Damien Newton
Recent Posts
PIRG: Proposed 710 Freight Highway Tunnel Among Country’s Worst Projects
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Yesterday, the Public Interest Research Group (PIRG), a national non-profit with state chapters throughout the country, released a report detailing the “12 biggest highway boondoggles” under study in the country. Not surprisingly, a California highway project made the list, the I-710 Tunnel Project in Los Angeles County. PIRG explains the project. San Gabriel Valley Route […]
Podcast #DamienTalks 29: Coalitions, Taxes and Placemaking with Jessica Meaney
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This week #DamienTalks with Jessica Meaney, a longtime friend of Streetsblog and the founder of the Los Angeles based Investing In Place. Meaney has been a leading fighter for equity in transportation planning and funding by mode, by geographic need and by economic need. Today we focus on Meaney’s efforts to insure that any future […]
#Damien Talks SGV 1: Ara Najarian, Bike SGV, and a Look Ahead
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Welcome to the first #DamienTalks of 2016, a public affairs podcast focused on interviewing the people that create and advocate for sustainable transportation in the San Gabriel Valley. For those of you just joining us, #DamienTalks has been broadcast on Streetsblog California for over a year, but we’ve received advertising support to do a bi-weekly […]
Roger Rudick Is the New Editor of Streetsblog SF
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(Welcome Roger Rudick! Roger is an excellent writer, a familiar name to SBLA readers, a steadfast livability advocate, and a friend. Also I welcome Streetsblog S.F. into the circle of the California Streets Initiative, the non-profit behind SBLA, Streetsblog California, Santa Monica Next and LongBeachIze. – Joe Linton) Thanks for your patience, Bay Area readers. The blog […]
Support Streetsblog Los Angeles This #GivingTuesday
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By now you’ve gotten at least a dozen emails about #GivingTuesday asking you to donate to an important and worthy non-profit. Today, throughout California, staff are working on stories and podcasts to cover and explain issues both locally and statewide. In Los Angeles, Joe is doing a deep-dive into a new report on parking and Sahra […]
Winning Arguments with Your Family: Don’t Fall for the Traffic Trap
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Last week, the Los Angeles Times published a disastrously titled piece entitled “L.A. Expo Line hasn’t reduced congestion as promised, a study finds.” The article is based on a study by the University of Southern California that used traffic monitors to gauge how many cars are driving on the freeway and arterial streets parallel to the […]
Cartoon Tuesday: Calvin and Hobbes Turn 30
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Last week, TIME Magazine reported that Calvin and Hobbes was first published thirty years ago this month. For a lot of people my age, the story of a precocious and imaginative young boy and his stuffed tiger/best friend was a daily treat. For me, it was how I spent my last couple of minutes before the […]
Make It Mar Vista: Pop Up Bike Lanes and Parklets at Westside Business Festival
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This Saturday, the Mar Vista Chamber of Commerce is hosting “Make It Mar Vista” along Venice Boulevard starting at Centinela Avenue and heading west. The event is the area’s newish small business showcase, highlighting one of the Westside’s more walkable corridors with small shops and locally-owned restaurants. But this year’s event is also another outreach event […]
The Week in Livable Streets Events
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Here’s your Thanksgiving Week Calendar of events. Not a lot of them, but let’s all hope we’re thankful for a more progressive City Council come Wednesday afternoon. Wednesday – The Los Angeles City Council meets to un-pass, un-ammend, and re-pass the recently passed Mobility Plan. Because the city “forgot” to have the Planning Commission approve […]
#DamienTalks 24: Ryan Price and CalBike’s Legislative Report Cards
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Today #DamienTalks with Ryan Price, Campaigns Director for California Bicycle Coalition (CalBike), about CalBike’s recently released legislative report card. Look up how your legislator did, here. Don’t know who represents you in Sacramento? Click here. For more information on CalBike, visit CalBike.org. In addition to scoring the candidates, CalBike produced some meme-friendly pictures with every […]
Do Gas Prices Impact Transit Ridership? Sure. But There’s More…
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A group of USC students under the tutelage of Professor Lisa Schweitzer produced the above chart, which seems to show a direct correlation between gas prices and ridership in Southern California. Simply put, when gas prices fall, so does transit ridership. When gas prices rise, so does transit ridership. The equation is not that simple; […]
San Diego Readies to Break Ground on $200 Million Bike Plan
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Active transportation planning in the Greater San Diego area has been uneven the past several years. Advocates have sued to stop the long-term regional plan passed by the San Diego Area Governments (SANDAG) because it focuses too much on building carpool and variable toll lanes and not enough on active transportation to meet the state’s greenhouse gas […]