter.ai

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This week’s SGV Connect Podcast looks backward at the first year of the GoSGV Bike Share program and looks forward to Halloween and ArroyoFest.

First, we speak with Jose Jimenez, the education director for Active SGV about the GoSGV’s first year, celebrated earlier this month. There are over 100 bikes being rented monthly at the moment and over 400 people took part in the program in its first year. There will be a demonstration zone for the rental e-bikes at ArroyoFest this Sunday near the South Pasadena HUB.

You can get more information about GoSGV at their website, Arroyofest at the 626 Golden Streets Website, or read a transcript of our interview. Of course, if you’d like to enjoy more previews for ArroyoFest you can listen to our previous podcast about the history of this event or this piece by Joe Linton.

A quick note, in the interview we discuss the possibility of renting an e-bike from GoSGV just for the event this Sunday. But between when we conducted the interview and today, they have sold out of bikes for the event.

Our second interview is a horror story of the two-wheeled variety. Local writer Carribean Fragoza read us a nonfiction piece about riding alone and underprepared on the industrial Rush Street. Fragoza is an up and coming author who’s made the LA Times Best of lists with her gothic chicana prose and poetry.

The non-fiction piece she read for us today is named for and based on a lonely industrial corridor in South El Monte called Rush Street.

You can read the excerpt she reads for us at Tropics of Meta, or order the book she co-edited where it was first published, East of East the Making of Greater El Monte.

SGV Connect is supported by Foothill Transit, offering car-free travel throughout the San Gabriel Valley with connections to the new Gold Line Stations across the Foothills and Commuter Express lines traveling into the heart of downtown L.A. To plan your trip, visit Foothill Transit. “Foothill Transit. Going Good Places.”

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This week's SGV Connect breaks our regular mold as Streetsblog L.A. editor Joe Linton conducts both interviews on the past and future of ArroyoFest which returns at the end of this month, on Sunday October 29th when a portion of the I-110 will be closed to cars and open to other uses in the morning.

First, Linton interviews Robert Gottlieb and Marcus Renner some of the leaders that brought Southern California the first ArroyoFest in 2003. Seven years before the first CicLAvia, ArroyoFest changed the conversation around transportation in the region. While we haven't seen the seismic change away from cars in the past two decades that some might have hoped for, the steps towards regional bike networks and an expanded transit system might not have been possible without ArroyoFest.

Linton then moves into an interview with Wes Reutimann with ActiveSGV who has been leading efforts for the 10/29 ArroyoFest. Reutimann goes over the schedule for the day that begins with a 10k run at 6:00 a.m. After Arroyofest ends at 11, there are local parties and cultural events planned for just off the route.

For more information on ArroyoFest 2023, visit their website.

SGV Connect is supported by Foothill Transit, offering car-free travel throughout the San Gabriel Valley with connections to the new Gold Line Stations across the Foothills and Commuter Express lines traveling into the heart of downtown L.A. To plan your trip, visit Foothill Transit. “Foothill Transit. Going Good Places.”

Sign-up for our SGV Connect Newsletter, coming to your inbox on Fridays, and catch past episodes of SGV Connect and #DamienTalks on LibSyn, iTunes, Google Play, or Overcast.

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This week's SGV Connect features a pair of interviews that will change and improve the lives of residents of the San Gabriel Valley.

First, we talk with Alhambra Councilmember Adele Andrade-Stadler. Andrade-Stadler is the winner of this year's Elected Official of the Year award given by ActiveSGV at their Noche de las Luminarias. You can read more about her award and her relationship with ActiveSGV at their ActiveBlog.

At the end of the interview, we discuss the upcoming Sustainability Plan for Alhambra that should be released for public review later this month. Read a transcript of the interview, here.

The second interview is with Steve Farley. While Farley is a long-time Streetsblogger, he drops a reference to Aaron Naperstek who founded Streetsblog in 2006, and a former State Senator in Arizona, it's his art we're interested in. Farley is the artist in charge of the public art that will be part of the future Gold Line Station in Pomona. Read a transcript of the interview, here.

SGV Connect is supported by Foothill Transit, offering car-free travel throughout the San Gabriel Valley with connections to the new Gold Line Stations across the Foothills and Commuter Express lines traveling into the heart of downtown L.A. To plan your trip, visit Foothill Transit. “Foothill Transit. Going Good Places.”

Catch past episodes of SGV Connect and #DamienTalks on LibSyn, iTunes, Google Play, or Overcast.

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This week's SGV Connect focuses on two different parking programs in Pasadena.

As the city closes in on approving its Strategic Parking Plan, we welcome retired UCLA economics professor and parking pricing guru Donald Shoup. Shoup's The High Cost of Free Parking which is still considered essential reading for urban planners decades after its original publication. He was also involved when Pasadena first considered variable parking prices for its Playhouse District.

As you can imagine, he has a lot to say.

Our second interview is with Tashera Taylor, Melody McNulty, and Catherine Cheung of Foothill Unity Center. Foothill Unity is currently piloting a safe parking program in a church lot in Pasadena. For those of you that don't know, safe parking is a program where people who are living in their car can apply for space to park every night in a safe environment where they have access to running water, food and social services. The trio outlines Foothill's program, how they plan to grow, and the important social program and relief that has developed for parkers taking part in their program.

SGV Connect is supported by Foothill Transit, offering car-free travel throughout the San Gabriel Valley with connections to the new Gold Line Stations across the Foothills and Commuter Express lines traveling into the heart of downtown L.A. To plan your trip, visit Foothill Transit. “Foothill Transit. Going Good Places.”

Catch past episodes of SGV Connect and #DamienTalks on LibSyn, iTunes, Google Play, or Overcast.

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This week’s SGV Connect Podcast is the second part of a two part series on housing and tenants issues in the San Gabriel Valley and features Connie Tamkin, the president of the San Gabriel Valley Community Land Trust. If you missed part one of the series with Allison Henry, one of the leaders of the San Gabriel Valley Tenants Council, you can find the audio and transcript here.

As with the first podcast, Damien and Chris were on-site for the interview, which covered the history of the new community land trust, some of the projects it's working on and how to effectively advocate for marginalized communities as an organization when many of the board members and volunteers are white collar professionals.

There’s also a lot of information about the various land trust models and their place in advocating for and providing housing options in a supply-restricted market. So if you’re looking for a great primer for someone not well-versed in this issue; this podcast is a great place for them to start.

If you prefer the typed word, you can read a transcript of the interview here.

SGV Connect is supported by Foothill Transit, offering car-free travel throughout the San Gabriel Valley with connections to the new Gold Line Stations across the Foothills and Commuter Express lines traveling into the heart of downtown L.A. To plan your trip, visit Foothill Transit. “Foothill Transit. Going Good Places.”

Catch past episodes of SGV Connect and #DamienTalks on LibSyn, iTunes, Google Play, or Overcast.

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This week’s podcast is the first in a two-podcast mini-series looking at housing issues in the San Gabriel Valley. In this podcast, Damien and Chris talk to Allison Henry, an SGV housing justice organizer with LA Forward and co-founder of the San Gabriel Valley Tenants Alliance.

In the podcast, we discuss the recent and long-term history of the battle for housing justice in the SGV and how local politics can lead to very different policies in cities that are just next to each other. While it’s no surprise that the cost of housing is high in Southern California, Henry argues that the policies in many cities don’t meet the needs of renters, even in cities that have large populations that aren’t homeowners.

“I think people would be really shocked at not just how many cities are renter majority cities, but some of the percentages of those cities, it's not 50/50,” Henry says of how many renters are in these cities.

You can listen in on our podcast below, or if you prefer to read a transcript, you can find it here.

SGV Connect is supported by Foothill Transit, offering car-free travel throughout the San Gabriel Valley with connections to the new Gold Line Stations across the Foothills and Commuter Express lines traveling into the heart of downtown L.A. To plan your trip, visit Foothill Transit. “Foothill Transit. Going Good Places.”

Sign-up for our SGV Connect Newsletter, coming to your inbox on Fridays, and catch past episodes of SGV Connect and #DamienTalks on LibSyn, iTunes, Google Play, or Overcast.

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On Saturday, the Gold Line Foothill Construction Authority is hosting a ceremony to commemorate the completion of the light rail track system for the 9.1-mile, four-station Foothill Gold Line light rail project from Glendora to Pomona. The ceremony is taking place this Saturday, June 24, 2023, at 9:30 a.m., at the D Street railroad crossing (north of Arrow Highway) in the city of La Verne.

During the event, the last of 230,630 rail clips will be driven into place (rail clips permanently attach the steel rail to the concrete ties), marking the completion of the new light rail tracks.

This week's first interview features Habib Balian, the executive director for the construction authority. Balian discusses what's next for the project and the importance of this milestone to the Gold Line and our regional rail network.

Speaking of our regional rail network, our second interview features Joe Linton and was recorded the day that the Regional Connector opened in Downtown Los Angeles. Linton discusses how the newly opened 2 mile rail connector is a key part of connecting L.A. County with rail.

SGV Connect is supported by Foothill Transit, offering car-free travel throughout the San Gabriel Valley with connections to the new Gold Line Stations across the Foothills and Commuter Express lines traveling into the heart of downtown L.A. To plan your trip, visit Foothill Transit. “Foothill Transit. Going Good Places.”

Sign-up for our SGV Connect Newsletter, coming to your inbox on Fridays, and catch past episodes of SGV Connect and #DamienTalks on LibSyn, iTunes, Google Play, or Overcast.

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In our first interview this week, Chris Greenspon interviews Nathan Allen, the owner of Underdog Bookstore in downtown Monrovia. In Nathan's own words, "Underdog Bookstore, targets specifically books by and about authors of color, as well as LGBT authors, who we consider underdogs, as well as local vendors." Allen explains the need to create safe spaces for youth, especially people of color and LGBTQ+, and provides an overview of life underdogs throughout the SGV.

To read a transcript of the interview, click here.

In our second interview, frequent SGV Connect guest (and Streetsblog LA Editor) Joe Linton takes a turn on the other end of the microphone. Linton interviews Stans Bike Shop owner Carlos Morales who has been advising state regulators about possible rules regarding e-bikes.

To read a transcript of the interview, click here.

SGV Connect is supported by Foothill Transit, offering car-free travel throughout the San Gabriel Valley with connections to the new Gold Line Stations across the Foothills and Commuter Express lines traveling into the heart of downtown L.A. To plan your trip, visit Foothill Transit. “Foothill Transit. Going Good Places.”

Sign-up for our SGV Connect Newsletter, coming to your inbox on Fridays, and catch past episodes of SGV Connect and #DamienTalks on LibSyn, iTunes, Google Play, or Overcast.

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This week’s SGV Connect is the second in our “Reclaimers” series, focusing on the efforts of a group of formerly homeless activists in the El Sereno to be housed in formerly unoccupied homes owned by Caltrans.

The first interview featured six Reclaimers who shared their personal stories on how they fell into homelessness, strived to be rehoused, and then life as a Reclaimer. The stories are powerful and raw. You can hear the podcast here, and read the transcript here.

Today’s podcast is the follow-up to that one. We are joined by Timothy Ivison with the United Caltrans Tenants Union and Kristina Meshelski, a leader with the local chapter of the Democratic Socialists of America and a philosophy professor at Cal State Northridge. This pair of activists have worked with and adjacent to the Reclaimer movement.

A full transcript of this interview can be found here.

SGV Connect is supported by Foothill Transit, offering car-free travel throughout the San Gabriel Valley with connections to the Gold Line Stations across the Foothills and Commuter Express lines traveling into the heart of Downtown L.A. To plan your trip, visit foothilltransit.org. “Foothill Transit. Going Good Places.”

Sign-up for our SGV Connect Newsletter, coming to your inbox on Fridays, and catch past episodes of SGV Connect and #DamienTalks on LibSyn, iTunes, Google Play, or Overcast.

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We are Reclaimers because we have to because of desperation. - Benito, one of the Reclaimers living in El Sereno.

SGV Connect is sponsored by Foothill Transit. Foothill Transit was not consulted about the content of this podcast and the views expressed are those of the participants and interviewer and may or may not be representative of the views of Foothill Transit, its board, or its staff.

A couple of weeks ago, I had a chance to interview four of the El Sereno Caltrans Home Reclaimers: Benito, Marta, Ruby and Sandra. They were joined by two supporters, Roberto Flores and Franny Martinez. I thought the interview would be a standard SGV Connect, updating listeners to the status of the reclaimer movement and their own lives since our last update over a year ago. What happened instead was an hour and ten minute emotional discussion of their lives both as Reclaimers and previously as people experiencing homelessness, why they chose to occupy unoccupied Caltrans-owned properties, their current legal status, and what will happen if courts uphold an eviction notice they received last month.

So we’re doing things a little differently this time. We’re skipping our regular introduction, and going right into the interview in the podcast. Below the embed, instead of the usual ad text is a story and summary of the interview which might be a little easier for folks to follow than the transcript (which you can read here if you choose.)

On the night of March 14, 2020, the world was in crisis. The COVID-19 shutdowns were just starting to roll across California, and the long- and short-term future was looking cloudy. That evening a group of people experiencing homelessness, with the support of a team of activists and community members broke into unoccupied Caltrans-owned houses and (re)claimed them as a place to live for themselves and their families. Caltrans owns houses along the 710-corridor as part of their now-abandoned efforts to extend the 710 Freeway north from its current terminus.

“I am from El Sereno. I saw these homes empty. And I always thought, ‘How come nobody does anything?’, recounted Sandra. “I never connected the way how these homes were hoarded and how other people are homeless in their tents. But when somebody mentioned that we're going to squat in them, it totally makes sense….why hasn’t somebody done this sooner?”

At the time, nobody was exactly sure what would happen. Would the state police, LAPD or the Sheriffs show up and forcibly remove them? Would the chaos of the moment allow them to slip by unnoticed for a period of time? The initial reclaiming of the houses was meant as a statement about how unjust it was for so many houses to be unsettled when the homeless crisis locally, regionally and nationally was so large; but what would happen to the Reclaimers who were in the houses themselves?

In the end, the Reclaimers were either allowed to stay or moved to different short-term housing while they awaited a chance to move into permanent housing.

“The state and the whole world was in chaos,” recounts Marta of the day she moved in to her reclaimed home. “So they didn't take us out. Governor Newsom told the CHP to stand down and not do anything when we reclaimed. But then with that process came also an offer to HACLA [Housing Authority of the City of Los Angeles] and PATH [People Assisting the Homeless] agency here in Los Angeles, to give us temporary housing.”

Unfortunately, the story doesn’t end there.

For over three years, the Reclaimers have signed leases with Caltrans, and had them expire without permanent housing offers.

They created the El Sereno Community Land Trust to purchase as many of the homes as it could to offer to Reclaimers and others experiencing homelessness; but they found the Trust excluded from local planning by disgraced racist Councilmember Kevin DeLeon and state legislation by Senator María Elena Durazo.

They have put in roots in the community, or deeper roots for those with a previous connection; but still received eviction notices for their temporary housing last month. Instead of a move into permanent housing, they find themselves fighting in court for the right to stay where they are.

But while working with, or trying to work with, the government has proven difficult and frustrating, the Reclaimers have been buoyed by the support of a progressive community in Los Angeles, and with some education found that their physical neighbors would come to appreciate and welcome them as well.

“It was a lot of misinformation,” recounts Marta of her first interactions with her new neighbors. “They were saying that the Reclaimers were not from El Sereno. The majority of the Reclaimers are actually from this community, from El Sereno…Another thing that they said [was that] there was a lot of other services, or other things, that the city provides…as Sandra said that she wasn't offered any.”

Over time, things began to change.

“In getting to know the neighbors and also talking to them about this misinformation; some of them did change their minds, not all of them. And my experience with my current neighbors is really good,” she continued. “Soon as I moved in, they offered material help. I am a single mother of two daughters, and so they also offered, you know, just to keep an eye out and keep me and my daughter safe, which I totally am grateful for.”

Which isn’t to say it has been all smooth sailing in the interactions with the previously housed community. Benito is older, and his English isn’t as smooth as the other Reclaimers in the interview. He contrasts his experiences with the community broadly with that of his physical neighbors.

“I have one very good neighbor. And I have two neighbors who actually don't talk to me. I think they're confused. Because they are confused about the idea of ‘law and order.’ …They are really good people. So they said they understand the homeless, but this is not a way to take the…to go in the house illegally.” Benito says.

“Some neighbors are angry, but there are more neighbors on our side. Who opened the house for us? The neighbors. Who was bringing us food? The neighbors. Who was keeping guard in the street to keep us safe? The neighbors. The people.”

Benito, like the other Reclaimers on the call, recounts the differences between life as an unhoused person on the street and life as a Reclaimer. In response to a question of, “Why?” His answer is simple.

“​​We are reclaimer because we have to…because of desperation,” he said.

And part of that desperation, as Marta mentions above, is that the services offered by the city and county aren’t sufficient to meet the needs of the mammoth unhoused population. Sandra and her family lived in a park as part of a large encampment near the Eastside Café where she, Marta, Franny and Roberto met to take part in the interview. The encampment was well known in the neighborhood and was politically controversial. In her months living in the encampment, she said she could not remember a time when social services reached out to offer help.

“Not one time. Not one time did someone come to offer me services,” Sandra recounted of her time in the park. But once the Reclaimers were in the house and the Governor ordered CHP to stand down, things changed. “I remember people were getting placed in hotels. But before that, they didn't even want to do a homeless count.”

Which isn’t to say the relationship between the Reclaimers and government agencies has been smooth. From basic annoyances - Ruby recounting how she often would have to “tell her life story” to multiple people from the same department over the course of a week - to larger ones; the first leases Reclaimers signed were described as “carceral” by the people who signed them. The road has been bumpy. Offers for more stable housing are often far away from where the Reclaimers currently live, which would take them away from support networks, medical care and jobs.

“The houses are there.” Is a refrain you can hear repeatedly throughout the interview as the Reclaimers wonder why agencies seem intent on moving them away from the neighborhood they live in, and in many cases grew up in, instead of finding ways for them to stay where they are.

The answer is simple. The city and county have designs for the “Caltrans homes” in El Sereno. DeLeon was a de facto spokesperson for the program but has shrunk to the background following the release of his racist diatribe in the “fed tapes” and his efforts to use redistricting to marginalize historically black communities. Streetsblog broke down the differences between DeLeon’s plans and those offered by the community in an article last year. However, just because DeLeon is in the background doesn’t mean the plans have changed.

“Kevin De Leon's plans didn't go by the wayside,” explains Flores. “What happened is that HACLA is substituting in for Kevin de Leon and trying to legitimize the proposal.”

The DeLeon/HACLA proposal has greater power behind it because of S.B. 51, authored by Senator Maria Elena Durazo, and signed into law last year. Among other things, the legislation disallows the selling of Caltrans housing to a co-op in El Sereno. Curiously, this provision of the legislation does not apply to properties in Pasadena and South Pasadena that are also owned by Caltrans and are part of the I-710 Corridor.

“I'm really irritated with Maria Elena Durazo,” begins Ruby. “She's the image of, of what I once looked up to as an activist…somebody that was standing up for the marginalized, the unhoused, the immigrant, the hungry.”

But after S.B. 51, that image changed. “For what? For her to acquire this, this position in the state and all of a sudden to decide that that's not what El Sereno needs?.... By creating a bill that was going to leave Pasadena and Alhambra, good and allow them purchase the houses in their hood. But not El Sereno? Because we're Brown, we can't buy the houses?”

While the Reclaimers have lived stressful lives, the urgency moved back into desperation when eviction notices arrived last month giving them three days to vacate their properties. The Reclaimers immediately took legal action to vacate the notice, but they face a dark short-term future should they fail in court. While there may not be a “Plan B” if they lose in court, going back to the streets is not an option.

“You're going to have to take me out in handcuffs,” says Ruby.

“But we're definitely not going to go back to the streets. I do not plan to go back to my car,” adds Sandra.

“There is only ‘Plan A.’ And that’s to fight, fight, fight, fight,” finishes Benito.

And if there’s one message the Reclaimers would like to leave, it’s that this movement isn’t just about them. Their story, their struggle, will hopefully end with them permanently housed. But they also hope they are part of a larger struggle to improve conditions for unhoused people throughout the world by showing what is possible if governments’ efforts are to truly help the unhoused become housed again.

“We're not here to just occupy space, we want to create justice for not only for El Sereno, but I think for housing in general,” says Ruby. “This is a global epidemic at this point.” And the solution is for the government to work with the unhoused, and work with the Reclaimers instead of working around or even against them.

“We want to see the government sitting down and negotiating with the Reclaimers,” concludes Fanny. “They should create a pathway in housing homeless people instead of criminalizing them. Because as we see, the homeless encampments are being gated. And that's a loud and clear response from the government saying, ‘We don't want you in the streets’…They need to sit down and negotiate with the Reclaimers and create a pathway with the Reclaimers to house homeless folks. Because who else better than the homeless people who reclaim these homes and make it into a house for themselves and their families and their kids?”

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This week's SGV Connect features a pair of interviews with former Pasadena Mayor Rick Cole and San Gabriel Valley Conservation Corps (SGVCC). Director Norma Quinones.

In our first interview, Damien talks with Cole ostensibly about the dozen opinion pieces Cole has written in 2023 about how Pasadena can grow as a city in the future. In the interview Cole laments how Pasadena has changed in the two decades since he was mayor and hopes the city will recommit itself to its progressive routes in coming years.

In the second half of the interview, Cole discusses his current job working with L.A. City Controller Kenneth Mejia and what political leaders can learn from Mejia's unconventional style. You can find Cole's articles (and a few other ones that have nothing to do with him), by clicking here.

For a transcript of the interview, click here.

In the second interview, Quinones explains what the SGVCC does: hiring youth in need of job training, and enrolling them in high school if necessary. The job sites they learn on include greening the region's streets with native plants, repainting the Puente Valley's county walls in a continuation of the area's iconic but sometimes fading vine murals, and pulling out deadwood and invasive species in the San Gabriel Mountains. Quinones, from Baldwin Park, says these young people come directly from the communities where they work.

For a transcript of the interview, click here.

SGV Connect is supported by Foothill Transit, offering car-free travel throughout the San Gabriel Valley with connections to the Gold Line Stations across the Foothills and Commuter Express lines traveling into the heart of Downtown L.A. To plan your trip, visit foothilltransit.org. “Foothill Transit. Going Good Places.”

Sign-up for our SGV Connect Newsletter, coming to your inbox on Fridays, and catch past episodes of SGV Connect and #DamienTalks on LibSyn, iTunes, Google Play, or Overcast.

