Damien Newton
Recent Posts
Love L.A.’s Bicycle Festival? Support the Fest on Kickstarter
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The Los Angeles Bicycle Culture Institute is seeking your help, through a Kickstarter campaign, to bring back the popular Los Angeles Bicycle Fest this Mother’s Day, on Sunday, May 8. The campaign just crossed the $1,000 line, but needs another $2,500 to make its goal. This year’s festival is more of a bicycle theme park; […]
Garcetti Announces “Great Streets” to Be Named After Current Councilmembers
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(UPDATE 2:03 p.m.: Yes, this is an April Fool’s story. No streets, Great or otherwise, were harmed in the writing of this satire. – DN) Celebrating some of the successes of the Great Streets program, Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti announced a new program to honor the collaborative efforts with the fifteen City Councilmembers that […]
Farewell to a Friend, Councilmember Rosendahl Who Declared “Era of L.A. Car Culture Has Come to an End”
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Earlier today, we learned of the passing of former Westside L.A. City Councilmember Bill Rosendahl. While I personally have a great deal of respect and admiration for my friend Bill, I’m not writing another personal ode to a pal. I’m writing to remember one of the most important political figures that helped change the conversation […]
The Santa Monica Next/Streetsblog Party for Bloom/Cyclehop and Hulu is Two Days Away!
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If you haven’t already, get your ticket today to join us in celebrating the good work accomplished by Assemblymember Richard Bloom, Cyclehop, and Hulu. The party is this Thursday from 6:30 to 8:30 at Cyclehop’s west coast headquarters. This Thursday…like, in two days! Tickets are available on Eventbrite at $20 per person. However, we don’t turn people […]
#DamienTalks SGV6: The Boardmember, the Advocate, and the Sales Tax
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Welcome to this week’s episode of #DamienTalksSGV, where we talk with Glendale Mayor and Metro Boardmember Ara Najarian and Bike SGV Executive Director Wes Reutimann about the proposed sales tax measure that Metro unveiled last week. The measure extends the current county-wide half-cent sales tax passed eight years ago and adds another half cent to […]
Open Thread: What Do We Think of the First Peek at Measure R2
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Earlier this afternoon, Los Angeles Times transportation reporter Laura Nelson reported on many of the details of the sales tax ballot measure that will be presented to Metro Board committees next week. With the approval of the Metro Board of Directors, the measure would go on this fall’s ballot where it would need the support […]
#DamienTalksSGV 5 – Gold Line Opening and Women on Wheels
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Today, #DamienTalks to Habib Balian, the CEO of the Gold Line Foothills Construction Authority and Amy Wong with Women on Wheels a project of Bike SGV. This weekend, the long-awaited extension of the Gold Line to the San Gabriel Valley Foothills will finally open. Balian discusses the advocacy and work that led to the extension and […]
#DamienTalksSGV 4 – Mural History and Bicycle Education in El Monte
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Welcome to episode 4 of #DamienTalksSGV, an episode that focuses primarily on two projects in El Monte. We didn’t plan it that way, but sometimes these things happen. First, #DamienTalks with David Diaz Avelar about Historia de los Monteros, a collaborative effort between a handful of groups to explore the lost history of El Monte’s […]
#DamienTalks SGV 3: Pasadena Parklets and Temple City Complete Streets
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Welcome to episode 3 of #DamienTalksSGV, a public affairs podcast interviewing people that create and advocate for sustainable transportation in the San Gabriel Valley. Today, #DamienTalks with livable streets advocates in Pasadena and Temple City about chances to get involved with efforts to bring parklets to the Pasadena Playhouse District and a complete streets plan for Las […]
#DamienTalks 30 – SCAG’s Hasan Ikharta and the Pilot Program That Could Slay the Gas Tax
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Today, #DamienTalks with Hasan Ikharta, the executive director of the Southern California Association of Governments about the pilot program that could be the second step in replacing the state’s gas tax with a vehicle miles traveled tax. Last week, the state announced it was looking for 5,000 drivers to participate in a pilot program to […]
Falling Gas Tax Revenue Leads to Slash in State Transportation Money
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The timing seems less than coincidental, announcing a cut in transportation funding days after announcing a pilot program to study road users’ fees–but the message is just as stark. The State of California is running out of money to fund transportation. Last week, the California Transportation Commission (CTC) slashed its own estimates of what the […]
#DamienTalks SGV2: Albert Ho on IWillRide and Wes Reutimann on the Puente Hills Landfill Park
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This week, #DamienTalks with Albert Ho of the Gold Line Foothill Extension Construction Authority. Albert has been a booster of the project dating back to the mid aughts, helping to found the IWillRide campaign as an interested college student, managing the website early in his career and then working for the Construction Authority. Albert talks […]