Dana Gabbard
Recent Posts
Feds. Coming to Town to Talk SCAG, Regional Planning
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Four years have passed since the last time the Federal Highway Administration and Federal Transit Administration conducted a certification review and evaluation of the region’s transportation planning process carried out by the Southern California Association of Governments (SCAG) and its partners, and that means it’s time for the process to begin again. A fairly full […]
FlyAway Bus Service to LAX Will Expand to Hollywood, Santa Monica, Torrance
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FlyAway Board of Airport Commissioners Presentation Dec. 2, 2013 by dgabbard2 The Monday meeting of the Los Angeles Board of Airport Commissioners included a presentation on the status of the expansion of FlyAway to develop eight new FlyAway sites by 2015 as part of a settlement I mentioned previously. The big news is the expansion […]
A Peak Behind the Curtain: Metro Posts Revised Organizational Chart
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Metro Revised Organization Chart Oct. 17, 2013 by dgabbard2 For those of you with a Kremlinologist-like focus on the internal workings of Metro, here is a real treat: the revised organization chart for Metro management dated Oct. 17, 2013 that outlines impending changes therein. The most informative section is “General Questions and Responses” (pp.15-20) which […]
Metro Meeting Wednesday Provides Opportunity for Input on New Colors Proposed for Rail
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As our friends at The Source have previously noted, Metro is in the midst of creating “distinctive styling and graphics for the new [Kinkisharyo] rail cars as well as the entire rail fleet”. A presentation on the light rail vehicle color paint scheme by Jorge Pardo, Director of Art & Design for Creative Services at […]
How the Changing Face of Transit Ridership Could Impact Next Year’s Labor Negotiations at Metro
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Last year, I began subscribing to Trains Magazine. As one of the perks, each Monday I get an e-mail with links to the news items appearing during the past week on its online News Wire. Any stories about the Pacific Northwest or involving Amtrak’s Empire Builder I dutifully cut and paste for e-mailing to my […]
The Bamboo Inn, One of Many Great Places to Check out at CicLAvia
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I was gratified recently when I spoke with Ramon who owns the HMS Bounty to learn during the Iconic Wilshire Blvd. CicLAvia in June the place was so busy he was helping out the bar staff serving drinks. Since that was one of the three eateries I gave a shout out to I was gratified […]
City Remains Vigilant on Bus Only Lane Parking Scofflaws
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To its credit, the City of Los Angeles is working hard to keep the Wilshire Bus Only Lanes (Bike OK!) open for business. Dana Gabbard grabbed this picture yesterday of parking enforcement hard at work. Wilshire, south side of street between Coronado and Carondelet this morning at about 7:51 a.m. The car had a disabled […]
Final Weeks to See Never Built Los Angeles at A+D Museum
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Sunday afternoon I finally took in the New Built Los Angeles exhibit at the Architecture and Design Museum on Wilshire at Ogden (one block east of Fairfax). The always thoughtful Christopher Hawthorne of the Los Angeles Times provides a good overview of the exhibit and notes it may hold lessons for a city grappling with […]
What’s Going on with the Wilshire BRT? This Weekend’s So.CA.TA Meeting Has the Answers
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Due to the Yom Kippur holiday the September meeting of Southern California Transit Advocates is this Saturday, the 21st (normally we meet on the second Saturday). The guest speaker will be a representative of Metro making a presentation on the status of the Wilshire bus lane project. This will start at 2:15 pm at Angelus […]
HOLA Brings Youth Art to City Bus Benches
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A few months ago I noticed some intriguing art appearing on bus benches in my neighborhood between MacArthur Park and Lafayette Park, where Wilshire got its start as a dirt road through a barley field that Gaylord Wilshire named after himself and gave to the city of Los Angeles.* All the benches carried the logo […]
LOSSAN Steering Committee Recommends OCTA Take Over Operations of Pacific Surfliner
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It has been a while since I last wrote about the Pacific Surfliner and the process of it transitioning to local management. The first bit of news is the timetable that went into effect April 1st reflects that subsequently selected trips now serve stations of San Diego County’s Coaster commuter service that previously were not […]
Metro’s Civil Rights Review Oddyssey
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A few months ago I spotted on the bus a new take one multilingual brochure titled “Metro Notice of Civil Rights”. Informational placards with the same information also popped up on Metrorail equipment. I recognized this as the latest component of the actions Metro has undertaken to satisfy the Federal Transit Administration (FTA) regarding its […]