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Damien Newton and Chris Greenspon catch up with Alhambra Councilmember and State Senate candidate Sasha Renée Pérez on the state of her candidacty and what is going on in Alhambra. The interview, the first in a series on the election, pings back and forth between her work in Alhambra and her vision for Senate District 25

This is Pérez's third time on SGV Connect. To listen to the other podcasts, click here. To read a transcript of the interview, click here.

SGV Connect is supported by Foothill Transit, offering car-free travel throughout the San Gabriel Valley with connections to the Gold Line Stations across the Foothills and Commuter Express lines traveling into the heart of Downtown L.A. To plan your trip, visit foothilltransit.org. “Foothill Transit. Going Good Places.”

Sign-up for our SGV Connect Newsletter, coming to your inbox on Fridays, and catch past episodes of SGV Connect and #DamienTalks on LibSyn, iTunes, Google Play, or Overcast.

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This week's SGV Connect is a special episode celebrating the centennial for West Covina. Chris Greenspon interviews local historian John Garside about the city's history, covering topics ranging from how the city hall got its name (from a stagecoach company) to lamenting some businesses that closed in recent years. You can read a transcript of the interview, here.

West Covina is holding a festival this weekend to celebrate 100 years of being incorporated. You can get all the details at the city's special events page.

SGV Connect is supported by Foothill Transit, offering car-free travel throughout the San Gabriel Valley with connections to the Gold Line Stations across the Foothills and Commuter Express lines traveling into the heart of Downtown L.A. To plan your trip, visit foothilltransit.org. “Foothill Transit. Going Good Places.”

Sign-up for our SGV Connect Newsletter, coming to your inbox on Fridays, and catch past episodes of SGV Connect and #DamienTalks on LibSyn, iTunes, Google Play, or Overcast.

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Welcome to SGV Connect episode 106, the first episode of 2023. This episode is nearly an hour long with a pair of great, but very different, interviews.

First, Chris Greenspon interviews Steve Valenzuela, El Monte poet and writer in residence for the new Zamora Art House in El Monte. The interview touches on Valenzuela’s poetry, his work as a school teacher and how his life experiences influence his poetry, teaching and advocacy. The interview touches on his collaborations with the South El Monte Art Posse, who have been a fixture in our coverage going back to SGV Connect #4. For a written transcript of today’s interview, click here.

In our second interview, Damien interviews the team at Studio-MLA and LA County Parks that is working on the Puente Hills Landfill Park project.The team decided on an innovative outreach plan for the park that includes bike rides and hiking tours of the park area in addition to more traditional outreach. As one might expect, different outreach has led to some surprising conversations. Back in July, Chris interviewed Supervisor Hilda Solis after the LA County Board of Supervisors announced funding for the park in July. For a written transcript of today’s interview, click here.

SGV Connect is supported by Foothill Transit, offering car-free travel throughout the San Gabriel Valley with connections to the Gold Line Stations across the Foothills and Commuter Express lines traveling into the heart of Downtown L.A. To plan your trip, visit foothilltransit.org. “Foothill Transit. Going Good Places.”

Sign-up for our SGV Connect Newsletter, coming to your inbox on Fridays, and catch past episodes of SGV Connect and #DamienTalks on LibSyn, iTunes, Google Play, or Overcast.

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It's mid-December, and that means it's time for our annual end-of-the-year SGV Connect Podcast featuring not just Damien Newton and Chris Greenspon, but also Streetsblog LA Editor Joe Linton and Streetsblog California Editor Melanie Curry. After that, we have one last interview by Chris with John Axtell published a literary zine this year about the landscape and culture of the SGV. John and Chris talk quite a bit about open spaces, and rebuilding the industrial wastelands around the 605.

But first, Curry kicks off the podcast with a review of the legislation and other decisions made in Sacramento that have and will impact how the San Gabriel Valley grows and changes in the coming decades. In October she wrote an overview of some of the biggest pieces of legislation that the Governor signed (or didn't sign) and earlier this week she wrote a very early review of what could happen in the legislature in 2023.

Next, Joe Linton discussed some of the changes that will be happening with the L.A. County Government and with Metro. The agency celebrated the restoration of service to pre-pandemic levels in the last month. New County Supervisors, and a new L.A. Mayor, signal that some other changes could be coming to the agency soon.

Closing out the first portion of the podcast, Chris updates on the two biggest stories covered after he took over the beat from Kris Fortin: The Bus Rapid Transit concepts from the SGV Transit Feasibility Study and when County supervisors tossed out an activist appeal to slow construction on 85 condo units on a decommissioned school site in Hacienda Heights.

To read a transcript of the interview beteen Chris and John Axtell, click here. To read a transcript of the discussion between the Streetsblog team, click here.

Before we close out SGV Connect for the year, we wanted to remind everyone that Streetsblog L.A. is a non-profit and relies on reader donations to continue publishing. Even though our SGV regional coverage is sponsored, we need reader donations to maintain our story budgets and independent voice. Please consider making a tax-free donation today. Get started by clicking here.

SGV Connect is supported by Foothill Transit, offering car-free travel throughout the San Gabriel Valley with connections to the new Gold Line Stations across the Foothills and Commuter Express lines traveling into the heart of downtown L.A. To plan your trip, visit Foothill Transit. “Foothill Transit. Going Good Places.”

Sign-up for our SGV Connect Newsletter, coming to your inbox on Fridays, and catch past episodes of SGV Connect and #DamienTalks on LibSyn, iTunes, Google Play, or Overcast.

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This week’s SGV Connect features an over forty minute interview by Chris Greenspon with author and history professor James Zarsadiaz about his recent book, Resisting Change in Suburbia: Asian Immigrants and Frontier Nostalgia in L.A. (Buy it from University of California Press, here.)

Zarsadiaz’s book focuses on six communities, five in the San Gabriel Valley (Walnut, Diamond Bar, Rowland Heights, and Heights, and a community within the city of Pomona known as Phillips Ranch) and Chino Hills in San Bernardino. The six communities have a similar development pattern and history where a large incoming community of immigrants from Asia changed neighborhoods and created discomfort for their existing, mostly white, new neighbors.

“And so I talked a great length about the ways in which there was peacemaking. But of course, there was still a bit of hurt feelings from both sides. And a lot of the criticism was generated around concerns and of immigrants and nativism; but some of it also was based on just kind of discomfort with change,” Zarsadiaz says in the interview.

“Broadly speaking, I think for a lot of white residents, who were critical believed that it wasn’t necessarily always rooted in nativism or xenophobia. For them, it was just kind of seeing their world changed before their eyes and trying to grapple with that change.”

To read the rest of the interview, click here or listen in at SGV Connect, below.

SGV Connect is supported by Foothill Transit, offering car-free travel throughout the San Gabriel Valley with connections to the new Gold Line Stations across the Foothills and Commuter Express lines traveling into the heart of downtown L.A. To plan your trip, visit Foothill Transit. “Foothill Transit. Going Good Places.”

Sign-up for our SGV Connect Newsletter, coming to your inbox on Fridays, and catch past episodes of SGV Connect and #DamienTalks on LibSyn, iTunes, Google Play, or Overcast.

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With the next election day less than two months away, SGV Connect sits down with Topher Mathers who reviewed dozens of ballot measures throughout the San Gabriel Valley before Active SGV made endorsements for local measures throughout SGV cities.

This is our second podcast focusing on the 2022 election. SGV Connect #100 featured an interview with Ricardo Martinez, a progressive challenger to the incumbent La Puente Mayor and Katrina Kaiser with Streets for All who moderated a City Council debate in Monterey Park.

For a full list of their endorsements, and details for why they endorsed each measure, listen on or visit the Active SGV Elections page. You can also read a full transcript of the talk between Damien and Topher on Streetsblog. If you haven't received your ballot, or don't know where you can cast an in-person ballot, visit the L.A. County Elections page.

SGV Connect is supported by Foothill Transit, offering car-free travel throughout the San Gabriel Valley with connections to the new Gold Line Stations across the Foothills and Commuter Express lines traveling into the heart of downtown L.A. To plan your trip, visit Foothill Transit. “Foothill Transit. Going Good Places.”

Sign-up for our SGV Connect Newsletter, coming to your inbox on Fridays, and catch past episodes of SGV Connect and #DamienTalks on LibSyn, iTunes, Google Play, or Overcast.

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This week's SGV Connect is a bit of a departure from our usual format. Instead of two interviews, we start with a discussion between Damien and Chris about a lawsuit filed by the City of San Dimas against the Foothill Gold Line Construction Authority. The lawsuit calls for a halt to constuction while the issue of where the parking lot for the station is built.

The discussion builds on years of reporting, some by Streetsblog and some by other local news. For more background please read, "San Dimas Lawsuit Over Light Rail Parking Project May Mean the Train Skips the Station" from the Daily News earlier this month, "San Dimas Has a List of Issues It Wants the Gold Line Authority to Address" from the Daily Bulletin in 2018, and "Reduced Parking Being Studied for Planned Foothill Gold Line Extension" from Streetsblog in 2020.

After that, Chris interviews Julian Lucas. Lucas is a photographer, publisher, bookseller and Pomona native. He shares his thoughts on the local art scene and he has an exhibit of street photography up
at the Bunnygunner Gallery in Claremont through the end of the month. For more details and hours of operation for Bunnygunner, click here.

Would you rather read than listen? Click here for the discussion on the San Dimas parking controversy, and here for the interview with Julian Lucas.

SGV Connect is supported by Foothill Transit, offering car-free travel throughout the San Gabriel Valley with connections to the new Gold Line Stations across the Foothills and Commuter Express lines traveling into the heart of downtown L.A. To plan your trip, visit Foothill Transit. “Foothill Transit. Going Good Places.”

Sign-up for our SGV Connect Newsletter, coming to your inbox on Fridays, and catch past episodes of SGV Connect and #DamienTalks on LibSyn, iTunes, Google Play, or Overcast.

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This week's SGV Connect features an interview with the director of the Pasadena Department of Transportation and Vincent LaRocca of the new group ride bicycling group SGV Cycling.

As Damien notes in our first interview with Pasadena's Laura Cornejo, SGV Connect was long overdue for a story on the Rose City. In the couple of days since we recorded the podcast, Chris Greenspon covered the 19 projects that the city is planning to build with repurposed funds from the defunct 710 expansion project, but before that it had been awhile.

In just the past couple of months, Pasadena has embraced a Safe Systems approach to transportation planning. Cornejo explains what that is and promotes the city's focus on pilot and demonstration programs to show Pasadenans what could be possible on their streets. For a full transcript of the interview, click here.

In our second interview, Chris interviews Vincent La Rocca, one of the members of SGV Cycling. LaRocca describes some of their recent rides and tells listeners how they can get in on the fun. For a full transcript of their discussion, click here.

SGV Connect is supported by Foothill Transit, offering car-free travel throughout the San Gabriel Valley with connections to the new Gold Line Stations across the Foothills and Commuter Express lines traveling into the heart of downtown L.A. To plan your trip, visit Foothill Transit. “Foothill Transit. Going Good Places.”

Sign-up for our SGV Connect Newsletter, coming to your inbox on Fridays, and catch past episodes of SGV Connect and #DamienTalks on LibSyn, iTunes, Google Play, or Overcast.

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This week's SGV Connect features two interviews by Chris Greenspon on two different, but important issues.

First, Chris interviews James Drevno, a Senior Regional Planner with L.A. County Planning. James is working on the East San Gabriel Valley Area Plan which focuses on the unincorporated “islands” that are scattered throughout San Gabriel Valley. Within these areas, the Mobility Action Plan focuses on where there is the most need for bicycle and transit infrastructure improvements. To read a transcript of the interview between Chris and James, click here.

Next, Chris sits down with Josh Sanchez, a former SAC student who is transferring to Cal Poly Pomona. This eye opening conversation focuses on Josh's experience local and student journalism. What happens to areas when this type of journalism goes away in a tightening media market and what happens to journalists who can't afford to pursue their career anymore? For a full transcript of the discussion between Chris and Josh, click here.

SGV Connect is supported by Foothill Transit, offering car-free travel throughout the San Gabriel Valley with connections to the new Gold Line Stations across the Foothills and Commuter Express lines traveling into the heart of downtown L.A. To plan your trip, visit Foothill Transit. “Foothill Transit. Going Good Places.”

Sign-up for our SGV Connect Newsletter, coming to your inbox on Fridays, and catch past episodes of SGV Connect and #DamienTalks on LibSyn, iTunes, Google Play, or Overcast.

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This week's SGV Connect focuses on a pair of local city council races in the cities of La Puente and Monterey Park.

The first interview features Ricardo Martinez, a progressive challenger to the incumbent City Councilmember and Mayor Charlie Klinakis. The interview touches on Martinez's personal history, platform, and plans to revitalize the city by encouraging investment in La Puente's downtown.

In the second interview, Damien talks with Katrina Kaiser with Streets for All. They helped program and moderated a debate in Monterey Park working with locals with Safe Streets for SGV last week with four candidates for City Council. Kaiser explains how the debate shows differences between candidates and inform Streets for All's endorsement process. If you'd like to watch the entire debate, you can do so, here.

SGV Connect is supported by Foothill Transit, offering car-free travel throughout the San Gabriel Valley with connections to the new Gold Line Stations across the Foothills and Commuter Express lines traveling into the heart of downtown L.A. To plan your trip, visit Foothill Transit. “Foothill Transit. Going Good Places.”

Sign-up for our SGV Connect Newsletter, coming to your inbox on Fridays, and catch past episodes of SGV Connect and #DamienTalks on LibSyn,iTunes, Google Play, or Overcast.

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This week on SGV Connect, we’re bringing you a special interview with Adolfo Guzman-Lopez and then our quarterly update with Melanie Curry of Streetsblog California.

Adolfo is a household name in the public radio world, covering higher education at KPCC. He spent the last year on a special assignment, investigating the death of a 90’s Chicano civil rights activist from Baldwin Park, Oscar Gomez for a podcast from KPCC’s LAist Studios.

Imperfect Paradise: The Forgotten Revolutionary follows Gomez’s young adult life from star athlete and scholar at Baldwin Park High School to student activist at UC Davis and his mysterious end below the cliffs of the coast off UC Santa Barbara. Chris’ interview with Adolfo looks at Oscar’s roots and legacy in the San Gabriel Valley, the pressures he was under as a student and activist, and Adolfo’s own coming out as a Chicano rights activist at the same time as Oscar… a part of his identity he’s long shielded from his journalism career.

Damien and Melanie touch base on what the new state budget means for cities' sidewalks, bike lanes and bus stops as well as talk about the legisltation that is, and isn't, moving. For a more detailed look at the legislation, check out her most recent legislative update.

SGV Connect is supported by Foothill Transit, offering car-free travel throughout the San Gabriel Valley with connections to the new Gold Line Stations across the Foothills and Commuter Express lines traveling into the heart of downtown L.A. To plan your trip, visit Foothill Transit. “Foothill Transit. Going Good Places.”

Sign-up for our SGV Connect Newsletter, coming to your inbox on Fridays, and catch past episodes of SGV Connect and #DamienTalks on LibSyn,iTunes, Google Play, or Overcast.

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This week's SGV Connect features an interview with Carlos Morales of the Eastside Bike Club and Stan's Bike Shop. The interview, conducted by Chris Greenspon, discusses Carlos' history as a carfree journalist and how bicycling saved his life.

Longtime readers may remember that when Morales wasn't publishing his by-line with Voice Community News, you could occasionally find his work at Streetsblog L.A.

THIS is a long-form interview you won't hear anywhere else.

So please, as you listen to this interview with a local LEGEND, think about giving a few bucks to Streetsblog’s fundraising drive.

For a full transcript of the interview, click here.

SGV Connect is supported by Foothill Transit, offering car-free travel throughout the San Gabriel Valley with connections to the new Gold Line Stations across the Foothills and Commuter Express lines traveling into the heart of downtown L.A. To plan your trip, visit Foothill Transit. “Foothill Transit. Going Good Places.”

Sign-up for our SGV Connect Newsletter, coming to your inbox on Fridays and catch past episodes of SGV Connect and #DamienTalks on LibSyn,iTunes, Google Play, or Overcast.

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This week's SGV Connect Podcasdt features an interview by Chris Greenspon with two members of the Memories of El Monte collective, Aron Montenegro and Alma Zarate. Chris visited the collective's new home on 626 Day when Memories of El Monte celebrated their new space and the local holiday.

Memories of El Monte is planning to open a soup kitchen in January and possibly expand with a cafe and even bar in the coming years. The interview covers their plans, the collective's goals, and what makes Memories' preferred coffee so special.

For a full transcript of our interview, click here. You can also check out our podcast with Memories of El Monte conducted last year, by clicking here.

SGV Connect is supported by Foothill Transit, offering car-free travel throughout the San Gabriel Valley with connections to the new Gold Line Stations across the Foothills and Commuter Express lines traveling into the heart of downtown L.A. To plan your trip, visit Foothill Transit. “Foothill Transit. Going Good Places.”

Sign-up for our SGV Connect Newsletter, coming to your inbox on Fridays and catch past episodes of SGV Connect and #DamienTalks on LibSyn,iTunes, Google Play, or Overcast.

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This week sees a special #SGV Connect podcast with Damien Newton interviewing Habib Balian, the executive director of the Foothill Gold Line Construction Authority. As we publish this podcast, the Authority is holding a press conference to celebrate the 50% completion point of the current Gold Line extension out to Pomona.

For a full transcript of our interview, click here. Read the press release for today’s event, here.

SGV Connect is supported by Foothill Transit, offering car-free travel throughout the San Gabriel Valley with connections to the new Gold Line Stations across the Foothills and Commuter Express lines traveling into the heart of downtown L.A. To plan your trip, visit Foothill Transit. “Foothill Transit. Going Good Places.”

Sign-up for our SGV Connect Newsletter, coming to your inbox on Fridays and catch past episodes of SGV Connect and #DamienTalks on LibSyn,iTunes, Google Play, or Overcast.

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Tonight, Megan Lynch will present "Acesible and Complete Streets" at tonight's meeting of the Pasadena Complete Streets Coalition. To get the zoom link, click here and send a note to UC Access. Today, we feature her at SGV Connect for those that can't make tonight's meeting to hear her message.

When she's not pushing for transportation planning that includes infrastructure that is accesible to all potential users, Lynch is a graduate student at UC Davis. There, she founded UC Access Now, an advocacy group for the disabled. In the interview, she discusses how one can support their advocacy by writing to the Governor and legislature to support their efforts on UC campuses. Click here for their Link Tree page and here to take action. And if you still haven't gotten enough Megan, you can watch her in a panel at Calbike.

In our second interview, Chris interviews Supervisor Hilda Solis about the future Puente Hills Park. After literally decades of advocacy, Solis and L.A. County have secured over $100 million to convert over 140 acres of what was once the Puente Hills Landfill into one of the region's largest parks.

In the interview, Solis recounts her memories growing up near the future park and the impact that growing up near a dump had on her and her family. Getting rid of the dump is a major victory for the entire community, and replacing it with a park is a legacy project that Solis is clearly already very proud of.

For a transcript of the podcast, click here.

SGV Connect is supported by Foothill Transit, offering car-free travel throughout the San Gabriel Valley with connections to the new Gold Line Stations across the Foothills and Commuter Express lines traveling into the heart of downtown L.A. To plan your trip, visit Foothill Transit. “Foothill Transit. Going Good Places.”

Sign-up for our SGV Connect Newsletter, coming to your inbox on Fridays and catch past episodes of SGV Connect and #DamienTalks on LibSyn,iTunes, Google Play, or Overcast.

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May is Bike Month, and we're kicking off the "Chris and Damien" era at #SGVConnect with two interviews that tie-in to bicycling in the San Gabriel Valley. First, Chris visits La Cañada Flintridge to interview Senator Anthony Portantino. Portantino famously became an avid cyclist during the Coronavirus Stay-at-Home orders and has developed his own bicycling exercise routine. He has taken his new bicycling passion with him to Sacramento where he authored legislation that would force more communities to plan for and move on bicycle and pedestrian planning.

In our second interview, Damien talks with Wes Reutimann and Danielle Zamora with Active SGV. The conversation starts with a wrap-up of the recent 626 Golden Streets a couple of weeks ago and continues with a discussion of Active Transportation planning throughout San Gabriel Valley cities.

At the end of the podcast, Damien mentions this action alert put out by Active SGV in South Pasadena. The City Council is going to vote on a new project list for Metro funding and sadly their draft list is missing many walking, bicycling and transit projects in the city's transportation plan.

And if you want to hear more podcasts featuring Chris, make sure to check out SGV Weekly. His most recent episode featured Christine Tran and a discussion of food insecurity and battling Asian American stereotypes.

SGV Connect is supported by Foothill Transit, offering car-free travel throughout the San Gabriel Valley with connections to the new Gold Line Stations across the Foothills and Commuter Express lines traveling into the heart of downtown L.A. To plan your trip, visit Foothill Transit. “Foothill Transit. Going Good Places.”

Sign-up for our SGV Connect Newsletter, coming to your inbox on Fridays and catch past episodes of SGV Connect and #DamienTalks on LibSyn,iTunes, Google Play, or Overcast.

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This week, the Streetsblog team is happy to introduce you to Chris Greenspon, our new writer and podcast co-host in the San Gabriel Valley.

Many of you already know Chris from his other podcasting work as host of SGV Weekly, now in its second season. You can download or listen to past episodes at the SGV Weekly website.

As has become our tradition, we like to introduce readers and listeners to our new team members by featuring them in a podcast episode. Listen in as Damien and Chris talk about their backgrounds and their ties to the San Gabriel Valley. At one point they discuss Chris' favorite episode of SGV Weekly, "Pomona’s fading graffiti reborn as exalted poetry."

If you enjoy our discussion, or want to learn more about Chris, it just so happens his most recent podcast episode is autobiographical. Listen to it here.

SGV Connect is supported by Foothill Transit, offering car-free travel throughout the San Gabriel Valley with connections to the new Gold Line Stations across the Foothills and Commuter Express lines traveling into the heart of downtown L.A. To plan your trip, visit Foothill Transit. “Foothill Transit. Going Good Places.”

Sign-up for our SGV Connect Newsletter, coming to your inbox on Fridays and catch past episodes of SGV Connect and #DamienTalks on LibSyn,iTunes, Google Play, or Overcast.

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Today’s SGV Connect podcast is the last one for the duo of Damien and Kris. As we previously announced, Kris is moving on to a full-time position with Santa Ana Active Streets. We certainly weren’t going to let him go without one goodbye podcast. Kris has written for Streetsblog on and off for over a decade first covering Boyle Heights then after a break moving to Orange County and finally covering the San Gabriel Valley where he lived and grew up.

No last podcast would be complete without a look back at some of our favorite stories’ of Kris’ throughout the years. Here are some of mine:

• Pasadena Makes Progress on Getting Local Control Over State Route 710 Stub
• Santa Ana Active Streets Is Building an Equity-Centered, Resident-Led Transportation Coalition<
• Cognitive Dissonance : OCTA Hikes Fares for Buses, Awards $1.2 Billion for Freeway Widening
• LAPD Threatens Closure of Painted Alleyway to Public Events Lacking Permits
• San Gabriel Valley Residents Show Support for Black Lives Matter in Multi-city Demonstrations
• Re-imagining Glendale Boulevard - Kris’ first story for us, in January 2012

SGV Connect is supported by Foothill Transit, offering car-free travel throughout the San Gabriel Valley with connections to the new Gold Line Stations across the Foothills and Commuter Express lines traveling into the heart of downtown L.A. To plan your trip, visit Foothill Transit. “Foothill Transit. Going Good Places.”

Sign-up for our SGV Connect Newsletter, coming to your inbox on Friday.

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This week's SGV Connect podcast focuses on the Garvey Avenue road project in Monterey Park covered for Streetsblog L.A. last week by Jennifer Tang. Tang and fellow advocate Edwin Sun give an update on the project and discuss some of the challenges advocating for a better project on Garvey. At Tang noted in a different piece for Streetsblog last year, Monterey Park is planning to increase car capacity on Garvey Avenue using funds that were allocated from Metro. These funds were originally intended for expansion of the I-710 and were to be used to 'increase mobility' and 'reduce congestion.' Like many cities along the corridor, Monterey Park was worried that if it moved forward a more progressive plan, that Metro wouldn't allocate the funds towards their city.

There is some good news. At a February 16 meeting, the City Council voted to upgrade a proposed bike lane for Garvey Avenue to a 'Class 4' (i.e. protected) bike lane and the plan to eliminate parking to increase lane capacity at rush hour was put aside. A plan to build multi-story parking garages moved forward.

In the podcast, we discuss an upcoming motion by Supervisor Hilda Solis to insure that cities such as Monterey Park can use their 710 funds for multi-modal projects. Since we recorded the podcast Tuesday night, Streetsblog went into greater depth on the Solis motion. You can read more on it here.

SGV Connect is supported by Foothill Transit, offering car-free travel throughout the San Gabriel Valley with connections to the new Gold Line Stations across the Foothills and Commuter Express lines traveling into the heart of downtown L.A. To plan your trip, visit Foothill Transit. “Foothill Transit. Going Good Places.”

Sign-up for our SGV Connect Newsletter, coming to your inbox on Fridays.

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Welcome to this week's episode of the SGV Connect podcast.

Kris talked this week with Kome Ajise, executive director of Southern California Association of Governments, and Ryan Johnson, associate planner at Alta Planning + Design, about the Interstate 710 North Mobility Hubs Plan. The project is trying to find potential locations around the I-710 N stub to install mobility hubs, a designated area that has two or more travel options, which can include transit, walking, bike share and micro mobility. These options would help make it easier to get around with a personal car.

The study area includes portions of South Pasadena, Alhambra, but is made up of mostly Los Angeles eastside neighborhoods.  Feedback collection for the map and survey are currently closed during this iteration of the plan, Johnson said, but an updated version of both will be posted in the coming months. Anyone that wants project updates can sign up on the website. 

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This week, Damien and Kris welcome Joe Linton and Melanie Curry back to the podcast. Joe and Melanie are the editors of Streetsblog LA and Streetsblog California respectively and offer their insights on the big stories that shaped our coverage in 2021 and predictions on what to expect in 2022.

The wide-ranging discussion covers the legislature, highway spending, new transit construction, the return of open streets and the 626 and many other issues. If you find yourself with some free time over the next couple of weeks, plug in and check it out. As a bonus, my daughter joins me for the intro and outro to show off her reading skills.

SGV Connect is supported by Foothill Transit, offering car-free travel throughout the San Gabriel Valley with connections to the new Gold Line Stations across the Foothills and Commuter Express lines traveling into the heart of downtown L.A. To plan your trip, visit Foothill Transit. “Foothill Transit. Going Good Places.”

Sign-up for our SGV Connect Newsletter, coming to your inbox on Fridays.

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This week, Kristopher talked this week with Romeo Guzman, a member of South El Monte Art Posse, about the bike ride series “A New Cartography of Greater El Monte,” that they’ll be launching this Saturday. SEMAP has spent the last decade excavating the region’s history, and uplifting the art, culture and social justice contributions of the region in order to “rethink how we tell the history of the place and dig into its radical roots,” Guzman said.

This work has resulted in a “3,000+ digital archive, the book East of East: The Making of Greater El Monte, high school curriculum (on-going), new murals, and radical new cartography through walking and bike tours.”

The first ride in the series will focus on the youth, art and popular culture of the region.

Guzman will be leading the ride with author, journalist and SEMAP founder Carribean Fragoza and SGV Weekly podcast creator Chris Greenspon. Folks who can’t attend in-person can browse the SEMAP archive online.

SGV Connect is supported by Foothill Transit, offering car-free travel throughout the San Gabriel Valley with connections to the new Gold Line Stations across the Foothills and Commuter Express lines traveling into the heart of downtown L.A. To plan your trip, visit Foothill Transit. “Foothill Transit. Going Good Places.”

Sign-up for our SGV Connect Newsletter, coming to your inbox on Fridays.

Catch past episodes of SGV Connect and #DamienTalks on LibSyn,iTunes, Google Play, or Overcast.

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In this week’s episode, we caught up with Alhambra Council Member Sasha Renée Pérez, who we spoke with in January two months after her election win.

With still less than a year in office, she’s been active in leading Alhambra on many fronts, including adopting Hero Pay for frontline workers, supporting efforts around the Active SGV pop-up demonstration on Poplar Boulevard, and passing resolutions to form a Vision Zero working group and study the viability of rent control and just cause eviction protections. In this interview, Perez touches on many of these issues, including how community engagement has evolved in the City, and lessons on how to make change in the City.

She will also be honored on Thursday evening as Active SGV's elected official of the year for 2021.

Thursday is Noche de las Luminarias, the annual event by Active SGV celebrating the people, projects and policies that are making the San Gabriel Valley a better place to live, work and play. This year's event is sold out, but you can check the Active Blog for more information.

Other winners for this year include (click links for more details on winners)

The Cub House

Eco Urban Gardens

Christina Davila

The City of Glendora

SGV Connect is supported by Foothill Transit, offering car-free travel throughout the San Gabriel Valley with connections to the new Gold Line Stations across the Foothills and Commuter Express lines traveling into the heart of downtown L.A. To plan your trip, visit Foothill Transit. “Foothill Transit. Going Good Places.”

Sign-up for our SGV Connect Newsletter, coming to your inbox on Fridays.

Catch past episodes of SGV Connect and #DamienTalks on LibSyn,iTunes, Google Play, or Overcast.

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This week's SGV Connect features an interview with Felicia Friesema with Foothill Transit.

The focus of our interview is mostly on the Foothill Transit Forward although there is a lengthy aside in the middle about the ways in which public comment has changed and improved during the pandemic and what steps agencies can take to continue to improve the general public's access to decision makers in and out of the boardroom.

Foothill Transit Forward is a study that will evaluate all aspects of the Foothill Transit system and determine where improvements can be made to create a more effective, efficient, equitable, and sustainable service.

SGV Connect is supported by Foothill Transit, offering car-free travel throughout the San Gabriel Valley with connections to the new Gold Line Stations across the Foothills and Commuter Express lines traveling into the heart of downtown L.A. To plan your trip, visit Foothill Transit. “Foothill Transit. Going Good Places.”

Sign-up for our SGV Connect Newsletter, coming to your inbox on Fridays.

Catch past episodes of SGV Connect and #DamienTalks on LibSyn,iTunes, Google Play, or Overcast.

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Welcome back to the SGV Connect podcast, this week Damien talks with Active SGV about a pop-up bike lane in Alhambra, but first Kris checks in with some of the leaders of a mutual aid organization in El Monte.

Kris speaks with Araceli Franco and Nickolas Segura of Memories of El Monte, a mutual aid community space in El Monte. The space is volunteer-run by locals and natives of El Monte and offers activities like mental health and college planning workshops, and even hosts a food distribution.

Franco and Segura talked about the roots of the space, their personal connections to the area and how they hope the space can be a transformative and revolutionary space for change. For folks who have interest in hosting activities at the space, Memories of El Monte have a form folks can fill out.

Second, Damien talks with Francisco Ojeda with Active SGV about the pop up bike lane on Poplar Street in Alhambra. The 1/2 mile project was on the ground for a couple of weeks, while Active SGV and the city collected resident and road user feedback in an online survey. Read more about the project at this article Kris wrote last month.

SGV Connect is supported by Foothill Transit, offering car-free travel throughout the San Gabriel Valley with connections to the new Gold Line Stations across the Foothills and Commuter Express lines traveling into the heart of downtown L.A. To plan your trip, visit Foothill Transit. “Foothill Transit. Going Good Places.”

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Today we wrap up our Streetsblog California "Meet the Board" podcast series with an interview with the Inland Empire Bicycle Alliance Executive Director and Center for Community Action and Environmental Justice Policy Coordinator Marven Norman.

Norman recounts his roots in advocacy from a bike commuter that struggled with streets designed to be unsafe for bicycle commuters, people walking or waiting for transit. Today he is one of the most recognizable faces for advocacy in the Inland Empire, if not the entire state, holding down multiple leadership positions.

This podcast holds a special place in my heart, as Marven was actually the guest on the second episode of my first podcast, #DamienTalks back in May of 2015. As a longtime follower of Marven's work, it's fun to look back and see how far he's come and how much advocacy has grown in six years. However, as Norman notes, there is still an overwhelming amount of work to be done to make the Inland Empire a safe and enjoyable place to ride a bicycle or take a walk.

This is the seventh and last podcast in our “meet the board” series. To check out our past podcasts with Jon Weiss, Carter Rubin, Kris Fortin, Terra Curtis, James Sinclair, or Abby Arnold, click on their names.

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Abby Arnold has been an advocate for a clean environment, people experiencing homelessness and for other progressive causes in her beloved City of Santa Monica for a lifetime. Half a dozen years ago, when Streetsblog L.A. was launching a pilot program in Santa Monica to see if the "Streetsblog model" could work in smaller cities, Arnold was one of the first to volunteer for our steering committee and has been a fixture with our team ever since.

In today's Meet the Board interview series, we talk about politics in Santa Monica, what she would like to see us cover more in the future and how non-profits should approach grant making with both governments and foundations. I'll give you a preview: she compares the process to dating.

In addition to Streetsblog/Santa Monica Next Arnold has been a leader with a who's who of advocacy groups including Santa Monica Forward, the League of Women Voters, and CLUE. She has also served on a variety of Santa Monica Commissions including a current stint on the Pier Commission.

This is the sixth podcast in our “meet the board” series. To check out our past podcasts with Jon Weiss, Carter Rubin, Kris Fortin, Terra Curtis, or James Sinclair, click on their names.

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Regular readers of Streetsblog California will recognize James Sinclair's name as the author of the Stop and Move blog on transportation policy in and around Fresno. James was one of the first bloggers to allow us to syndicate their articles, and we've featured his work a handful of times.

James is also on the Board of Directors for the California Streets Initiative, the non-profit that publishes Streetsblog. Born and mostly-raised in Mexico, he often traveled to Fresno on holiday to visit family and developed a love for the city. In the "about me" section of Stop and Move, he explains how Fresno became a place he is passionate about :

I have been in and out of Fresno for most of my life. While it has never been my true home, it has been the closest to having one. I have been fortunate enough to live in a dozen places, and travel to dozens of countries. As such, I have been able to see what Fresno does well, and what Fresno does badly.

James now works as a bicycle and pedestrian planner/consultant. A decade after the launch of the Stop and Move blog, he sits down with us to talk about the state of advocacy in Fresno, his hopes and fears for California High-Speed Rail and some of his favorite projects.

This is the fifth podcast in our "meet the board" series. To check out our past podcasts with Jon Weiss, Carter Rubin, Kris Fortin, or Terra Curtis, click on their names.

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This July and August, Streetsblog California is podcasting a series introducing our Board of Directors to our readership. To check out our past podcasts with Jon Weiss, Carter Rubin and Kris Fortin, just click on their names.

Today's podcast features Terra Curtis who researches emerging mobility policy for the California Public Utilities Commission. Curtis previously worked at Nelson\Nygaard and volunteered with the San Francisco Bicycle Coalition working on the Better Market Street campaign years ago.

Our interview covers both her professional career and personal advocacy. Curtis appreciates the mission of N\N and the planning firm's belief in promoting entrepreneurship amongst their staff. However, she felt called to bring the expertise she had learned about the best ways to bring new technologies to the transportation sector earlier in life and her career prepared her for a role helping to direct policy statewide.

“On the oneside there’s a chance for increased mobility and reduced dependence on the single occupancy vehicle," says Curtis in the interview on the future prospects of new mobility.

"On the other side, there’s some downsides we want to avoid...I was really attracted here to help relieve that tension and help direct California transportation in a positive direction.”

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This summer, Streetsblog California is running a podcast series interviewing and introducing its Board of Directors to our audience. These volunteers help keep the organization running even if they don't regularly get a by-line on our website.

Today's SGV Connect features an interview where one of our co-hosts (Damien) interviews the other (Kris). In addition to his work with our San Gabriel Valley coverage, Kris is a member of our board of directors.

The San Gabriel Valley beat is actually Kris' third tour of duty with Streetsblog, having previously covered Boyle Heights and the Orange County. As you might expect, this podcast is something of a walk down memory lane of some of Kris' top stories.

Way back in 2012, Kris was one of the first reporters to introduce the world to the Ovarian Psycos Bicycle Brigade. The Ovas were a female-only bicycle collective that hosted rides and opened its own community center on Cesar Chavez Avenue. The popularity of Kris' first post broke our analytics by attracting literally hundreds of thousands of readers from over three dozen countries.

Kris also wrote about the impact the closure of the Wyvernwood Garden Apartments would have had on the larger Boyle Heights community.

Before SGV Connect, Damien and Kris collaborated on a video series with Shireen Alihaji interviewing the major candidates for mayor of Los Angeles in 2013. You can catch the interview with Councilmember Garcetti, here.

After a couple of years writing for different publications, including a full-time gig at the Orange County Register, Kris returned both as a board member and as a writer covering Orange County. At a time when the Register and other Orange County publications. His work at the time included coverage of transit and OCTA but also updates on some best practices from his beloved Santa Ana.

And of course today, he's with us with SGV Connect and as a board member. You can check out all of his recent work, here.

SGV Connect is supported by Foothill Transit, offering car-free travel throughout the San Gabriel Valley with connections to the new Gold Line Stations across the Foothills and Commuter Express lines traveling into the heart of downtown L.A. To plan your trip, visit Foothill Transit. “Foothill Transit. Going Good Places.”

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During Melanie’s sabbatical, we will be running a podcast series to introduce readers to the Board of Directors of the California Streets Initiative, the non-profit that publishes Streetsblog California, Streetsblog Los Angeles and Streetsblog San Francisco. Our first interview, with Jon Weiss, can be found here.

Earlier today, Damien interviewed Carter Rubin, the current Chair of our Board of Directors and the Transportation Technical Strategist for the American Cities Climate Challenge at NRDC. Carter has had some affiliation with Streetsblog for over ll years, as intern, writer, board member, steering committee member and now board chair.

In that time he's also had an interesting career writing at Metro's The Source news/blog page, serving as a David Bohnett Fellow in Los Angeles Mayor Villaraigosa's office and transitioning to working on the Great Streets program with Mayor Garcetti. He's been with NRDC for almost four years now helping cities combat climate change through better transportation projects.

For more on Carter's work, check out Carter's author's page at Streetsblog Los Angeles, here or his NRDC writer's page here.

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During Melanie's sabbatical, we thought it would be fun and interesting for our readers to have a chance to meet the Board of Directors of the California Streets Initiative, the non-profit that publishes Streetsblog California, Streetsblog Los Angeles and Streetsblog San Francisco.

Our first interview is with Jon Weiss (Streetsblog author's page, here.) Weiss, a longtime supporter of bringing rail transit to West Los Angeles and member of the city's Bicycle Advisory Committee joined our board in early 2015 and has served as chair and president of the board.

This interview covers Jon's early advocacy in Los Angeles fighting to preserve rail right of ways from the old trolley system that has become parts of Metro and Metrolink rail services today to his efforts to get the city to build (and perhaps one day soon) complete a bike trail that runs parallel to the "E Line" (or Expo Line) through West Los Angeles.

A long-time member of the city's bicycle advisory committee, Weiss believes that there are good elected officials that want to do the right thing by promoting active transportation and transit, but they don't have the support to do so.

"We're in a third boom of bicycling in my lifetime. The first was gas prices (in the 1970's). The second was Lance Armstrong...which was mostly roadies but did bring a lot of people to biking. With COVID, the numbers have jumped and they're really jumping with e-bikes. People that read Streetsblog know there's a new bill passed to fund people buying e-bikes," says Weiss.

"The more people that are out there biking, the more pressure there's going to be on politicians. There's a lot of politicians that want to do the right thing, but they don't have the votes for it."

Weiss ends the interview with a big idea. Weiss believes there should be legislation passed that taxes the automotive and oil industries to run an advertising campaign similar to the TRUTH ads warning people of the dangers of tobacco. In Weiss' view, the more people that understand concepts such as induced demand or the difference in collision survival rates between 15 miles per hour or 25 miles per hour would dramatically change how people talk about transportation.

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In this week's podcast, Kris Fortin speaks with City of Alhambra Vice Mayor Jeff Maloney about "Advancing Alhambra" the city's plans for its roads after the 2017 decision to not move forward with extending the 710 Freeway.

While Alhambra had been one of the cities most vocal in support of extending the 710 up to the 210 for decades, the cancellation of the project has led to new opportunities for the city to invest in transit and safe street programs. Advancing Alhambra pinpoints three interchanges and the current 710 "stub" for improvements that could have a dramatic impact across the whole city.

A community meeting is planned for tomorrow night, on Zoom at 6 p.m. Register for the meeting, here.

Early in the pre-interview portion of the podcast, Damien and Kris discuss how long they've been collectively covering the 710 corridor project, and how long the project existed before Streetsblog was launched in 2008 in Los Angeles. Kris brings up the nuttiest "open streets"/block party event he ever went to in 2013, that doubled as a rally for extending the 710. He wrote about it in Streetsblog, and if you're interested you can read the story, here.

SGV Connect is supported by Foothill Transit, offering car-free travel throughout the San Gabriel Valley with connections to the new Gold Line Stations across the Foothills and Commuter Express lines traveling into the heart of downtown L.A. To plan your trip, visit Foothill Transit. “Foothill Transit. Going Good Places.”

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In this week's SGV Connect, Damien follows up on his story from last month about the ongoing efforts to transfer ownership of properties owned by Caltrans in what was the project area for the now defunct 710 project near Pasadena. Following that, Kris gets an update on some changes coming to ExpressLanes in the I-110 area.

First, Damien interviews Timothy Ivison and Angels Flores, both members of the United Caltrans Tenants Union about the history of the ongoing dispute between Caltrans and their renters. If you're interested in learning more about this story, check out "United Caltrans Tenants Oppose State Legislation That Would Guide Home Sales, Possibly Lead to Evictions" published at Streetsblog last month.

Kris talked with Metro staff about a few projects happening with the Expresslanes on the Interstate 10, including the COVID-19 service impact and recovery, the planned toll-road extension from the I-605 to the San Bernardino County Line, and what Metro is doing about people who avoid the toll by misidentifying themselves as a carpool vehicle.

The bulk of the conversation focused on Metro's planning next year to test increasing the HOV requirement on the toll lanes. Currently, two to three occupants per vehicle can avoid paying the toll on the Expresslanes. The pilot will require three or more occupants will have to be in vehicles while traveling during off peak hours, and only registered vanpool and transit able to use the Expresslanes during on-peak times. The second phase, which could happen as early as September 2022, would only allow van pools and vehicles of more than five occupants to travel on the Expresslanes. This phase would require board approval and would last until 2024, according to a Metro staff report. SGV Connect is supported by Foothill Transit, offering car-free travel throughout the San Gabriel Valley with connections to the new Gold Line Stations across the Foothills and Commuter Express lines traveling into the heart of downtown L.A. To plan your trip, visit Foothill Transit. “Foothill Transit. Going Good Places.”

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Welcome to the first SGV Connect of April. This week's episode is a solo-interview with Damien and Felicia Friesema at Foothill Transit for a regular check-in about the agencies efforts to provide access to vaccinations, the rollout of its electric double-decker bus fleet and how a transit agency can celebrate poetry month.

If you want to use Foothill Transit to help plan a trip to get your vaccine, click here. And if you're looking for a moment of reflection, click here to visit the Foothill Transit and Write Girl L.A. celebration of poetry month.

Last, if you ride Foothill Transit, or were a rider before the pandemic, please take the agency's rider survey. Regardless of the last time you rode the bus, they want to hear from you.

SGV Connect is supported by Foothill Transit, offering car-free travel throughout the San Gabriel Valley with connections to the new Gold Line Stations across the Foothills and Commuter Express lines traveling into the heart of downtown L.A. To plan your trip, visit Foothill Transit. “Foothill Transit. Going Good Places.”

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This week SGV Connect checks in on the community of Alta Dena in unincorporated Los Angeles County and on how changes at the California Transportation Commission are leading to big changes in how the state funds transportation projects.

First, Kris talks with Dorothy Wong, Altadena town council member about building partnerships and using tools like UC Berkeley’s SafeTREC Street Story to advance active transportation efforts in this unincorporated part of Los Angeles County. Street Story is free web-based community engagement tool that the public can use to “collect information about transportation collisions, near-misses, general hazards and safe locations to travel.”

In our second interview, Damien talks to Melanie Curry the editor of Streetsblog California. Curry listened in on last week's CTC meeting breaking news that the Commission is planning to ask for $2 billion to fund the Active Transportation Program in next year's budget. This would be a 1000% increase over the usual allocation that is roughly $200 million.

SGV Connect is supported by Foothill Transit, offering car-free travel throughout the San Gabriel Valley with connections to the new Gold Line Stations across the Foothills and Commuter Express lines traveling into the heart of downtown L.A. To plan your trip, visit Foothill Transit. “Foothill Transit. Going Good Places.”

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Catch past episodes of SGV Connect and #DamienTalks on LibSyn, iTunes, Google Play, or Overcast.

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On this week's SGV Connect, Kris interviews Dan Lafferty, Deputy Director and Paul Alva, Assistant Deputy Director at the L.A. County Department of Public Works about the Bassett High School Stormwater Capture Project.

Currently, DPW is reaching out to the community about the project and is encouraging residents and other stakeholders to complete a survey to help them best prioritize what the project will look like.

In partnership with Bassett Unified School District (BUSD), the project will divert urban and stormwater runoff into infiltration galleries underneath Bassett High School athletic fields. Other above ground improvements can be included such as low-impact-development features which will complement the Amigos de los Rios’ urban greening project. In addition, a pocket park at the corner of the school athletic field is being proposed as a joint use feature with the community.

In our second interview, Damien talks with Diane Velez with Active SGV about Metro's fareless transit pilot program. In 2022, Metro will be offering fare-free transit to seniors, students and people with lesser income to test the impacts of not charging people n the LA region to use transit. The program could be expanded to cover more groups of people and more agencies. Quick note: during the interview we discuss whether or not Foothill Transit is doing its own study. While they are not, Doran Barnes, the CEO of Foothill Transit is on the committee that will be reviewing and studying Metro's pilot project. SGV Connect is supported by Foothill Transit, offering car-free travel throughout the San Gabriel Valley with connections to the new Gold Line Stations across the Foothills and Commuter Express lines traveling into the heart of downtown L.A. To plan your trip, visit Foothill Transit. “Foothill Transit. Going Good Places.”

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Welcome to this week's SGV Connect. It's a long podcast, so let's get right into it!

The Los Angeles County Flood Control District is currently working on a plan to open up more than 138 miles of SGV waterways to bicyclists and pedestrians. With the plan expected to be completed by Fall 2021, and the environmental review process being completed by Summer 2022, the San Gabriel Valley Greenway Strategic Implementation Plan would create a roadmap toward increasing open space in SGV communities and connecting to Rio Hondo and the San Gabriel Valley River. We spoke with Dan Lafferty, deputy director at Los Angeles County Public Works, about the study of these greenways, how equity is being framed in the work, and some of the community engagement strategies that will be happening in the future.

Second, Damien speaks with Rani Narula-Woods at Metro about the new Metro Micro project in El Monte. Metro's new ride-hailing service that offers shared rides operated by Metro employees in partnership with RideCo., Inc.. Metro Micro rides cost an introductory rate of $1 per ride (transfer not included) for the first six months. Rides must begin and end within each zone. For more information, visit these article at Metro's The Source or the Los Angeles Daily News.

You can also check out this video for information on how to get the apps on your phone and access the service.

SGV Connect is supported by Foothill Transit, offering car-free travel throughout the San Gabriel Valley with connections to the new Gold Line Stations across the Foothills and Commuter Express lines traveling into the heart of downtown L.A. To plan your trip, visit Foothill Transit. “Foothill Transit. Going Good Places.”

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Welcome to the first SGV Connect Podcast of 2021. In this week's episode, Kris speaks with Alhambra Mayor Sasha Renée Pérez before Kris and Damien give a preview of what to look forward to in 2021.

On November 3rd, 2020, Sasha Renée Pérez was elected to Alhambra’s City Council. Because she beat the incumbent Mayor, she took over her predecessor’s term as mayor making her at 28 years old the youngest female mayor in San Gabriel Valley history. In addition, she’s also the youngest woman to serve in the city’s history.

Pérez ran on a progressive platform, touting complete streets, including preventive measures to traffic safety such as bike lanes and speed bumps; pushing for renters protections and policies that prevent displacement, and establishing a climate action plan. In our conversation, we delved into the weeds of her policy platform, got her take on the defund the police movement, and how she sees community engagement as central to creating a more equitable city.

If 2020 were a year like no other, then 2021 looks to be just as unprecedented both locally and across the country. Damien and Kris stalk about some local stories that may have fallen through the cracks such as an opportunity to weigh in on projects such as the North Ave. Traffic and Pedestrian Safety Plan in Pasadena. But 2021 needs to be about more than just projects and proposals; it needs to be the year that cities and government agencies look at the experiences of 2020 and react. What our cities learn from the pandemic and the unrest will determine whether or not society grows as a result of this hardship or just "returns to normal" in a way that continues to marginalize and disenfranchise many. SGV Connect is supported by Foothill Transit, offering car-free travel throughout the San Gabriel Valley with connections to the new Gold Line Stations across the Foothills and Commuter Express lines traveling into the heart of downtown L.A. To plan your trip, visit Foothill Transit. “Foothill Transit. Going Good Places.” Sign-up for our SGV Connect Newsletter, coming to your inbox on Fridays

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Goodbye 2020! Man, I've been waiting a long time to type that, and it felt good.

This week's SGV Connect features a look back at the best and worst of our coverage in the San Gabriel Valley in 2020. Kris gives a surprising answer to "what was your favorite story" while Damien gives a hopeful look forward to 2021.

But first, Damien interviews Pomona Mayor Tim Sandoval. Sandoval is taking leadership roles with the Foothill Gold Line Board of Directors and the San Gabriel Valley Council of Governments in 2021 and the discussion ranges to cover both local and regional issues.

This is our last podcast of 2020. Thank you all for listening, we've doubled our audience since last year at this time! We hope you all have a safe and happy winter holiday and New Years celebrations.

SGV Connect is supported by Foothill Transit, offering car-free travel throughout the San Gabriel Valley with connections to the new Gold Line Stations across the Foothills and Commuter Express lines traveling into the heart of downtown L.A. To plan your trip, visit Foothill Transit. “Foothill Transit. Going Good Places.”

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Sign-up for our SGV Connect Newsletter, coming to your inbox on Fridays.

Everyone is talking about the results from this week's election, and SGV Connect is no different. Our usual team brought back Streetsblog LA editor Joe Linton and Streetsblog California editor Melanie Curry for an in-depth election special that is almost twice the size of a regular episode.

First, Melanie breaks down the disappointing results of our statewide ballot initiatives with defeats for progressive measures that would funded public schools by closing a loophole on big business, expanded rent control, and allowed for affirmative action. At the same time, voters passed a measure exempting Uber/Lyft and other app-based driving services from labor laws.

The scene is brighter for Southern California and the San Gabriel Valley. Joe and Kris discuss the success of Measure J, elections that will make the L.A. County Board of Supervisors and L.A. City Council more progressive, and some mixed news in races in some smaller cities in the SGV.

Last, assuming Joe Biden holds onto his lead, what does a Biden administration mean for Southern California? And what are the odds that Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti or Long Beach Mayor Robert Garcia find themselves with new addresses in Washington, D.C.?

SGV Connect is supported by Foothill Transit, offering car-free travel throughout the San Gabriel Valley with connections to the new Gold Line Stations across the Foothills and Commuter Express lines traveling into the heart of downtown L.A. To plan your trip, visit Foothill Transit. “Foothill Transit. Going Good Places.”

Catch past episodes of SGV Connect and #DamienTalks on LibSyn, iTunes, Google Play, or Overcast.

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If you're looking for a distraction from the deluge of election related messaging and media, this week's SGV Connect is for you. If you're looking for more news, views, and insights into the election, you should check out our last episode which covers the Streetsblog L.A. endorsements.

In our first interview this week, Kris talked with Araceli Hernandez, a program organizer with Nature For All, to talk about its leadership academy, a 5-month training program that tries to develop the next generation of environmental stewards. The program is intentional in recruiting folks that come from Black, Indigenous, and other communities of color, but the program is open to all. "The goals are that you just have a real big passion for making change, for protecting our environment, for making your community better," Hernandez said. The leadership academy started in 2011 and is in its 18th cohort.

Second, Damien talks with Topher Mathers with the Pasadena Complete Streets Coalition about Walktober. While it is true that Walktober is nearly over, there's still a few events remaining. The Walktober events list also provides a great resource for anyone looking to plan some socially distanced walking fun as it includes guided tours, social media driven events and some walks that are just for walkings sake.

Damien and Topher also briefly touch on Halloween and some things that can be done to stay safe and have fun on the holiday.

SGV Connect is supported by Foothill Transit, offering car-free travel throughout the San Gabriel Valley with connections to the new Gold Line Stations across the Foothills and Commuter Express lines traveling into the heart of downtown L.A. To plan your trip, visit Foothill Transit. “Foothill Transit. Going Good Places.”

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Welcome to this week's SGV Connect, a special edition where we discuss some of the state and county ballot propositions that were endorsed or opposed by Streetsblog last week. This week, Damien speaks with Joe Linton, the editor of Streetsblog Los Angeles, about the endorsement process and what ballot measures we think you should support, and another you should oppose.

You can read our endorsement piece, here. For the record we are #YesOn15, #YesOn16, #YesOn21, #YesOnJ and #NoOn22.

Afterwards, Kris speaks with Brian Wallace of the Playhouse Village Association to get an update on the Playhouse Park project which is moving towards getting final approval from the city. The Village Association, back when it was called the Pasadena Playhouse District, first began outreach for this project to the community in 2010, but it looks as though the project is finally close to being realized.

A couple of times in the podcast, we mention this story on Metro's planned expansion of the I-5 and I-605 even though it could wipe out hundreds of homes. It was published late-Friday afternoon, so if you missed it, be sure to check it out.

SGV Connect is supported by Foothill Transit, offering car-free travel throughout the San Gabriel Valley with connections to the new Gold Line Stations across the Foothills and Commuter Express lines traveling into the heart of downtown L.A. To plan your trip, visit Foothill Transit. “Foothill Transit. Going Good Places.”

Sign-up for our SGV Connect Newsletter, coming to your inbox on Fridays.

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In this week's SGV Connect, we get an update on Metro projects in the SGV including the 210 traffic barrier and how faulty dog bones were causing trouble on the Gold Line. But first, Damien talks to Philip Fine with the South Coast Air Quality Management District (SCAQMD) about how to keep your lungs safe as the Bobcat Fire rages.

Fine points out that most of the masks that people are wearing to slow the spread of COVID-19 are effective in stopping smoke and other fine particulates from getting into your lungs when you breathe. If you must go out, Fine recommends N95 masks and that you take extra time to make sure the mask fits properly and is hugging your face.

You can also check out the air quality in your area and the expected air quality over the next 24 hours at the SCAQMD website.

After that, Kris speaks with Errol Taylor, senior executive officer, maintenance and engineering and Androush Danielians, Metro’s Executive Engineering Officer at Metro. The wide ranging interview covers both freeway and Gold Line updates in the San Gabriel Valley.

SGV Connect is supported by Foothill Transit, offering car-free travel throughout the San Gabriel Valley with connections to the new Gold Line Stations across the Foothills and Commuter Express lines traveling into the heart of downtown L.A. To plan your trip, visit Foothill Transit. “Foothill Transit. Going Good Places.”

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This week, SGV Connect looks at studies that examine how Pasadena is reimagining parking in its city and a community spurred project to upgrade and improve Parkway Drive in El Monte. Pasadena has recently launched a study of its parking throughout the city. The study, which will wrap up in early 2021, is looking to create a multi-leveled policy that will address the needs of residents, businesses and the way they move and be adaptable to the areas districts and neighborhoods.

“The policies we have been designed with the assumption that one size fits all, and that’s not always the case,” said Laura Cornejo, Pasadena's Director of Transportation “We want to make sure that we are providing the services that residents need even if it is at a micro-local level.”

The study is also looking at the new COVID-19 reality on Pasadena’s streets and hope the findings could be used to support economic recovery, especially for businesses struggling during the pandemic. Afterwards, Damien speaks with David Diaz, the director of Active SGV. Diaz has been working with students to advocate for a safer and better Parkway Drive in El Monte since 2015. In 2015, students from Mountain View High School and community groups identified the need for improved street design for Parkway Drive that included better lighting, wayfinding signage, improved crosswalks, sidewalks, and bike lanes. Recently, Active SGV and the City of El Monte sponsored a survey to gather input on possible improvements to Parkway Drive. If you missed out and want to make your thoughts known, you can email the team at ParkwayDrive@activesgv.org. SGV Connect is supported by Foothill Transit, offering car-free travel throughout the San Gabriel Valley with connections to the new Gold Line Stations across the Foothills and Commuter Express lines traveling into the heart of downtown L.A. To plan your trip, visit Foothill Transit. “Foothill Transit. Going Good Places.”

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Welcome to SGV Connect. In this week's episode, Kris Fortin interviews Paul Alva with the county's Department of Public Works about East L.A. Sustainable Median Stormwater Capture Project. After that, Damien talks to Streetsblog USA editor Kea Wilson about the state of transit during the ongoing pandemic. L.A. County Department of Public Works is upgrading medians Unincorporated East LA to better capture water runoff. The project will include things like infiltration wells and bioswales which will divert stormwater from going into places like the LA River and replenish the local ground water supply. But it won’t be just something nice to look at, it will have benches, picnic tables, walking paths, and exercise equipment and quite a bit of vegetation, including planting more than 300 trees. This project costs, $36 million. Read more about the project at the official project website, and see why some East L.A. residents are unhappy with the project in this story on L.A. Eastsider. In the second interview, Wilson explains how national politics are delaying or even killing a second relief fund for transit projects and programs.

Wilson also discusses how agencies are responding to the crisis by focusing efforts on making service as usable as possible for essential workers and what transit will look like in our post COVID future.

SGV Connect is supported by Foothill Transit, offering car-free travel throughout the San Gabriel Valley with connections to the new Gold Line Stations across the Foothills and Commuter Express lines traveling into the heart of downtown L.A. To plan your trip, visit Foothill Transit. “Foothill Transit. Going Good Places.”

Sign-up for our SGV Connect Newsletter, coming to your inbox on Fridays.

Catch past episodes of SGV Connect and #DamienTalks on LibSyn, iTunes, Google Play, or Overcast.

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In our first interview, Damien reconnects with Teresa Eilers and Shawn Morrissey who appeared on the podcast last fall. Morrissey works with Union Station Homeless Services, a support and housing provider based in Pasadena while Eilers is a coordinator for the Everyone In! Campaign in San Fernando Valley.

If someone wants to get involved in their community, sign up at Everyone In’s “Get Involved” page and a representative will get in touch with you.

In the interview, the trio discuss how COVID-19 has changed the way advocates reach out to people experiencing homelessness and the special challenges the pandemic presents. Some programs such as Project Roomkey have helped as has a growing understanding of how the regional homeless crisis impacts everyone.

Second, Kris interviews Duarte City Councilmember and Metro Board Director John Fasana. Fasna has served as a Metro Board Member for 27 consecutive years dating back to the first Metro Board in 1993. The interview provides a retrospective on Fasna's career and time on the Metro Board. As you can imagine, a lot has changed.

SGV Connect is supported by Foothill Transit, offering car-free travel throughout the San Gabriel Valley with connections to the new Gold Line Stations across the Foothills and Commuter Express lines traveling into the heart of downtown L.A. To plan your trip, visit Foothill Transit. “Foothill Transit. Going Good Places.”

Sign-up for our SGV Connect Newsletter, coming to your inbox on Fridays.

Catch past episodes of SGV Connect and #DamienTalks on LibSyn, iTunes, Google Play, or Overcast.

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In this week's SGV Connect, Kris Fortin marches with protestors in cities throughout the San Gabriel Valley and brings us their voices direct from the rallies and marches. Kris also discusses his experience at the protests with his broadcast partner, Damien Newton, and how activism is changing in the San Gabriel Valley.

You can read, and see, more of Kris' experiences at an article published at Streetsblog last week.

One of the protests Kris attended on June 7 was in response to police violence that occurred the weekend before. On June 4 of last week, a lawsuit was filed against El Monte police officers involved who injured protestors through necklocks and chokeholds at the end of May. Last week, on June 9, the city announced that it was suspending the use of the "carotid choke hold" more commonly known as the "sleeper hold".

If people want to get involved with the protests, Kris recommends following SGV Progressive Action, Pasadena Black Lives Matter, and Pomona Protests.

Second, Damien talks with Eric Pierce, the editor of the Greenleaf Guardian in Whittier. Eric broke the news of a small-business-led effort to close a portion of Greenleaf Avenue in Whittier's downtown to car traffic to claim the space for retail and restaurant expansion during the COVID-19 crisis. After our interview, the plan was temporarily put on hold as the city is purchasing bollards and other devices to place around the expanded pedestrian/shopping/dining areas for safety.

SGV Connect is supported by Foothill Transit, offering car-free travel throughout the San Gabriel Valley with connections to the new Gold Line Stations across the Foothills and Commuter Express lines traveling into the heart of downtown L.A. To plan your trip, visit Foothill Transit. “Foothill Transit. Going Good Places.”

Catch past episodes of SGV Connect and #DamienTalks on LibSyn, iTunes, Google Play, or Overcast.

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This week, SGV Connect talks to government executives that are overseeing some of L.A. County's largest departments as they respond to COVID-19 and do long-term planning for the future.

First, Kris talks to Norma Garcia, the Acting Director of the L.A. County Department of Parks. Fortin and Garcia discuss the county's plans to continue to re-open public space, should the numbers support greater openings, and the experience inside of the re-opened parks and trails last weekend. So far, things seem to be going pretty well. Fingers crossed that the numbers stay low.

Next, Damien talks to Kome Ajise, the executive director of the mammoth Southern California Association of Governments, the regional planning organization for the nine county Southern California region. A little under two weeks ago, SCAG approved it's long-term plan for the region, a document that helps guide development in large cities and small municipalities throughout the region. Efforts were made to change language in the plan around density, citing how overcrowding is partially responsible for the spread of COVID-19 in some cities. However, Ajise and the SCAG staff resisted, and he eloquently describes the difference between density and overcrowding in the interview. That section of the plan remains unchanged from the draft in the fall.

During what is usually a short between-interview segment, Damien asked Kris his take on the SCAG plan. Kris had been engaged with SCAG on behalf of Santa Ana Active Streets, and he surprised Damien with a nearly ten-minute detailed answer. It's as though we had three interviews this week.

SGV Connect is supported by Foothill Transit, offering car-free travel throughout the San Gabriel Valley with connections to the new Gold Line Stations across the Foothills and Commuter Express lines traveling into the heart of downtown L.A. To plan your trip, visit Foothill Transit. “Foothill Transit. Going Good Places.”

Catch past episodes of SGV Connect and #DamienTalks on LibSyn, iTunes, Google Play, or Overcast.

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This week, SGV Connect goes macro and micro with a look at the just started public process on the county's water plan and studies why Pasadena is resisting the call to eliminate pedestrian crossing buttons before allowing people to legally cross the street at most intersections.

Kris spoke with Matt Frary, Acting Principal Engieneer at Los Angeles County Public Works, about the County Water Plan. The board of supervisors decided at last week’s meeting to hire a consultant to develop the plan by 2021.

This plan would try to create a regional approach to water resource management. It would be a practical, policy document, that would help to articulate a shared vision with the more than 200+ water agencies in the County. Frary said.

For folks in the SGV who want to get involved with the development of the County Water Plan, or actions taken as part of the Safe Clean Water Program, there are 3 dedicated Steering Committees focused on this topic. Each committee is comprised of 17 committee members, five of which are community stakeholders and at least one watershed coordinator to help facilitate additional involvement. The three committees are as follow:

1. Upper San Gabriel River Watershed Area Steering Committee
2. Lower San Gabriel Watershed Area Steering Committee
3. Rio Hondo Watershed Area Steering Committee

Second, Damien speaks with Misch Anderson, an advocate for safer transportation options in Pasadena. Anderson has been vocal about the city's response to COVID-19, criticizing the city in Colorado Boulevard (not once, but twice) for not turning off the "Beg Buttons" that need pressing before one crosses the street.

Damien and Misch discuss Pasadena's login in not following the example of Los Angeles and other peer cities and make the case that once the buttons are turned off, they should never be turned back on.

Last, we have a programming note on the expanded SGV Connect we announced in last week's podcast. Future podcasts and articles that are written as part of our agreement with Foothill Transit will have a place to signup for the new SGV Connect Newsletter. We're going to launch the newsletter in two weeks, May 22, and we hope to have hundreds of you joining us.

SGV Connect is supported by Foothill Transit, offering car-free travel throughout the San Gabriel Valley with connections to the new Gold Line Stations across the Foothills and Commuter Express lines traveling into the heart of downtown L.A. To plan your trip, visit Foothill Transit. “Foothill Transit. Going Good Places.”

Catch past episodes of SGV Connect and #DamienTalks on LibSyn, iTunes, Google Play, or Overcast.

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A new BRT line connecting San Bernadino County to a series of cities in the San Gabriel Valley is expected to be approved at the May 6 meeting of San Bernadino County's regional transit agency's Board of Directors. Phase 1 of the BRT line, known as the "Miliken Alignment" of the West Valley Connector BRT will reach from the Pomona Downtown Metrolink station to Victoria Gardens in Rancho Cucamonga.

For more information on the board meeting, and directions on how to participate, click here.

This week, Kris speaks with Victor Lopez, San Bernardino County Transportation Authority's Chief of Transit and Rail Programs. Lopez gives Fortin an overview of the project, which would be the second BRT project in the San Gabriel Valley. The first one is the E Street BRT, which started in 2014 and is a 16-mile route with 16 stations.

For more information, visit the project website, here.

Instead of a second interview, Damien and Kris discuss an expanded SGV Connect that will be ramping up in May. Thanks to reader support and the ongoing support of Foothill Transit, we will start seeing regular written articles by Fortin, a weekly e-newsletter on issues related to transportation, public health, equity and planning by Damien and the launch of an SGV Connect Instagram. Stay tuned for more details on all of these, and we hope you enjoy the expanded #SGVConnect.

SGV Connect is supported by Foothill Transit, offering car-free travel throughout the San Gabriel Valley with connections to the new Gold Line Stations across the Foothills and Commuter Express lines traveling into the heart of downtown L.A. To plan your trip, visit Foothill Transit. “Foothill Transit. Going Good Places.”

Catch past episodes of SGV Connect and #DamienTalks on LibSyn, iTunes, Google Play, or Overcast.

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This week's SGV Connect focuses on how the Coronavirus is impacting planning and transit throughout not just San Gabriel Valley, but all of Southern California.

First up, Kris speaks with Demi Espinoza of the Safe Routes Partnership about the upcoming approval of SCAG's Connect SoCal document.

Connect SoCal is a long-range plan that seeks to balance future mobility and housing needs with economic, environmental and public health goals. SCAG is the regional planning organization for a mammoth six-country region that includes Imperial, Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside, San Bernardino and Ventura.

Before their interview, Damien and Kris discuss whether or not it even makes sense to push such a plan right now. Damien references a recent statement and action put out by The Untokening that urges governments to stop planning processes that will not be able to reach many populations during COVID-19. Kris also mentioned, and it comes up again in the interview, that things have changed so much since the outreach began for this process that does the plan still make sense? The SCAG Regional Council is scheduled to vote on the plan on May 7. Second, our hosts talk about the impact COVID 19 is having on the transit agencies that serve the San Gabriel Valley. This week L.A. Metro announced another round of service cuts while revealing sharp declines in ridership: Bus Ridership Down 65 Percent, Rail Down 75 Percent. For more on Metro's cuts, read this article by Joe Linton, published on Wednesday.

Three agencies have suspended regular service: Carson, Montebello and Monterey Park. Other agencies are scaling service back as agencies see steep ridership declines and loss of other income that bolsters transit budgets such as sales taxes and parking fees.

While many agencies are still providing on-demand micro transit or ride-hailing services for residents in-need of transit, there is no doubt that both the present and future of many transit agencies is uncertain. If you're planning a transit trip, we recommend double-checking the relevant websites in advance and immediately before your trip to see if there are any changes.

SGV Connect is supported by Foothill Transit, offering car-free travel throughout the San Gabriel Valley with connections to the new Gold Line Stations across the Foothills and Commuter Express lines traveling into the heart of downtown L.A. To plan your trip, visit Foothill Transit. “Foothill Transit. Going Good Places.”

Catch past episodes of SGV Connect and #DamienTalks on LibSyn, iTunes, Google Play, or Overcast.

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For anyone who lives in the SGV, and frankly throughout Los Angeles County, coyotes are a regular reality. Whether hiking in the San Gabriel Mountains or walking down Valley Boulevard, hearing a coyote’s yelp or spotting its thin frame crossing a street is common. But how we should interact with these wildlife neighbors isn’t always clear.

On part two of this week’s SGV Connect, we spoke with Natalya Romo, the program manager of the Neighborhood Coyote Program, and Alexander Fung, a management analyst with the San Gabriel Valley Council of Governments, about how this program is engaging and educating residents to become better stewards to the coyote population. The program has been sharing with residents information about how they should act when coming across a coyote, how to report a sighting, and how residents can deter coyotes in a nonlethal way from making themselves at home in a neighborhood --- leaving pet food and water out would be a no-no.

People can find this info on the SGV COG website or by calling their hotline at (626)278-8039. Residents who also want to report a coyote sighting can call the number; calls are documented and reported to the University of California Cooperative Extension’s Coyote Cacher program.

The Coyote program is a pilot of 10 SGV cities which include:

• City of Arcadia
• City of Alhambra
• City of Azusa
• City of Covina
• City of Irwindale
• City of Montebello
• City of Rosemead
• City of San Gabriel
• City of San Marino
• City of Temple City

Residents outside of these cities can call and will be referred to their local animal control agency or their respective government agency.

Neighborhood Coyote Program

Hotline: (626)278-8039, 8:00 a.m.-6:00p.m., Monday-Thursday

SGV Connect is supported by Foothill Transit, offering car-free travel throughout the San Gabriel Valley with connections to the new Gold Line Stations across the Foothills and Commuter Express lines traveling into the heart of downtown L.A. To plan your trip, visit Foothill Transit. “Foothill Transit. Going Good Places.”

Catch past episodes of SGV Connect and #DamienTalks on LibSyn, iTunes, Google Play, or Overcast.

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April 1 is Census Day! Every ten years, the United States government sends out a questionnaire to ask people living in America where they live and other questions about their lives. The final count of where people lives helps determine how the federal government allocates its money. So, the more people that fill out the census, the more money will flow into their community.

Today, we broadcast this half-episode with Adriana Pinedo of Active SGV who is leading the advocacy group's efforts to get as many people counted in the San Gabriel Valley as possible.

In this time of Sheltering in Place and Safe at Home, there's no excuse to not fill out your census form online today. Right now. Go ahead, we'll wait.

A quick note, in the interview I make reference to an old Saturday Night Live Skit. After filling out your census, you can watch that skit, here.

SGV Connect is supported by Foothill Transit, offering car-free travel throughout the San Gabriel Valley with connections to the new Gold Line Stations across the Foothills and Commuter Express lines traveling into the heart of downtown L.A. To plan your trip, visit Foothill Transit. “Foothill Transit. Going Good Places.”

Catch past episodes of SGV Connect and #DamienTalks on LibSyn, iTunes, Google Play, or Overcast.

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This week, SGV Connect continues our coverage of the Coronavirus and our regional response.

First, Kris speaks with Laura Raymond of ACT-LA and Jessica Meaney of Investing in Place about transit agencies' (especially Metro) response to the Coronavirus. Like many groups and organizations, transit agencies find themselves learning as they go along and trying their hardest to react to and learn from what other agencies are doing. The role of advocates, to point out some things the agencies may be missing can help save lives.

In the interview, they discuss a letter sent by ACT-LA and Investing in Place for things agencies should be doing to protect riders and drivers. That letter can be read, here.

In our second interview, Damien talks with Eli Kaufman, the Executive Director of the Los Angeles County Bicycle Coalition about how people can stay healthy and safe while bicycling during the "Safe at Home." The conversation swerves into a discussion of the River Ride (get up to date information, here) and what we, as a society, can learn from our time sheltering in place.

SGV Connect is supported by Foothill Transit, offering car-free travel throughout the San Gabriel Valley with connections to the new Gold Line Stations across the Foothills and Commuter Express lines traveling into the heart of downtown L.A. To plan your trip, visit Foothill Transit. “Foothill Transit. Going Good Places.”

Catch past episodes of SGV Connect and #DamienTalks on LibSyn, iTunes, Google Play, or Overcast.

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Following Damien's interview with Foothill Transit earlier today, Kris speaks with Rick Jager at L.A. Metro about the region's flagship transit agency's response to the Coronavirus.

As we heard with Foothill Transit, Metro is working to transit clean and service running on time. There has been no talk of discontinuing or modifying service, although things remain fluid.

Metro holds dozens of public meetings every month, but those are on hold for now as well. Cancellations include meetings for the NextGen bus reorganization, although you can still provide feedback online. Metro has also cancelled all events at Union Station for 30 days.

To keep up to date on any changes, be sure to follow Metro on Twitter or check their newsblog The Source.

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Earlier today, I spoke with Felicia Friesema, a spokesperson with Foothill Transit about the agencies response to the Corona Virus. As you will hear, the agency has been proactive and plans to continue service to those who need it while maintaining as clean an atmosphere as possible to slow the spread.

She also stresses that things are extremely fluid, and that passengers should double check that there has not been a change in service during this crisis. Riders can get more details at the Foothill Transit website, a special "Footnotes" page setup for Corona Virus update, or join one of their battery of social media outlets that can be found on their webpage. A special link to sign-up for email updates can be found at the bottom left corner of the webpage.

Kris Fortin is completing an interview with Metro later today similar to the one above. When it is posted, we will update this post with more information.

SGV Connect is supported by Foothill Transit, offering car-free travel throughout the San Gabriel Valley with connections to the new Gold Line Stations across the Foothills and Commuter Express lines traveling into the heart of downtown L.A. To plan your trip, visit Foothill Transit. “Foothill Transit. Going Good Places.”

Catch past episodes of SGV Connect and #DamienTalks on LibSyn, iTunes, Google Play, or Overcast.

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This week, SGV Connect checks in with two old friends about two of our favorite projects in the pipeline: The Gold Line Foothill Extension's next phase and the Puente Greenway Project.

First, Damien speaks with Albert Ho, a spokesperson for the Gold Line Foothill Construction Authority. In advance of outreach meetings in Glendora, La Verne, Pomona and San Dimas in the next couple of weeks. The outreach meetings will include information on the stations that will be built in each city, the construction schedule and a chance to meet the artists who will be customizing each of the stations.

For more information, visit the meeting announcement, here.

Second Kris speaks with David Diaz, the executive director of Active SGV about progress made on the Puente Greenway Project. Diaz gives us an update on where the project is in the pipeline and what progress has been made since we last checked in last July.

Also, a quick note...Ho and I joke about how he has "caught back up" to David Diaz for "most appearances on the show." When we recorded this interview, we didn't know that our other interview was going to be with Diaz.

SGV Connect is supported by Foothill Transit, offering car-free travel throughout the San Gabriel Valley with connections to the new Gold Line Stations across the Foothills and Commuter Express lines traveling into the heart of downtown L.A. To plan your trip, visit Foothill Transit. “Foothill Transit. Going Good Places.”

Catch past episodes of SGV Connect and #DamienTalks on LibSyn, iTunes, Google Play, or Overcast.

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Metro is conducting outreach on two programs that could dramatically change the way people move about the San Gabriel Valley and all of L.A. County: the Metro Eastside Transit Corridor Phase 2 and the Next Gen Bus Plan.

The last of the outreach meetings for the Eastside Transit Corridor Phase 2 is tomorrow, Saturday the 8th, from 10 to noon at the Ark Montebello (details). To get you all the details about the ways the Gold Line might grow, Kris interviews four members of the outreach team: David Mieger, Jenny Cristales-Cevallos, Lauren Cencic and Lillian De Loza.

If you can't make the meeting, but want to learn more about the project and options being considered, visit the official website, here.

Metro is also holding meetings for its Next Gen Bus Study that will revamp the way the agency schedules and manages its gigantic bus fleet. After their initial outreach last year, Metro is holding meetings on proposed changes throughout the entire county, including a meeting at the El Monte Bus Station Monday night. Damien gets the rundown with Stephen Yu, the Director of Service Planning at Metro.

For a full list of meetings, click here. For more on the Next Gen Plan, click here.

SGV Connect is supported by Foothill Transit, offering car-free travel throughout the San Gabriel Valley with connections to the new Gold Line Stations across the Foothills and Commuter Express lines traveling into the heart of downtown L.A. To plan your trip, visit Foothill Transit. “Foothill Transit. Going Good Places.”

Catch past episodes of SGV Connect and #DamienTalks on LibSyn, iTunes, Google Play, or Overcast.

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After a holiday break and a look-ahead episode, SGV Connect returns to its regularly scheduled programming: looking at the issues and programs that impact the present and future of the San Gabriel Valley.

First, Kris Fortin talks to Kome Ajise, the executive director of the Silicon Valley Association of Governments. The two discuss the Multimodal Regional Corridor Plan for Arrow Highway and how people can get involved in the plan to make a car-centric freeway more appealing to road users who aren't traveling by car.

To leave comments for the project, visit their official website. Comments are due by the end of the month.

The two also discuss "Connect SoCal" the long range plan SCAG is developing that will guide planning for housing, transportation, planning and public health within the counties of Imperial, Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside, San Bernardino and Ventura.

For more information, or to submit comments on the plan, visit SCAG's website.

Later, Damien speaks with Joe Linton, the editor of Streetsblog Los Angeles about a discussion happening in Pasadena around transportation planning. In 2014, the city changed how it reviews transportation projects from the car-centric Level of Service to a more people-centered metric called "Vehicle Miles Traveled." When the city council asked for a report on how the change is impacting the city, local media reacted by implying that the city might be backing away from the metric.

Linton explains that changing back to LOS is no longer possible under state law, however Pasadena can tinker with its goals and projections, something that some Council members seem keen on doing.

SGV Connect is supported by Foothill Transit, offering car-free travel throughout the San Gabriel Valley with connections to the new Gold Line Stations across the Foothills and Commuter Express lines traveling into the heart of downtown L.A. To plan your trip, visit Foothill Transit. “Foothill Transit. Going Good Places.”

Catch past episodes of SGV Connect and #DamienTalks on LibSyn, iTunes, Google Play, or Overcast.

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Welcome to the first episode of SGV Connect in 2020! This week's episode features Francisco Ojeda of Active SGV and Melanie Curry of Streetsblog California discussing the big stories of 2019 and what we can look forward to in 2020.

First, Kris Fortin interviews Ojeda with Active SGV. The two discuss a wide range of issues that Active SGV is engaged with, including its roots in bike advocacy but also a wider discussion of climate change and social justice.

After that, Damien Newton and Curry discuss some of the big stories of 2019 and how they will bridge into the issues of 2020. Of course, there's a long discussion of how we measure transportation impacts in the state, but also super-commutes and S.B. 50. (Note: the conversation between Newton and Curry happened before Senator Weiner reintroduced S.B. 50).

SGV Connect is supported by Foothill Transit, offering car-free travel throughout the San Gabriel Valley with connections to the new Gold Line Stations across the Foothills and Commuter Express lines traveling into the heart of downtown L.A. To plan your trip, visit Foothill Transit. “Foothill Transit. Going Good Places.”

Catch past episodes of SGV Connect and #DamienTalks on LibSyn, iTunes, Google Play, or Overcast.

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Welcome to SGV Connect 54, which begins our transition from 2019 to 2020. This week we have two different types of interviews, one which looks forward to 2020 and the other that looks back on...2003?

Kris talks with Brian Wallace, executive director of the Pasadena Playhouse District, about a plan to bring new open space to the Pasadena with a new park that could break ground as early as next year. The interview is both a celebration of the coming park and to remember all the work that was done over a decade public process to get to this point.

Then Damien interviews professor emeritus Robert Gottlieb from Occidental College and one of the creators of the first Arroyo Fest. Earlier this year, Active SGV announced that in 2020 they will open a section of the 110 Freeway to cars and bicycles and other road users by closing it to car traffic, similar to its predecessor in 2003. Damien and Robert talk both about the experience of the original Arroyo Fest, and how much advocacy and policy have changed in the past seventeen years.

We have one more episode to the year, but in case you're traveling when we post, we would like to take a second to thank you for listening in 2019. Onward to 2020!

SGV Connect is supported by Foothill Transit, offering car-free travel throughout the San Gabriel Valley with connections to the new Gold Line Stations across the Foothills and Commuter Express lines traveling into the heart of downtown L.A. To plan your trip, visit Foothill Transit. “Foothill Transit. Going Good Places.”

Catch past episodes of SGV Connect and #DamienTalks on LibSyn, iTunes, Google Play, or Overcast.

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With Kris still away on his travels, this week Damien interviews Los Angeles County Supervisor Hilda Solis about her leadership with the county and on the L.A. Metro Board of Directors. Our conversation touches on transit planning, vision zero, and congestion pricing.

Solis' interview was arranged as part of our support for Active SGV's Noche de las Luminarias, a once a year party celebrating the best in advocacy, government and volunteerism in the San Gabriel Valley. The event is tomorrow night, Thursday, November 14, 2019 (6-9pm). The event be held at the San Gabriel Mission Grapevine Arbor (324 S Mission Dr, San Gabriel, CA 91776).

Get your tickets now by clicking here.

Event proceeds will support ActiveSGV's work, including the Bicycle Education Center and our Sustainable SGV Summer Internship program.

Joining Solis as an award winner are:

Outstanding Volunteers | Brian Velez Memorial Award - Luis and Nohora Velez
SGV Business - Pablo Tamashiro, Cyber Yogurt
Community Supporting Foundation - Water Foundation
SGV City - City of Baldwin Park

Kris will be back for our next podcast. We look forward to talking with you then.

SGV Connect is supported by Foothill Transit, offering car-free travel throughout the San Gabriel Valley with connections to the new Gold Line Stations across the Foothills and Commuter Express lines traveling into the heart of downtown L.A. To plan your trip, visit Foothill Transit. “Foothill Transit. Going Good Places.”

Catch past episodes of SGV Connect and #DamienTalks on LibSyn, iTunes, Google Play, or Overcast.

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This week's SGV Connect focuses on a trio of upcoming meetings at the local and regional level that will have an impact on how the SGV grows.

Tonight in South Pasadena, the City Council considers funding a $200,000 plan to bring more bike parking throughout the city, especially along its commercial corridors and job centers. The bike parking is grant funded (back in 2012!), so the money exists. All we need is a little political will and the bike parking situation will quickly improve in SoPas.

Active SGV has setup an action alert for anyone interested in attending tonight's meeting or emailing the City Council. The details can be found here. The meeting is tonight, at 7:30, in the South Pasadena City Hall.

Tomorrow night and next Tuesday, the San Gabriel Valley Council of Governments will host a pair of community meetings about the COG's Regional Housing Trust Fund.

The Trust will create a way for the San Gabriel Valley to receive both public and private money. The Trust will be able to distribute this money throughout the region to construct affordable housing and reduce the number of residents that are rent-burdened.

The funding and programs will be controlled locally, by a Board made up of elected representatives in the San Gabriel Valley. Thanks to recently signed legislation, the Trust will be open in early 2020.

The upcoming meetings will help guide what types of projects the Trust funds and explores various funding opportunities. The meeting details are below :

Thursday, Nov. 7, 6-7:30 p.m. El Monte Aquatic Center 11001 Mildred Ave, El Monte, CA Tuesday, Nov. 12, 6-7:30 p.m. Glendora Public Library 140 Glendora Ave, Glendora, CA SGV Connect is supported by Foothill Transit, offering car-free travel throughout the San Gabriel Valley with connections to the new Gold Line Stations across the Foothills and Commuter Express lines traveling into the heart of downtown L.A. To plan your trip, visit Foothill Transit. “Foothill Transit. Going Good Places.”

Catch past episodes of SGV Connect and #DamienTalks on LibSyn, iTunes, Google Play, or Overcast.

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Last week, Kris Fortin attended the CalBike conference in Los Angeles. This once-every-two-years conference brings together leaders from the bicycle and pedestrian advocacy communities throughout California including Active SGV, CalBike, California Walks, and People for Mobility Justice.

At the conference, Fortin interviewed a handful of leaders about Governor Gavin Newsom's disappointing veto of SB 127 (the Complete Streets Bill) and any good news that came out of the recent legislative session.

Reactions were varied, with some hopeful that the coalition that got SB127 through both houses in the legislature would be able to accomplish even greater things in coming sessions to frustrated and annoyed. "What the hell, Gavin?" asked Anaheim resident and local activist Edgar Arellano.

In addition to Arellano, this podcast also includes interviews with:

• Linda Khamoushian, Senior Policy Advocate, California Bicycle Coalition
• Arelis Reynolds, Costa Mesa council member
• Esther Rivera, Deputy Director, California Walks

Following the interview, Kris and Damien discuss the legislative agenda for Active SGV and how many of their bills were passed. Despite the disappointment with the SB127, there were some victories. Damien created this Google Doc to show what parts of Active SGV's agenda became law.

SGV Connect is supported by Foothill Transit, offering car-free travel throughout the San Gabriel Valley with connections to the new Gold Line Stations across the Foothills and Commuter Express lines traveling into the heart of downtown L.A. To plan your trip, visit Foothill Transit. “Foothill Transit. Going Good Places.”

Catch past episodes of SGV Connect and #DamienTalks on LibSyn, iTunes, Google Play, or Overcast.

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This week, SGV Connect will be a little different than normal, both because of the format of our interview and the topic discussed. Damien and Kris both sit down with Shawn Morrissey of Union Station (Union Station) Homeless Services and Teresa Eilers, a coordinator with the Everyone In! campaign in the San Gabriel Valley.

The two discuss the state of the homeless crisis in the San Gabriel Valley based on recent surveys and initiatives to reduce homelessness. If someone wants to get involved in their community, they can click here and a representative from Everyone In will get in touch with you. If you’re looking for other options, Curbed has their own list of how you can help.

Everyone In and Union Station Housing both push the “housing first” philosophy of attacking the homelessness crisis. That is, that providing housing options that get and keep people off the street doesn’t just alleviate homelessness, but also help with the problems related to homelessness: addiction, joblessness, and personal and public health.

“We need more supportive housing, it is the tool that ends homelessness. Everyone agrees that homelessness is a problem, but not everyone agrees on the solutions. Permanent affordable housing has a tremendous success rate. Over 90% of the people that enter permanent supportive housing stay housed,” explains Eilers.

Before “housing first” gained wide-spread support in America, most government programs supported emergency shelters and finding people jobs. Then if people were capable of keeping that job and paying the going rate for housing they would leave the shelter. Hopefully, everything would work out. And sometimes it did.

“It took us fifty years to realize that the solution to homelessness was to give people a home,” Morrissey half-jokes. “Previous to that, we have been mired in this emergency shelter system.“

“For the few for whom that model worked, and who could jump through those hoops, they found housing.For many others with more complex needs and challenges, they languished in homelessness for decades,” Morrissey continues.

One of the ways that Everyone In! trains advocates is by conducting bus tours of previously built permanently subsidized housing programs. It was on an early September bus tour in Pasadena and Eagle Rock that I met Morrisey and Eilers who were leading the tour. The tour included two-dozen advocates already well versed in the issue, the mayor and a staff person from Arcadia, and others who were looking to learn more, but may not have been sympathetic to the cause of needing to support more housing as part of a larger solution.

Morrissey weaves his personal story into his advocacy. Morrisey is in his second job with Union Station where he previously helped manage their support services. However, he joined their staff after being one of their clients seventeen years ago.

He tells the story of being connected to services by a Union Station outreach team a few weeks before Christmas in 2002, who recognized his substance abuse and got him into a detox and then rehab program. From there, he entered the services system. Today, he is one of the most effective advocates for homeless housing, a walking success story of what can happen when people are given a chance and take advantage.

He introduced his story early in the tour, during the first part of the first stop to be exact. By stating his history upfront, and acknowledging that encounters with people experiencing homelessness can be scary, he steered the conversation for the rest of the day away from dehumanizing the homeless and towards how we can create more success stories.

Success stories such as the affable and passionate man who was leading the tour and pleading with everyone to join him in creating more opportunities for more people.

“There’s good and decent people that are homeless. When you look at a homeless person, the presentation can be scary. Someone who might not have slept, might not have bathed, might not have eaten; we tend to “other” these people instead of wrapping around them. We shun them. We need to recognize these are our brothers and sisters. These are human beings,” Morrissey said.

And like any good tag-team, Morrissey’s opponent brings a different tact to the debate. Eilers comes from a markedly different background, college educated with a previous job at the locally powerful Santa Monicans for Renters Rights (SMRR), which dictates housing (and electoral) policy in the Westside city, worked to help get homeless residents of South L.A. or foster kids jobs at the Staples Center, and on the Measure M campaign.

Lacking Morrissey’s backstory, Eilers plays the organizer bringing as many people to City Council hearings, such as the one in Alhambra in September, and formal Everyone In events such as the bus tour, and Frontline Stories. (https://twitter.com/Storiesfront).

“Everyday is different, which is difficult but also a challenge,” says Eilers of her job. “My job is basically to make connections and build coalitions to bring about systemic changes.”

Eilers contends that many people recognize that increased housing and shelter options must be part of the solution, but political leaders are unwilling to make decisions to build that would be unpopular with housed, likely voting, residents. This leads to a “carrot and stick” approach to meetings and lobbying of city councils.

“We have been reaching out to elected officials and letting them know we’re there to help. That’s the carrot,” she explains. “Gavin Newsom has made it known he’ll come after you. He’ll sue your city (if they aren’t attempting to reach housing targets)”

That’s the stick.

Eilers also expresses frustration that some communities are welcoming to homeless housing for certain types of people experiencing homelessness (veterans, families with children), but not others. There are not homeless people that are more deserving of help than others.

“We need to stop homelessness in all demographics.” she concludes.

For more on and from Eilers and Morrissey, take the time to listen to SGV Connect Episode 50:

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This week, #SGVConnect does our annual check-in with Foothill Transit on changes occurring at the San Gabriel Valley's transit agency. Damien speaks with Felicia Friesema, the director of marketing and communications for Foothill Transit, about an upcoming fare increase coming at the end of this month and changes to their rapid bus service starting next year.

You can read more about both the fare changes and the new rapid bus line, at the Foothill Transit Website.

Second, Kris interviews Kyle Tsukahira, interim director of Asian Pacific Islander Forward Movement. APIFM has been analyzing the air quality of Alhambra and Monterey Park.

They’ve been doing this in two ways, by giving out air sensors to households and by installing sensors at Mark Keppel High School. They’ve also been working with Roberts Environmental Center at Claremont McKenna College on a yearlong study to see the air quality around Mark Keppel High School.

If you missed the news, earlier this week Curbed announced that Arroyo Fest will return in 2020. The granddaddy of Open Streets events in Southern California, Arroyo Fest opens the Arroyo Seco Parkway to all uses between Downtown Los Angeles and Pasadena. We're excited. Get the details at Curbed.

SGV Connect is supported by Foothill Transit, offering car-free travel throughout the San Gabriel Valley with connections to the new Gold Line Stations across the Foothills and Commuter Express lines traveling into the heart of downtown L.A. To plan your trip, visit Foothill Transit. “Foothill Transit. Going Good Places.”

Catch past episodes of SGV Connect and #DamienTalks on LibSyn, iTunes, Google Play, or Overcast.

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This week we return to our traditional two-interview format for a special edition featuring an interview with a sitting United States Member of Congress.

Kris Fortin interviews Representative Judy Chu about the San Gabriel Mountains Foothills and Rivers Protection Act (HR 2215). Chu's legislation would add over fifty one thousand acres of protected forest land to the federally protected land surrounding the San Gabriel Mountains.

In our second interview, Damien talks with Melanie Curry, the editor of Streetsblog California, about four pieces of legislation that need to be voted on in the next week in Sacramento before moving to the governor's desk. That list includes legislation that would finally put an end to any hope that the 710 freeway could be extended north and that would require Caltrans to add more complete streets elements when repaving or working on state highways inside of cities.

To get in touch with your legislator about any of these bills in Sacramento, visit CalBike or Active SGV.

SGV Connect is supported by Foothill Transit, offering car-free travel throughout the San Gabriel Valley with connections to the new Gold Line Stations across the Foothills and Commuter Express lines traveling into the heart of downtown L.A. To plan your trip, visit Foothill Transit. “Foothill Transit. Going Good Places.”

Catch past episodes of SGV Connect and #DamienTalks on LibSyn, iTunes, Google Play, or Overcast.

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We're trying something new this week, both by hosting two podcasts in the same week and by conducting our first interview. This episode both Damien Newton and Kris Fortin interview David Diaz, the director of the Streetsie Award-Winning Supergroup, Active SGV.

We cover a lot of ground in this one, so if you're looking for more information, check out these links to both past episodes of SGV Connect and links to Active SGV's website:

• Updates for "Streets and Treats" at the 626 Golden Streets website. A list of outreach events, including one tonight, can be found below the podcast.
• Past efforts to preserve open space in the San Gabriel Mountains with Representative Judy Chu.
• Active SGV's legislative agenda in Sacramento
• Bike Friendly Businesses (SGV Connect 24) and an update from Active SGV.

A quick programming note, we promised an update on Foothill Transit in our "next episode" earlier this week. That interview is still coming, but since we spoke so much about tonight's meeting, we wanted to get this one live as quickly as possible. Look for that interview and much more in September.

SGV Connect is supported by Foothill Transit, offering car-free travel throughout the San Gabriel Valley with connections to the new Gold Line Stations across the Foothills and Commuter Express lines traveling into the heart of downtown L.A. To plan your trip, visit Foothill Transit. “Foothill Transit. Going Good Places.”

Catch past episodes of SGV Connect and #DamienTalks on LibSyn, iTunes, Google Play, or Overcast.

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This week's SGV Connect features big updates on the Gold Line Foothill Extension for the Glendora to to Montclair extension. With new funding in-hand and a contract signed with a construction firm, the Gold Line Foothill Construction Authority estimates the line could be open in 2026. Damien talks with Construction Authority CEO Habib Balian about the Authority's big month and where they go from here.

Earlier this month, the Alhambra City Council approved a new general plan for the city after a five-year outreach process. Kris talks with planning commissioner Andrea Lofthouse Quesada about the process to create the plan and some of the highlights.

We'll be back in September with a special podcast focused on Foothill Transit. Talk to you then.

SGV Connect is supported by Foothill Transit, offering car-free travel throughout the San Gabriel Valley with connections to the new Gold Line Stations across the Foothills and Commuter Express lines traveling into the heart of downtown L.A. To plan your trip, visit Foothill Transit. “Foothill Transit. Going Good Places.”

Catch past episodes of SGV Connect and #DamienTalks on LibSyn, iTunes, Google Play, or Overcast.

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This week, SGV Connect looks at two issues impacting rideshare in the San Gabriel Valley.

First, Kris Fortin interviews Mike Long, spokesperson for Mobile Workers Alliance, the umbrella group started by SEIU 721 to organize rideshare workers. Stories of Uber and Lyft drivers striking and demanding better wages have been a hot story locally and nationally. Fortin and Long dive into local efforts to improve the salaries and lives for rideshare workers.

Next, Damien Newton speaks with Maria Sullivan, the point person for Metro's contract with Via, a private rideshare partner. This Spring, Metro launched a pilot program where Via would operate around three areas including 13 bus and rail stations. To further its efforts to reach riders, the subsidized program is now completely free to transit riders who either begin or end their trip at one of the transit stations. More information on the program and the thirteen stations served, can be found here.

SGV Connect is supported by Foothill Transit, offering car-free travel throughout the San Gabriel Valley with connections to the new Gold Line Stations across the Foothills and Commuter Express lines traveling into the heart of downtown L.A. To plan your trip, visit Foothill Transit. “Foothill Transit. Going Good Places.”

Catch past episodes of SGV Connect and #DamienTalks on LibSyn, iTunes, Google Play, or Overcast.

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One of the hottest transportation debates in the West San Gabriel Valley is the debate over the route for the proposed Bus Rapid Transit system between North Hollywood and Pasadena.

If you are not familiar with the project or controversy, our podcast begins with an interview with Joe Linton, the editor of Streetsblog Los Angeles who gives an overview of the project and the recent controversies.

Next, Kris Fortin interviews Eagle Rock resident Michael McDonald. McDonald, best known for his advocacy as one of the leaders of Bike the Vote, attended one of the meetings and was shocked by the tone of the comments and out-of control nature of the public process. The meetings were so out-of-hand that Metro has vowed a different process for public input going forward.

Metro will host one additional NoHo-Pasadena BRT scoping meeting from 5:30-8 p.m. at Occidental College’s Samuelson Pavilion, in Eagle Rock. For details see Equitable Eagle Rock or Metro project page.

"Metro is keenly aware of the issues that arose at the prior meeting in Eagle Rock and will be using a different, open-house-style format at the upcoming Aug.7 meeting at Samuelson Pavilion at Occidental College that will still allow the public to provide comments in writing or verbally to a court reporter for the scoping process," writes Brian Haas, a spokesperson for Metro.

SGV Connect is supported by Foothill Transit, offering car-free travel throughout the San Gabriel Valley with connections to the new Gold Line Stations across the Foothills and Commuter Express lines traveling into the heart of downtown L.A. To plan your trip, visit Foothill Transit. “Foothill Transit. Going Good Places.”

Catch past episodes of SGV Connect and #DamienTalks on LibSyn, iTunes, Google Play, or Overcast.

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Welcome to this week's SGV Connect. It's a long one, so grab a cup of iced tea, sit back and relax.

First, Damien talks with Dr. Philip Fine with the South Coast Air Quality Management District (AQMD). While we have discussed different efforts to improve air quality through regulating the freight industry, a recent story in the Press-Enterprise caught Damien's eye, "AQMD to tackle pollution from warehouses, rail yards, ports and airports, not everyone is happy."

The article discusses efforts to regulate "indirect sources" of air pollutants, i.e. the warehouses and ports instead of just the trucks. AQMD is holding hearings on the plan we discuss and that is outlined in the story. To learn about upcoming public meetings, head to the AQMD website and search for "indirect sources." Streetsblog will also post meeting information in our events preview as news becomes available.

In our second interview, Kris Fortin interviews Carolina Hernandez, Principal Engineer with LA County Public Works about the Puente Creek Bikeway and Greenway Project. The county held a public outreach meeting last week about the project, and Fortin tells us the county is planning more greenways throughout the San Gabriel Valley.

SGV Connect is supported by Foothill Transit, offering car-free travel throughout the San Gabriel Valley with connections to the new Gold Line Stations across the Foothills and Commuter Express lines traveling into the heart of downtown L.A. To plan your trip, visit Foothill Transit. “Foothill Transit. Going Good Places.”

Catch past episodes of SGV Connect and #DamienTalks on LibSyn, iTunes, Google Play, or Overcast.

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Welcome back to #SGV Connect. This week, I talk to Councilmember Muir Davis of La Verne about bicycle projects moving from the drawing board to contract. In a few short months, bike projects that have been on the books since I talked to La Verne advocate Doug Strange for #SGVConnect10 are close to becoming reality.

But first, Kris interviews Katie Lemmon, Senior Transportation Manager at Metro and Jacob Libe, Senior Director of First/Last Mile Planning at Metro. The team is working hard to have projects on the ground to allow people to access the future Gold Line Foothill Stations as they open in future years.

During my interview with Councilmember Davis, he mentions that people interested in getting involved with bike planning visit the La Verne Bicycle Coalition homepage for meeting updates and advocacy opportunities. At the time of broadcasting this podcast, that page is full of information about the first/last mile planning for a future La Verne Station.

As a special bonus to listeners, if you make it all the way to the end of the second interview you can hear me repeat the same story about running into Jose Huizar the days before the Gold Line Eastside Extension opened that I tell in the start of the podcast.

SGV Connect is supported by Foothill Transit, offering car-free travel throughout the San Gabriel Valley with connections to the new Gold Line Stations across the Foothills and Commuter Express lines traveling into the heart of downtown L.A. To plan your trip, visit Foothill Transit. “Foothill Transit. Going Good Places.”

Catch past episodes of SGV Connect and #DamienTalks on LibSyn, iTunes, Google Play, or Overcast.

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Even if you're one of our listeners from outside of the San Gabriel Valley, you doubtless know that this Sunday is the 626. The mammoth car-free party will feature 8 cities, two missions, one Sasquatch and over 20,000 participants. Read more about the 626 at the official website.

And who better to help us preview the event than Wes Reutimann, the special projects director for Active SGV? Wes talks to Kris Fortin about the plans for this Sunday and the history of San Gabriel Valley's world famous open streets party.

Because of our recording schedule, we decided to split our podcast in two so we could get this interview online as fast as possible. We'll be back tomorrow with a special edition of SGV Connect highlighting one of the special projects that we'll be able to experience at the 626.

#SGV Connect is supported by Foothill Transit, offering car-free travel throughout the San Gabriel Valley with connections to the new Gold Line Stations across the Foothills and Commuter Express lines traveling into the heart of downtown L.A. To plan your trip, visit Foothill Transit. “Foothill Transit. Going Good Places.”

Catch past episodes of SGV Connect and #DamienTalks on LibSyn,iTunes, Google Play, or Overcast.

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Before we get in to this week's episode, let me remind you that this Thursday is Streetsblog L.A.'s annual awards dinner. We'll be honoring Active SGV, Asm. Laura Friedman and some others. To get tickets or for more information, click here.

Leading off the podcast, Kris speaks with Blair Miller with the Pasadena Complete Streets Coalition to get an update on the proposed protected bike lane for Union Street in Pasadena. Unlike the road diet that was scrapped for Orange Grove earlier this year, there has not been nearly the level of opposition for this project. Conversely, Miller and Fortin report that more advocates for safe streets were galvanized by the NIMBY Bikelash last year.

Second, Damien talks with Androush Danielians,Executive Officer of Project Engineering at L.A. Metro about the I-210 Barrier Project. For those new to this discussion, ever since the opening of the Gold Line Foothill Extension, people have been crashing their cars into the train tracks where it runs parallel to the I-210. At the April Metro Board Meeting, the Board voted to move forward with a project to create barriers between the freeway and Metro property. For more coverage of this issue from Streetsblog, click here.

#SGV Connect is supported by Foothill Transit, offering car-free travel throughout the San Gabriel Valley with connections to the new Gold Line Stations across the Foothills and Commuter Express lines traveling into the heart of downtown L.A. To plan your trip, visit Foothill Transit. “Foothill Transit. Going Good Places.”

Catch past episodes of SGV Connect and #DamienTalks on LibSyn,iTunes, Google Play, or Overcast.

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Tonight is the big Spring Fundraiser for Active SGV! "Everyday is Earth Day" party will be tonight at the Grace T. Black Auditorium, 3130 Tyler Avenue in El Monte. In addition to the usual revelry, Active SGV will be unveiling their new logo. To buy tickets, or get more information about the event, click here.

With their event tonight, and the Streetsblog Los Angeles fundraiser under a month away, it seemed like the perfect time to check in with David Diaz, the executive director of Active SGV. We talk about more than just events, as he gives us a rundown of what Active SGV is working on and what are some of the major things happening throughout the San Gabriel Valley.

Speaking of events, our annual fundraiser is on May 9th, and will honor Active SGV for all that they've done over the last several years. The event will be at the El Paseo Inn, across the street from Union Station in Downtown Los Angeles. For more information or to buy tickets, click here.

10 days later will be the next SGV Golden Streets event. "Mission-to-Mission" will span South Pasadena, Alhambra and San Gabriel with another large open streets event. For more information on that event, visit the official website here.

#SGV Connect is supported by Foothill Transit, offering car-free travel throughout the San Gabriel Valley with connections to the new Gold Line Stations across the Foothills and Commuter Express lines traveling into the heart of downtown L.A. To plan your trip, visit Foothill Transit. “Foothill Transit. Going Good Places.”

Catch past episodes of SGV Connect and #DamienTalks on LibSyn, iTunes, Google Play, or Overcast.

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The San Gabriel Valley is becoming a hotbed for innovative transportation solutions. This week, Damien and Kris talk with two leaders who are bringing the transportation revolution to their cities.

First, Damien talks with Oliver Chi, the City Manager for the City of Monrovia. In March of 2018, Monrovia launched the Go Monrovia program to change the way the city did transit. Instead of a dial-a-ride service, Monrovia partnered with Lyft to offer reduced rides. The program proved more successful than expected, and Chi offers updates on how the city is tinkering with the program to make it more cost effective and sustainable. You can read more about Go Monrovia, here.

Next, Kris talks to Kristen Peterson with the City of Duarte. Duarte recently converted its entire bus fleet to electric. Duarte is the first city in the Southland to make this switch. The city made the leap from a diesel fleet straight to an electric one. The San Gabriel Valley Tribune covered the switch in an article on Tuesday.

#SGV Connect is supported by Foothill Transit, offering car-free travel throughout the San Gabriel Valley with connections to the new Gold Line Stations across the Foothills and Commuter Express lines traveling into the heart of downtown L.A. To plan your trip, visit Foothill Transit. “Foothill Transit. Going Good Places.”

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Last month, shared-use mobility company Gotcha announced a partnership with the San Gabriel Valley Council of Governments to bring a regional, 1,000-bike, bike share system to a dozen cities. The bikes will be rolled out this summer.

This week, Damien talks to Sean Flood, the CEO of Gotcha. The discussion covers how this contract came to be, a timetable for the rollout and how users will access the system through smart phone apps and a card system similar to TAP.

Recently, Flood completed a trip on Gotcha's new electronic tricycles from the home office in Charleston, S.C. to Austin, Texas for South by Southwest as part of their rollout for the new product. You can watch a short video on the trip, by clicking here.

But first, Damien and Kris discuss an article that appeared in the Pasadena-Star News earlier this week that both Pasadena and Alhambra are working to acquire the unconnected "710 stubs" of freeway that are inside their city borders. Currently, the stubs are still owned by Caltrans, but if the cities get control they could implement more creative and beneficial use for the land than underutilized asphalt.

During our conversation, we reference a story Kris wrote for Streetsblog in 2013 about a block party that doubled as a rally for freeway expansion. If you're interested in reading this classic-Streetsblog piece, you can find it here.

#SGV Connect is supported by Foothill Transit, offering car-free travel throughout the San Gabriel Valley with connections to the new Gold Line Stations across the Foothills and Commuter Express lines traveling into the heart of downtown L.A. To plan your trip, visit Foothill Transit. “Foothill Transit. Going Good Places.”

Catch past episodes of SGV Connect and #DamienTalks on LibSyn, iTunes, Google Play, or Overcast.

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Have you ever seen a general plan process include collecting community stories? That’s what A People’s Map of East San Gabriel Valley is doing, and in this week’s SGV Connect we talked with the creative team behind this ongoing project.

A People’s Map project a part of LA County’s Department of Regional Planning effort to update the County General Plan. Because the region is so large they’re breaking up the process into parts by doing Area Plans to better focus on and identify an areas specific needs and character. The first area plan is being done in East San Gabriel Valley, which is loosely defined as the areas east of the 605, North of Orange County, West of San Bernardino County and south of the Antelope Valley. It includes 21 unincorporated places like Rowland Heights, North Pomona and Walnut Islands.

Fonografia Collective, a documentary and journalism storytelling team of Ruxandra Guidi and Bear Guerra, have done similar place-based storytelling projects around LA (Going Grey in LA; South of Fletcher: Stories from the Bowtie). While A People’s Map is more of a community engagement tool – the regional planning department is doing its own outreach and information gathering activities – the project is complimenting the work by giving the residents a space to be a part of defining what’s important in their community, said Guerra.

“By giving them the space to share that personal story. . . by giving people the place to talk about the things that they value, the things that really matter to them about the place that they call home or the place that they spend a lot of time, in a way that wouldn’t come out in a typical planning meeting,” Guerra said.

Fonografia collective will be collecting stories from 2 p.m. – 4 p.m. March 16th at the Homestead Museum (15415 E. Don Julian Road, City of Industry, 91745).

#SGV Connect is supported by Foothill Transit, offering car-free travel throughout the San Gabriel Valley with connections to the new Gold Line Stations across the Foothills and Commuter Express lines traveling into the heart of downtown L.A. To plan your trip, visit Foothill Transit. “Foothill Transit. Going Good Places.”

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Scott Chan returns to the SGV Connect this week for a conversation with Kris Fortin about the Alhambra Community Plan. Scott talks with Kris Fortin about how the plan has initially looked like they had very little outreach that was done and how the bike plan that's included was more sharrows then much else. Staff will present again at next Monday's planning commission meeting to give a response to the commissioners' comments.

This week's SGV Connect also features a talk with Joshua Schank, the Chief Innovation Officer at Metro and Daniel Ramot, CEO and co-founder of Via. Earlier this week, metro and Via announced a new yearlong pilot project to offer shared, on-demand rides to and from three Metro Stations including the El Monte bus station. For information on how to sign up for this program, click here.

#SGV Connect is supported by Foothill Transit, offering car-free travel throughout the San Gabriel Valley with connections to the new Gold Line Stations across the Foothills and Commuter Express lines traveling into the heart of downtown L.A. To plan your trip, visit Foothill Transit. “Foothill Transit. Going Good Places.”

Catch past episodes of SGV Connect and #DamienTalks on LibSyn, iTunes, Google Play, or Overcast.

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In this week's episode, Damien and Kris kick off the new(ish) year by talking about the best ways to get involved and an update on plans for the Gold Line Foothill Extension's next phase.

First, Damien talks with Dorothy Wong, a long-time bike advocate who now serves as a Council Member in Altadena. Wong has been active with groups locally (such as C.I.C.L.E.) and statewide (she served as a board member for Calbike). In this interview, she discusses how advocacy prepared her for her campaign and her position and urges people to get and stay involved in local government.

In our second interview Kris talks to Joe Linton who catches us up on the status of the Gold Line Foothill Extension. A lot's been happening since the Construction Authority changed plans at the end of last year, but Metro gave the Authority's plans a thumbs up at their Board Meeting last week.

#SGV Connect is supported by Foothill Transit, offering car-free travel throughout the San Gabriel Valley with connections to the new Gold Line Stations across the Foothills and Commuter Express lines traveling into the heart of downtown L.A. To plan your trip, visit Foothill Transit. “Foothill Transit. Going Good Places.”

Catch past episodes of SGV Connect and #DamienTalks on LibSyn, iTunes, Google Play, or Overcast.

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Welcome to the last episode of SGV Connect for 2018. Today, Kris Fortin and Damien Newton talk with Joe Linton and Melanie Curry. The two Streetsblog editors join us to discuss some of the big stories from 2018 and what we're looking forward to in 2019. 

Gas taxes debates, Proposition 6 and Keep Pasadena Moving are in our rear-view helmet mirror and the 626, the last chance to halt climate change and, well, Keep Pasadena Moving are on the road ahead.

#SGV Connect is supported by Foothill Transit, offering car-free travel throughout the San Gabriel Valley with connections to the new Gold Line Stations across the Foothills and Commuter Express lines traveling into the heart of downtown L.A. To plan your trip, visit Foothill Transit. “Foothill Transit. Going Good Places.”

Catch past episodes of SGV Connect and #DamienTalks on LibSyn, iTunes, Google Play, or Overcast.

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Welcome to the penultimate episode of SGV Connect for 2019. Today, we look at the road projects funded by Metro replacing the shelved 710 tunnel project and welcome new Bike SGV Executive Director David Diaz. Diaz, who was already something of a regular on SGV Connect, will be guiding the organization as it widens its umbrella under a new brand "Active SGV" in the New Year.

For the discussion on Metro's road follies in the east San Gabriel Valley we interview Bryn Lindblad, the Deputy Director at Climate Resolve and a member of Metro's Sustainability Committee. As one might expect, Lindblad is not happy with a project list that encourages more driving, even if it is better than digging a giant freeway tunnel.

As mentioned above, we have one more episode left before the New Year, but we appreciate everything listen, comment, like and retweet. If you're not with us next week, we wanted to wish you all a happy new year.

#SGV Connect is supported by Foothill Transit, offering car-free travel throughout the San Gabriel Valley with connections to the new Gold Line Stations across the Foothills and Commuter Express lines traveling into the heart of downtown L.A. To plan your trip, visit Foothill Transit. “Foothill Transit. Going Good Places.”

Catch past episodes of SGV Connect and #DamienTalks on LibSyn, iTunes, Google Play, or Overcast.

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This week's SGV Connect features an update on construction plans for Phase II of the Gold Line Foothill Extension and a discussion of two recent reports on Global Warming.

First, Kris Fortin interviews Habib Balian, the executive director of the Gold Line Foothill Construction Authority. Recently, the Authority has been in the news because of changes to their construction plans and schedules. You can read more about the changes at the Inland Valley Bulletin or Bloomberg News.

Then Damien Newton interviews Streetsblog California editor Melanie Curry. Last week, Curry wrote about a state report that illustrates how California is failing to meet its own Greenhouse Gas emission goals. The primary culprit? Too much driving. Newton and Curry discuss the state of climate advocacy in California and what individual choices everyone can make to help reduce the impacts of the global climate crisis.

SGV Connect is supported by Foothill Transit, offering car-free travel throughout the San Gabriel Valley with connections to the new Gold Line Stations across the Foothills and Commuter Express lines traveling into the heart of downtown L.A. To plan your trip, visit Foothill Transit. “Foothill Transit. Going Good Places.”

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Wow. November went by quickly.

Welcome to another episode of SGV Connect. This week we're looking at both new bike infrastructure on the way in Arcadia and recapping some local changes in Alhambra's City Council that could lead to some progressive change.

First, Kris interviews Phil Wray, the Deputy  Development Services Director / City Engineer for the City of Arcadia. The City of Arcadia is working on a grant funded, citywide Bicycle Facility Improvements project which includes bike lanes, routes, bicycle friendly intersections, and bike racks throughout the City. The bulk of the nearly $1.5 million project is coming from the state's Active Transportation Program, with about a third coming from Metro and a local match.

Then, Damien talks to Ron Sahu, an environmental engineer tht has been a key part of the movement to open up the City of Alhambra's government to make it more transparent and responsive. The group was able to win two of the three City Council elections because of its grassroots efforts.

SGV Connect is supported by Foothill Transit, offering car-free travel throughout the San Gabriel Valley with connections to the new Gold Line Stations across the Foothills and Commuter Express lines traveling into the heart of downtown L.A. To plan your trip, visitFoothill Transit. “Foothill Transit. Going Good Places.”

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If you haven't voted yet, be sure to check out this week's edition of SGV Connect. Our usual co-hosts, Damien and Kris, are joined by Joe Linton and Estuardo Mazariegos to discuss Measure W and ballot Propositions 6 and 10.

Proposition 6 would repeal a portion of the gas tax passed a couple of years ago. The tax mostly funds repairs to the state's transportation infrastructure, with a portion going to transit operations as well. Streetsblog LA urges voters to oppose the proposition and support transportation funding.

Measure W is a parcel tax that would raise $300 million for projects to detain and clean runoff water; projects would emphasize green, nature-based, multi-benefit projects. Full disclosure, Streetsblog LA is urging voters to Vote Yes on W.

Proposition 10 revokes the "Costa Hawkins" Act which restricts municipalities' ability to impose rent control regulations. Streetsblog has no official position on this, although as you can tell from the interview, much of our staff support the proposition.

If you didn't apply for a "vote by mail" ballot, Kris discusses some of the ways that agencies and businesses are providing free trips on election day, from ride-share companies to L.A. Metro.

SGV Connect is supported by Foothill Transit, offering car-free travel throughout the San Gabriel Valley with connections to the new Gold Line Stations across the Foothills and Commuter Express lines traveling into the heart of downtown L.A. To plan your trip, visit Foothill Transit. “Foothill Transit. Going Good Places.”

Foothill Transit is not responsible, nor were they consulted, for the content of this podcast.

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This week's SGV Connect features and interview by Kris Fortin of Bike SGV director Wes Reutimann. The two discuss the progress the San Gabriel Valley Council of Governments have made implementing their plan for a series of connected Greenways, a sort of "bicycle freeway system" in the SGV. A couple of years back, I talked with the executive director of the COG, but now some of the projects are moving from paper to reality.

Then, Damien talks with Misch Anderson of the Pasadena Complete Streets Coalition (PCSC). PCSC has compiled a calendar of walking events to celebrate Walktober 2018 featuring partnerships with the Jaycees, the City of Pasadena, local schools and more. We talk about some of the highlights of the week, including a rare walking tour of the Glenarm Power Plant.

SGV Connect will be back in a couple of weeks with an election preview. Until then, you can send any thoughts, concerns or questions to me at damien@streetsblog.org.

SGV Connect is supported by Foothill Transit, offering car-free travel throughout the San Gabriel Valley with connections to the new Gold Line Stations across the Foothills and Commuter Express lines traveling into the heart of downtown L.A. To plan your trip, visitFoothill Transit. “Foothill Transit. Going Good Places.”

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Welcome back to SGV Connect.

In this episode, we discuss some of the proposals for the North Hollywood to Pasadena transit corridor, a sixteen mile proposed bus rapid transit connector. Metro is beginning outreach to solicit feedback before the design process kicks off for this important connection between the SFV and the SGV. Click here for information on next week's meetings in Glendale (Oct. 1) and Pasadena (Oct. 3)

After that, we discuss Proposition 10 with Estuardo Mazariegos, a community activist who is part of the team working to make housing more affordable and plentiful in California. Mazariegos explains why he's been working to support Prop. 10, on the ballot in next month's state elections. For more on Proposition 10, visit the official Yes on 10 and No on 10 websites.

We're also trying to make our podcast a little more interesting to people who might not be interested in whatever topics we have for our interviews for a given podcast. Be sure to check download for a brief review of this week's CicLAvia in Downtown Los Angeles with a reminder about impacts on Foothill Transit service. Kris also previews an upcoming story on the end of the Metro Bikes bikeshare program in Pasadena.

SGV Connect is supported by Foothill Transit, offering car-free travel throughout the San Gabriel Valley with connections to the new Gold Line Stations across the Foothills and Commuter Express lines traveling into the heart of downtown L.A. To plan your trip, visit Foothill Transit. “Foothill Transit. Going Good Places.”

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Welcome to a special podcast from Streetsblog California. Former SBLA and SBCAL editor Damien Newton interviews Elise Roy. Roy will be the opening speaker at this year's PEDS COUNT 2018 summit by California Walks.

Roy is the founder of a consulting firm by the same name that specializes in helping designers understand how people with disabilities and other excluded communities experience the world. This process leads to better design of streets, better design of buildings buildings and, well, better design of everything else.

PEDS COUNT is the fifth summit programmed by California Walks and attracts advocates, academics and civil servants to two day event that is part conference and part call to action. This year's summit will be in San Jose on October 18-19. If you want more information, or to register, please visit the summit website at the California Walks homepage.

If you'd like to hear more about Elise Roy, she's also been featured on a TED Talk, that you can watch by clicking here.

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This Sunday, from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. Pride of the Valley Open Streets presented by Metro Los Angeles will open up 5 miles of streets for the public to enjoy on foot, skate, bike, or other mode of active transportation inBaldwin Park and Irwindale. The open streets party will link Morgan Park to the Santa Fe Dam Recreational Area, and will feature a range of activities including live music, arts activations, and family-friendly games.

This week, Kris Fortin talks to Vanessa Carbajal, the Program Coordinator at City of Baldwin Park. Carbajal goes into the challenges of planning a multi-jurisdictional open streets event and previews the attractions and programs that will make Pride of the Valley a memorable Sunday.

SGV Connect is supported by Foothill Transit, offering car-free travel throughout the San Gabriel Valley with connections to the new Gold Line Stations across the Foothills and Commuter Express lines traveling into the heart of downtown L.A. To plan your trip, visitFoothill Transit. “Foothill Transit. Going Good Places.”

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In Monterey Park, the city council narrowly passed a plan to improve bicycle and pedestrian access throughout the city. In this week's SGV Connect, Kris Fortin talks to Henry Low about the state of play for bicycle advocacy in the city and its next steps. Low, a member of the Monterey Park Unified School District Board, also discusses what role schools can take in creating healthier communities with improved access to public space. Later, Damien Newton talks to Streetsblog California editor Melanie Curry about the ballot proposition that would repeal a recently enacted state gas tax. The funds raised would be used to repair roads and highways as well as improve transit throughout the state. However, the tax has become a political football, and Republicans are hoping to use it to score some electoral wins in November. Coming Next Month: a preview of Pride of the Valley Open Streets event. SGV Connect is supported by Foothill Transit, offering car-free travel throughout the San Gabriel Valley with connections to the new Gold Line Stations across the Foothills and Commuter Express lines traveling into the heart of downtown L.A. To plan your trip, visit Foothill Transit. “Foothill Transit. Going Good Places.” Catch past episodes of SGV Connect and #DamienTalks on LibSyn, iTunes, Google Play, or Overcast.

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Welcome back to SGV Connect. In today's episode, our co-hosts conduct two interviews on the expansion of the Foothill Transit bus fleet and the arrival of open space funds in L.A. County.   First, Kris Fortin follows up on the news (LAT, SGV Tribune) that Foothill Transit is adding double-decker buses to their commuter fleet. Foothill Transit continues to diversify its fleet and is on track to meet their goal of having an entirely electric e-bus fleet by 2030.   Then Damien Newton talk with Scott Chan, a community activist and director with the Asian Pacific Islander Forward Movement about Measure A, passed by voters in 2016 to bring more funding for open space to L.A. County communities. The money raised by the tax is beginning to flow to communities, and Chan tells us how you can get involved in making sure those funds are spent properly.   SGV Connect is supported by Foothill Transit, offering car-free travel throughout the San Gabriel Valley with connections to the new Gold Line Stations across the Foothills and Commuter Express lines traveling into the heart of downtown L.A. To plan your trip, visitFoothill Transit. “Foothill Transit. Going Good Places.”

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This week, SGV Connect looks at Bike SGV's Bike Friendly Business Program with a two-part interview.

First, we talk with Danielle Zamora, outreach coordinator for Bike SGV, who oversees the Bike Friendly Business program. Zamora outlines how business corridors are selected for this program, how outreach is done to businesses, what must be done by a business to qualify, and what the benefits of joining the program are.

Then we interview Michelle Hammond, the owner of The Munch Company (Instagram, Facebook) in South Pasadena. The Munch Company is a gourmet sandwich shop with vegan and vegetarian options. The Munch Company was an early member of the Bike Friendly Business Program, and Bike SGV promoted a ride to their shop last week.

A programming note, this is the last podcast I'll be doing solo. We did a couple of joint podcasts with Kris before he went on vacation and I followed in June. Now we're back at full strength and looking forward to the second half of the year.

SGV Connect is supported by Foothill Transit, offering car-free travel throughout the San Gabriel Valley with connections to the new Gold Line Stations across the Foothills and Commuter Express lines traveling into the heart of downtown L.A. To plan your trip, visit Foothill Transit. “Foothill Transit. Going Good Places.”

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With Kris Fortin still touring Japan, last week Damien spoke with Lisa Grater, the Transportation and Parking manager for the City of La Verne. The University of La Verne is a “Silver” level bike-friendly campus for its efforts to support student and staff bicyclists with traditional and some out-of-the-box thinking.

One program that has enjoyed success is the campus’ bike library program. Students can check out bicycles from the university’s transportation department for short-term borrowing at no cost. The library program, which now has nearly two dozen bicycles, has grown at the same time that the campus launched a bike share program. Different systems for different user needs, Grater explains.

Grater also credits the relationship between the University and the City of La Verne for the campus’ success creating a bike-friendly atmosphere. For example, the two worked together on creating and manning ‘pit stops’ on Bike to Work Day earlier this month and city officials and Councilmembers visited the one on La Verne’s campus.

SGV Connect is supported by Foothill Transit, offering car-free travel throughout the San Gabriel Valley with connections to the new Gold Line Stations across the Foothills and Commuter Express lines traveling into the heart of downtown L.A. To plan your trip, visit Foothill Transit. “Foothill Transit. Going Good Places.”

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o you have strong feelings about the re-opening of the Walnut Creek Wash bike and pedestrian trail? Are you concerned about providing safe passage to school for West Covina’s children?

Tonight, the West Covina City Council will meet to discuss the city’s proposed active transportation plan. At a meeting earlier this month, the Council voted to postpone the discussion and vote on the plan after public comment tilted against the plan’s road diet proposals and concern about safety along a currently-closed bike trail along the Walnut Creek Wash. For coverage of that meeting, read this story in the San Gabriel Valley Tribune.

SGV Connect talks to long-time resident and public health expert Claudia Goytia. Goytia assures that the Council is not anti-bike and has a history of doing long deliberations before approving or opposing staff recommendations. However, she believes that the Council should hear from residents and other stakeholders who support improving the city’s transportation infrastructure. You can email the city manager at Chris.Freeland@westcovina.org.

If you want to attend and testify, the meeting will be tonight at 7:00 p.m. at the West Covina City Council Chambers, 1444 W. Garvey Avenue. You can read the full agenda for the meeting, here.

SGV Connect is supported by Foothill Transit, offering car-free travel throughout the San Gabriel Valley with connections to the new Gold Line Stations across the Foothills and Commuter Express lines traveling into the heart of downtown L.A. To plan your trip, visit Foothill Transit. “Foothill Transit. Going Good Places.”

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This week on SGV Connect, we go back to Pasadena to check-in with Greg Gunther. A lot has happened since we last talked, just a couple of weeks ago as anti-road diet forces rallying behind the banner of Keep Pasadena Moving stormed a community meeting on a proposed road diet for Orange Grove Boulevard.

Gunther explains how the Union Street Protected Bike Lane Project is different than the propose Orange Grove Blvd. project. Gunther also urges everyone to attend next Wednesday's meeting from 6:30 to 8:30 at Pasadena Presbyterian Church. For more information, visit the city's website, or listen to our podcast.

In addition to the road diets and protected bike lane stories, we also discuss Metro's bike share system in Pasadena. Metro is considering moving some of the Metro Bike stations in Pasadena to be more effective and is looking for community feedback. You can answer their online survey, by clicking here.

SGV Connect is supported by Foothill Transit, offering car-free travel throughout the San Gabriel Valley with connections to the new Gold Line Stations across the Foothills and Commuter Express lines traveling into the heart of downtown L.A. To plan your trip, visit Foothill Transit. “Foothill Transit. Going Good Places.”

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As we inch closer to "Bike Month," Bike SGV has some fun ways you can connect with local advocates in a laid back and educational format. Throughout May, Bike SGV will be hosting a series of fun events such as the Bike-In Movie Night (May 3) and the Birds and Bikes of SGV Ride (May 12).

But before one can join a group ride, they have to know how to actually ride a bike. Kris Fortin and Andrew Yip discuss the newBicycle Education Safety Training (BEST) classes being offered in conjunction with Metro. The classes run from basic classes for new cyclists to experienced bicyclists who just want a refresher. A list of all the classes being offered throughout LA County, including those by Bike SGV, can be found here.

We'll be back next week with a look at the politics surrounding road diets and progressive street design in Pasadena. Talk to you then.

SGV Connect is supported by Foothill Transit, offering car-free travel throughout the San Gabriel Valley with connections to the new Gold Line Stations across the Foothills and Commuter Express lines traveling into the heart of downtown L.A. To plan your trip, visit Foothill Transit. “Foothill Transit. Going Good Places.”

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I am very excited to introduce the new co-host of SGV Connect, Kris Fortin! If Kris' name seems familiar to you and you're not sure why, it's because he has a long history with Streetsblog as the former reporter for Boyle Heights on Streetsblog Los Angeles and the current reporter for Orange County for Streetsblog California. In between, he served as a reporter based in Santa Ana for the Orange County Register.

For those of you that don't know Kris, this is a great "get to know you" podcast that talks a little about his personal and his professional opinion. Now that you know what he looks like, and know he'll be at CicLAvia this Sunday. If you see him, say "hi."

If you want more Kris, you can find all his stories for Streetsblog here, his super-popular story on the Ovarian Psycos Bicycle Brigade here, and a profile on Kris that appeared on Bike SGV's Tumblr earlier this week here.

On a personal note, I think regular listeners to this podcast know the tragic reasons we're looking for a new co-host, and may have noticed our output dropped a little at the end of 2017 and the first quarter of 2018. When I heard Kris had moved back to Alhambra, I was excited to know I might have the chance to work with a co-host that I knew, trusted and liked. I love doing this podcast and love hearing from everyone that listens, but it's been hard these past six months and I'll never forget Brian. But I'm excited to start our next chapter, and I know that Kris and I will be able to build on the work that Brian and I started.

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This week, SGV Connect talks with Scott Chan, the program director for the Asian Pacific Islander Forward Movement, and a longtime advocate for safe streets in Alhambra.

Our conversation starts with discussing the state of bike planning in Alhambra, a city that commissioned but never approved a bike plan a decade ago. However, given the lack of strong planning in the document, Chan believes the city did the right thing. There's no time like the present for the city to consider changing course and creating and packing a new bike plan in the near future.

We also discuss the state of "710 corridor planning" for the city now that the 710 tunnel project in the San Gabriel Valley is likely never going to happen. However, the city has some funds, and access to more through regional specific grants, to improve mobility in the area. Some outside the box thinking could lead to big changes in a short time.

SGV Connect is supported by Foothill Transit, offering car-free travel throughout the San Gabriel Valley with connections to the new Gold Line Stations across the Foothills and Commuter Express lines traveling into the heart of downtown L.A. To plan your trip, visit Foothill Transit. “Foothill Transit. Going Good Places.”

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It's been a couple of years since we last checked in with Greg Gunther, a safe streets advocate in Pasadena. While progress on installing the Playhouse District parklets has stalled, Pasadena is moving forward on some other projects.

Most notably is the Orange Grove Boulevard Road Diet (official website, here) a plan to turn one of Pasadena's most historic streets into one that best serves the community instead of cut-through traffic looking for an alternative to the 210. The Pasadena Complete Streets Coalition is encouraging the city to approve a road diet plan for the street. You can get involved by emailing the City Council, by clicking here.

We also discussed a plan to improve the Rose Bowl Loop to improve conditions for all users. One of my first big stories was covering a wonderful car-free evening in the Rose Bowl loop in the pre-CicLAvia era. It was a wonderful night, and I've always wondered why more wasn't done to make the loop a more safe and attractive place to ride a bicycle or push a stroller.

SGV Connect is supported by Foothill Transit, offering car-free travel throughout the San Gabriel Valley with connections to the new Gold Line Stations across the Foothills and Commuter Express lines traveling into the heart of downtown L.A. To plan your trip, visit Foothill Transit. “Foothill Transit. Going Good Places.”

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Monterey Park is a hillside suburban city in the San Gabriel Valley, 7 miles east of Downtown Los Angeles. The city boasts a population of 60,269 people and will soon also be home to a protected bike lane for 1.6 miles on Monterey Park Pass as part of a complete street project. We talk about the project in the podcast, but if you want to read more about it, check out Joe Linton's coverage from January.

Today SGV Connect speaks with Thomas Wong, a resident and activist in Monterey Park who served on the city's environmental commission and currently sits on the Board of the San Gabriel Valley Municipal Water District. Our discussion covers the road diet, other bicycle and pedestrian planning, what the city might do with Metro funds from the 710 Corridor congestion alleviation plan, and the state of transit in the City of Monterey Park.

This episode marks the first in a series that we will be producing that takes a deeper look into the cities of the San Gabriel Valley. A second edition will be coming in early March.

SBLA San Gabriel Valley coverage is supported by Foothill Transit, offering car-free travel throughout the San Gabriel Valley with connections to the new Gold Line Stations across the Foothills and Commuter Express lines traveling into the heart of downtown L.A. To plan your trip, visit Foothill Transit. “Foothill Transit. Going Good Places.”

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In just about two hours, the Metro Board of Directors Parking Committee will meet to discuss a major update to the agency's parking policies. This policy, if passed in committee and the full Board of Directors next Thursday, would dictate how parking, both car and bicycle, would be allocated at future Gold Line Foothill Stations.

Today, we talk with Wes Reutimann about the need to increase bike parking at the future stations and some of the politics around parking policy. At most of the Foothill stations that opened in 2016, bike parking remains oversubscribed; leading Bike SGV and others to call for more parking at future stations.

The meeting begins today at 2 p.m. in Metro HQ in Downtown Los Angeles. We'll post an update after the meeting's over and details on next week's meeting.

#SGV Connect is supported by Foothill Transit, offering car-free travel throughout the San Gabriel Valley with connections to the new Gold Line Stations across the Foothills and Commuter Express lines traveling into the heart of downtown L.A. To plan your trip, visit Foothill Transit. “Foothill Transit. Going Good Places.”

Catch past episodes of SGV Connect and #DamienTalks on LibSyn, iTunes, Google Play, or Overcast.

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In today's Ask the Editor podcast, Streetsblog contributors Damien Newton, Melanie Curry, Jason Islas, and Kristopher Fortin talk about some of the main stories Streetsblog California covered in 2016.

But we didn't get very far, because there are so many stories to talk about. Streetsblog California covers statewide issues, which tend to be policy-focused and wonky, but we also cover local stories that reflect the influence of those policies on the ground. Right now we have Kris Fortin covering Orange County, and Minerva Perez reports on local issues in the Central Valley. We'd like to be able to cover local stories all over the state, to help local advocacy efforts learn from each other, but we are limited in our capacity, both in time and manpower. Womanpower. Peoplepower.

Which brings us to the reminder that these podcasts are also fundraisers. Please click here to donate to Streetsblog California to support unique coverage of the issues you care about.

Those issues include the gas tax bill, S.B. 1. In the podcast, we talk about how this long-overdue gas tax increase raises money for needed infrastructure maintenance. Over the last year we reported on how the bill got passed and what the final bill ended up including. We followed up with reporting on how state agencies in charge of transportation funding have been formulating guidelines to spend the money wisely and, we hope, not just on building new roads that will mean more needed maintenance in the future (and won't solve congestion). Here, we also touch on the effort to repeal the bill, which would be a giant step backwards.

See the S.B. 1 website, here, which is the state's first move towards advertising the benefits coming from the gas tax: “Your Tax Dollars At Work.”

We also talk about the Active Transportation Program, which got a shot in the arm from S.B. 1—doubling funding for the program over the next ten years—and which in turn is kind of a poster child for the state to show immediate results from S.B. 1. And that brings its own complications, including the possibility that not-so-great projects could get funding just because they do something for bikes or pedestrians, rather than create a true transformation in the way planning for active transportation happens.

As Melanie points out in the podcast, transformational change is a slow process, but in California, it is going in the right direction. Sometimes.

Finally, we attempt to answer one of the questions we got from readers in response to our previous podcasts. This question was related to S.B. 1. Getting Around Sac asked: how much of the state's road projects are paid for by state gas taxes? And the answer is: we don't know, and we're not sure anyone else has pinned down the answer. That's because the state's transportation funding system is complex beyond belief, even without the so-called gas tax swap that will eventually be repealed by S.B. 1.

Here's a link to some Caltrans charts that explain it in less than three hours.

But to the question: even with the new, higher taxes, state gas taxes probably don't cover a much larger portion of road charges than they did in 2015, when it was about 25 percent. In that year, more than half of all transportation spending was from local tax measures, many of which are sales taxes.

Which means, to answer an unstated but underlying question: no, roads are still not paid for mostly by gas taxes.

Here are some references for people who like to delve into the complexities of transportation funding. A Legislative Analyst Office report here describes S.B. 1 in some detail. And here's a report that takes apart the “user pays” myth of gas taxes.

And remember to donate to Streetsblog California so we can continue to study and write about these issues and future ones, statewide and local.

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Believe it or not, here at Streetsblog we prefer to cover good news. That doesn't mean we wear Rose Colored Glasses all the time. Rather, when something happens to improve our transportation networks or how people experience their community; we like to write about it.

Which is one reason that yesterday and today's podcasts are so much fun, because when it comes to transportation reform in the San Gabriel Valley there is a lot to celebrate.

Today, I talk with Wes Reutimann of Bike SGV and Joe Linton of Streetsblog Los Angeles. We talk a lot about the 626 and how awesome it was. But we also talk about road diets, protected bike lanes and e-buses. There's a lot of good things happening locally, and it's nice to take a moment and reflect on the some of the highlights of 2017.

#SGV Connect is supported by Foothill Transit, offering car-free travel throughout the San Gabriel Valley with connections to the new Gold Line Stations across the Foothills and Commuter Express lines traveling into the heart of downtown L.A. To plan your trip, visit Foothill Transit. “Foothill Transit. Going Good Places.”

Catch past episodes of SGV Connect and #DamienTalks on LibSyn, iTunes, Google Play, or Overcast.

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As the year begins to wind down, SGV Connect will broadcast twice this week to look back at some of the biggest stories in the San Gabriel Valley this year.

Today, we talk to Felicia Friesema with Foothill Transit and Albert Ho with the Gold Line Foothill Construction Authority.

For Foothill Transit, we discuss their recent fare and service changes as well as the march towards electrifying their bus fleet.

For the Construction Authority, we review the march to the groundbreaking of Phase II of the Gold Line Foothill Extension and review the timeline to bring Phase II online sometime in the not-so-distant future.

A little later this week we'll continue the conversation with Joe Linton, the editor of Streetsblog Los Angeles and Wes Reutimann with Bike SGV.

#SGV Connect is supported by Foothill Transit, offering car-free travel throughout the San Gabriel Valley with connections to the new Gold Line Stations across the Foothills and Commuter Express lines traveling into the heart of downtown L.A. To plan your trip, visit Foothill Transit. “Foothill Transit. Going Good Places.”

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Welcome to the third podcast in our end-of-year-fundraising series in which we address questions from you, our readers, about almost anything you want to know.

Today our editors Damien Newton, Jason Islas, Melanie Curry, and Kristopher Fortin answer a few ringers in some perhaps unexpected ways. Damien thinks we may have gone off the rails a bit, but it all comes together to make some sense in the end.

We addressed a question from Kathleen Ferrier, who asks:

(block quote) What are the top three strategies for countering inflammatory NIMBYism? What have you seen work?

Jason, who has had plenty of experience in his advocacy work with Santa Monica Next, thinks the first strategy is to get rid of labels. Our answers, in brief: pay attention, don't assume, and be human. While “Not In My Backyard” knee-jerk opposition to efforts to fix things is definitely a problem, it doesn't always stem from the reasons you might suspect, and you have to listen to find out what underlies people's objections to change.

Our second question is kind of related, in that it demands a human response. Jeff Tumlin asks:

Why don’t we talk more about the neuroscience of mobility? Like how being stuck in congestion triggers our fight-or-flight responses, shutting down the prefrontal cortex of the brain and reducing our ability to think through the consequences of our actions? Or why hopping on a bike can bring simple joy, and trigger the biological precursors of social trust?

Listen in to hear how we think this should play out—and to hear about what might or might not have been a response to last week's podcast about sidewalks.

And don't forget that we are asking for donations to keep Streetsblog California alive and well into the next year. Please support our work by clicking here and donating today.

Do you have a question you want us to talk about? Submit it in the comments below, or by email to melanie [at] streetsblog.org, or tweet them @streetsblogcal

Support journalism that covers the issues you want to know about. Streetsblog California reports on issues few media outlets cover, and we can't do it without you. Click here to donate today.

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Today, the editors at Streetsblog California bring you the second podcast in our “Ask the Editor” series, in which we attempt to answer readers' questions about whatever you want to ask.

This podcast series is part of our year-end fundraising effort to keep informing you, our readers, about local and statewide policymaking, funding, and laws affecting your transportation options. Please consider supporting our work by clicking here and donating today. Who else, we ask you, could bring you a podcast dedicated to: sidewalks?

That's right, today's podcast addresses several questions we received from readers about sidewalks, a crucial part of our transportation system that is frequently ignored and almost always under-appreciated. At some point, everybody is a pedestrian, and everyone is affected by the presence—or absence—as well as the condition of walkways wherever they're headed.

“Why don't sidewalks get all the love they deserve?” asked our friends at Los Angeles Walks. We agree that sidewalks are not given the attention we need them to have. How much love do they deserve? Plenty!

Reader Getting Around Sac also asked why California law makes property owners responsible for maintaining sidewalks, which are part of the public right of way. It's true that's what the law says—and also that it changes from place to place. Some cities split costs with homeowners; some use parcel taxes, or require new owners to make needed repairs at the time of purchase. Los Angeles, for one, has its own complicated relationship with sidewalk repair rules, and some there don't think Vision Zero safety efforts have anything to do with sidewalk repair needs.

We learned a little bit about the history of the sidewalk law—it was created during the Great Depression, when cities had no money to build or maintain anything. The question sent us off on a discussion of equity and liability, and then right back to our first question, because nobody seems to want to take responsibility for sidewalks.

Do you have a question you want us to talk about? Submit it in the comments below, or by email to melanie [at] streetsblog.org, or tweet them @streetsblogcal

Support journalism that covers the issues you want to know about. Streetsblog California reports on issues few media outlets cover, and we can't do it without you. Click here to donate today.

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Streetsblog Editors Tackle Your Questions

Welcome to the first podcast in our Ask the Editor series, in which the editors at Streetsblog California attempt to tackle your questions about almost anything you want to know. Today we discuss three of the questions we've received from our readers. Next week we will talk about more of them.

You can still submit questions either by emailing them to melanie@streetsblog.org or tweeting them @streetsblogcal

By the way, this is also a fundraiser. Yes, in this podcast we attempt to show how lovable we are, and how deserving of your support, because it's not enough that Streetsblog California brings you news about sustainable transportation that few other outlets report on. We also want you to know that we're kinda fun. And, it seems, a little bit wonky, if this podcast is anything to judge by.

Please consider supporting to our work to bring you information about local and statewide policymaking, funding, and laws affecting your transportation options by clicking here and donating today. [LINK]

You will hear Kris Fortin, our reporter in Orange County; Melanie Curry, editor of Streetsblog California and fearless explainer of wonky topics; Damien Newton, founding editor of Streetsblog LA and director of the Southern California Streets Initiative, which oversees all the Streetsblogs in California; and Jason Islas, Editor of Santa Monica Next and associate director of SCSI.

In this inaugural podcast, we tackle three questions from readers and supporters. We were hoping for softballs, but you, dear readers, sent in some doozies. Or maybe we just like to talk too much.

The first question was from our friend Pedal Love, who asks: “I believe that car crashes are the number one cause of preventable death in youth under 21—am I correct?”

Yes, it turns out to be so—for youth ages 15 to 24, the most common cause of preventable death, according to the Center for Disease Controls, is car crashes. And they are the fifth most common cause of preventable death for people age 0 to 14.

The question is, why? Does it go up at age fifteen because that is when people start navigating traffic on their own? Maybe it has to do with the dearth of driver education in California, or the ease with which even inexperienced drivers obtain drivers' licenses. There's a lot to unpack here.

The second question came from Marvin Norman, a regular reader and a member of the Streetsblog California steering committee. “When,” asks Norman, “will the VW Electrify America money start to show up in projects on the ground?”

Damien tells us that the $2 billion settlement agreement between VW, the federal government and several states—with California, whose regulators caught VW cheating diesel emissions tests, at the forefront—is already on the ground in other states, and “coming soon” to California. A timeline, here [PDF], shows electric charging stations being planned and built by the end of 2018, and an electric car-share program being developed for a 2019 launch.

On the ground:
https://electrek.co/2017/07/10/vw-ev-charging-network-electrify-america/

coming soon:
https://www.arb.ca.gov/msprog/vw_info/vsi/vw-zevinvest/documents/california_zev_investment_plan_supplement_062917.pdf

The third question was from Jeffrey Tumlin, planner at Nelson\Nygaard, first leader and formulator of the Oakland Department of Transportation, and also a Streetsblog California steering committee member. His question was about congestion, and why we can't seem to solve it although we throw so much money at it.

Transportation investments have a powerful effect on public health, land value, social equity, economic opportunity, CO2 emissions, air quality, and other values. But no transportation capital project has ever succeeded in reducing congestion – at best, all infrastructure does is congestion chokepoints around. Why in California do congestion metrics remain central to most transportation funding formulas and performance analyses? If California thinks of itself as a global leader, why don’t we learn from other countries in doing more sophisticated business case analyses to ensure good outcomes from our transportation tax dollars?

A quick summary of the ensuing discussion, which does it no justice: because habit, inertia, lack of understanding of or belief in the concept of “induced demand,” political expediency, and funding.

But there is some hope. California is finally in the process of changing rules to require new developments to measure and report on how much vehicle traffic they produce instead of just how much congestion they produce. [LINK]

And the new gas tax will fund several programs that could help shift the focus away from just congestion. The Congested Corridors program, for example, will—if it's done right—invest in figuring out how to move people through congested corridors, not just cars. That program is set for adoption at the next California Transportation Commission meeting on December 6, so cross your fingers (or contact a commissioner).

http://www.catc.ca.gov/programs/SB_1/103017_SCC_Draft_Guidelines.pdf

http://www.catc.ca.gov/ctcstaff/members.htm

Listen to the podcast, and please consider donating to Streetsblog California.

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Two weeks ago, SGV Connect spoke with Doug Strange about the role advocates can play bringing positive change to their communities. Today, we speak with Justine Garcia, the Transportation Program Analyst for the City of Glendora about how progressive transportation planners working in small cities can bring about big changes.

For her work, Garcia is being honored by Bike SGV at the 2017 “Noche de las Luminarias.” This annual party will include tacos, games of skill and chance, a special stocking-stuffer-silent-auction and raffle to benefit Bike SGV. The event will be on Saturday December 2, 2017, from 3:30-5:30 p.m. at the Jeff Seymour Family Center at 10900 Mulhall Street in El Monte. For more information, visit the event page at Bike SGV.

Get a preview of the party by listening to today’s podcast where Garcia discusses everything going on in Glendora, and how stakeholders can get involved in some of the changes that will be occurring.

SGV Connect is supported by Foothill Transit, offering car-free travel throughout the San Gabriel Valley with connections to the new Gold Line Stations across the Foothills and Commuter Express lines traveling into the heart of downtown L.A. To plan your trip, visit Foothill Transit. “Foothill Transit. Going Good Places.”

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Doug Strange started an Internet chat group to talk about bicycling issues in the city of La Verne. Out of that group, the La Verne Bicycle Coalition reformed, to push for better laws and projects in a city, that in Strange's view has "zero bicycle infrastructure."

For his work in La Verne, Strange is being honored by Bike SGV for his advocacy at the 2017 "Noche de las Luminarias." This annual party will include tacos, games of skill and chance, a special stocking-stuffer-silent-auction and raffle to benefit Bike SGV. The event will be Saturday December 2, 2017 (3:30-5:30pm) at the Jeff Seymour Family Center (10900 Mulhall St., El Monte 91731). For more information, visit the event page at Bike SGV here.

Get a preview of the party by listening to today's podcast where Strange discusses the state of infrastructure and advocacy in La Verne and how a group of excited activists can make a difference in their city or community.

SGV Connect is supported by Foothill Transit, offering car-free travel throughout the San Gabriel Valley with connections to the new Gold Line Stations across the Foothills and Commuter Express lines traveling into the heart of downtown L.A. To plan your trip, visit Foothill Transit. “Foothill Transit. Going Good Places.”

Catch past episodes of SGV Connect and #DamienTalks on LibSyn, iTunes, Google Play, or Overcast.

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Still mourning the unexpected loss of Brian Velez, this week SGV Connect picks up one of Velez's story ideas and runs with it: what happens to Foothill Transit buses between shifts; and what happens to items left behind on the bus (or on the bike rack) by riders.

SGV Connect talks with Roland Cordero of Foothill Transit to talk about the daily maintenance of the buses and Foothill Transit's Lost and Found. If you've stumbled on this article because you lost something on Foothill Transit, just click here to go to Foothill Transit's official fact sheet for lost items.

Cordero was also a guest last year, when we discussed Foothill Transit's e-bus program shortly after the rollout of the first electric-only bus line.

SGV Connect is supported by Foothill Transit, offering car-free travel throughout the San Gabriel Valley with connections to the new Gold Line Stations across the Foothills and Commuter Express lines traveling into the heart of downtown L.A. To plan your trip, visit Foothill Transit. “Foothill Transit. Going Good Places.”

Catch past episodes of SGV Connect and #DamienTalks on LibSyn, iTunes, Google Play, or Overcast.

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As many of you know, a couple of weeks ago our friend and my co-host Brian Velez passed away peacefully in his sleep. Brian was a great partner in this venture and I miss him both personally and professionally.

About a week after his passing, I reached out to some friends with Bike SGV to see if someone wanted to share some stories with our listeners. Edward Duong shares a story with us from outreach for the 626 that I’ll read at the end of the podcast.

But first, I was honored to have a chance to interview Diane Velez, Brian’s sister and co-worker at Bike SGV. She shares some stories from their lives together growing up and we discuss how that informed his work with us and with Bike SGV.

There’s a couple of ways that Bike SGV and the Velez family are honoring Brian going forward.

A slow-paced memorial ride in Brian’s memory will be held on Sunday October 15th.

• What: Brian Velez Memorial Ride

• Where: Chalan Rest Stop on the San Gabriel River Path (Where San Gabriel River Path crosses Arrow Highway; see map link below)

• When: Sunday October 15 (5:00pm)

• Route: Chalan Rest Stop to Azusa River Wilderness Park and back. Map: https://goo.gl/maps/tVowWDsRZm12

The Velez family is creating a Brian Velez Scholarship Fund to honor his service to the community and give back to other young leaders. If you wish to donate in Brian’s name, you can do so in the following manners:

• Check: Please make checks out to “Diane Velez” and mail to: BikeSGV, 10900 Mulhall St., El Monte 91731.

• Paypal: Via velezdiane@gmail.com

• Venmo: @Diane-Velez

RIP Brian, we all miss you very much.

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This week, Damien talks with Frank Ching, the Senior Director, Parking Management for Metro about the early feedback and impacts of the new parking program at the El Monte Bus Station. Earlier this week, Metro began charging $2 for parking at the Bus Station to riders' TAP accounts as a way to make certain that those parking in the lot were actually doing so to use the bus service.

The early impact shows that the program is working, the need for an overflow lot has vanished and at least anecdotally there has been little change to ridership. This experience mirrors what has happened when fully subsidized parking is replaced with a fee-based system in other Metro lots.

In today's podcast Ching not only discusses the program in El Monte and rail stations across the county, but also the future of the program and any near-term tweaks that could be coming to the parking plan at the El Monte Bus Station.

SGV Connect is supported by Foothill Transit, offering car-free travel throughout the San Gabriel Valley with connections to the new Gold Line Stations across the Foothills and Commuter Express lines traveling into the heart of downtown L.A. To plan your trip, visit Foothill Transit. “Foothill Transit. Going Good Places.”

Whole Foothill Transit is mentioned in this podcast, they were not involved in the content for the podcast in any way.

Catch past episodes of SGV Connect and #DamienTalks on LibSyn, iTunes, Google Play, or Overcast.

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This week, Brian Velez talks to a pair of horse riders in the San Gabriel Valley about their experiences, challenges and all of the reasons to choose riding a horse as their preferred form of transportation.

The first interview is with Alejandra from Avocado Heights. A horse owner, Alejandra tells stories and outlines the costs of owning, caring for and riding a horse both in terms of money and time.

The second interview is with Deputy Hector Beltran, with the Los Angeles County Sheriff's office. Deputy Beltran tells stories from his time as a horse owner, including a sad tale of a horse's death after being spooked by a driver. He also explains some of the rules and regulations for owners and riders in L.A. County.

This is one of our longer interviews, the podcast runs nearly a half hour and we do our best to only lightly edit for brevity.

SGV Connect is supported by Foothill Transit, offering car-free travel throughout the San Gabriel Valley with connections to the new Gold Line Stations across the Foothills and Commuter Express lines traveling into the heart of downtown L.A. To plan your trip, visit Foothill Transit. “Foothill Transit. Going Good Places.”

Catch past episode of SGV Connect and #DamienTalks on LibSyn and iTunes.

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Nisei Week is an annual festival put on by the Nisei Week Foundation in Downtown Los Angeles' Little Tokyo District. The nine day festival features everything from a parade, to a film festival to a competitive eating competition with pretty much everything else in between. A full schedule of events can be found on Nisei Week's official website.

Today, #DamienTalks with idori Mizuhara with Community Arts Resources and Cory Hayashi with the Nisei Week Foundation about this year's festival which begins at the end of next week. Hayashi does a great job of briefly laying out the history of the event and highlighting some of his favorite parts of this year's festival.

Mizuhara works on the Go Little Tokyo campaign with Metro and the Little Tokyo Neighborhood Council. This campaign is designed to help the community thrive during construction of the Regional Connector in the area and to preserve the cultural events, and places that help make Little Tokyo a unique place to live, work and visit. The campaign, is working to provide transportation options beyond the car for people visiting the festival. Read more about that effort at Go Little Tokyo's campaign website.

A quick programming note, we are not going back to the #DamienTalks format for our podcast in the San Gabriel Valley. #SGVConnect will return in the next week or two with the promised podcast on mobility for horse riders.

(Disclosure: This is a sponsored podcast that Metro pitched to us and agreed to sponsor. No discussion was made as to any editorial comments made by me nor did Metro receive any questions from me ahead of time. If you would like to sponsor a podcast, email me at damien@streetsblog.org)

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After watching bike share systems come to neighboring cities of Los Angeles, West Hollywood, Santa Monica, Long Beach and others; in July it was Pasadena's turn to launch its own bike share system. Shortly after the launch, the San Gabriel Valley Council of Governments (COG) earned a grant to expand bike share to 14 other cities throughout the valley.

Today, SGV Connect's Damien Newton talks with Streetsblog Los Angeles editor Joe Linton and the Pasadena Complete Street Coalition's Blair Miller. Miller is also a member of the City of Pasadena's Transportation Advisory Committee.

In our conversation, we discuss the rollout of bike share in Pasadena and how the system is working and being perceived. From there we transition to a discussion of the regional network of Metro bikes and other systems before talking about future bike share systems that will be coming to cities throughout the San Gabriel Valley thanks to the state grant received by the COG.

"Bike share is an exciting opportunity because we hope it will get more people out and riding," Miller concludes. "I hope that Los Angeles, Pasadena and other cities in the San Gabriel Valley can keep going in the direction their going to get more people out and riding."

Towards the end of the discussion, Linton mentions an upcoming piece by Streetsblog L.A.'s Sahra Sulaiman that looks at some of the equity issues (pricing, location) that surround bike share in Los Angeles and throughout the world. He hopes that the COG's plans take reporting on these issues seriously to insure that bike share is a system that works for as large a group of riders as possible.

SGV Connect is supported by Foothill Transit, offering car-free travel throughout the San Gabriel Valley with connections to the new Gold Line Stations across the Foothills and Commuter Express lines traveling into the heart of downtown L.A. To plan your trip, visit Foothill Transit. “Foothill Transit. Going Good Places.”

Catch past episode of SGV Connect and #DamienTalks on LibSyn and iTunes.

UP NEXT : Horses!

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Every now and then, one of our interviews turns up some breaking news. The 6 stations that will be part of the next Foothill Gold Line Extension will have twice the bicycle parking as the six stations opened last year. Much of that increased parking will be in the form of "bike rooms" similar to the bike hub currently opened at the El Monte Bus Terminal.

While final details and designs on the rooms are not yet available, much of the rest of the station design will be unveiled at a series of public open houses tonight. Staff will be on hand to answer questions. Models of the station and samples of the local art will also be on hand.

Today, SGV Connect talks with Albert Ho, with the Foothill Gold Line Extension's media relations team about the meetings and of course about the bike parking.

Here's a full list of the upcoming meetings:

Thursday, July 13 San Dimas Senior/Community Center 201 E. Bonita Avenue San Dimas, CA 91773

Tuesday, July 18 Palomares Park Community Center 499 E. Arrow Highway Pomona, CA 91767

Wednesday, July 19 Montclair Senior Center 5111 Benito Street Montclair, CA 91763

Monday, July 24 Alexander Hughes Community Center 1700 Danbury Road Claremont, CA 91711

Thursday, August 3 Hillcrest Retirement Community 2705 Mountain View Drive La Verne, CA 91750

Monday, August 7 Glendora Library, Bidwell Forum 140 S. Glendora Avenue Glendora, CA 91741

SGV Connect is supported by Foothill Transit, offering car-free travel throughout the San Gabriel Valley with connections to the new Gold Line Stations across the Foothills and Commuter Express lines traveling into the heart of downtown L.A. To plan your trip, visit Foothill Transit. “Foothill Transit. Going Good Places.”