At least once a weekend, I like to go to a local sit-down eatery and enjoy a copy of the Times. New York, LA, Contra Costa, it doesn’t matter. This Saturday, it was the LA version over shawarma at a Palestinian-run diner.
As much as I try to stay away from transportation stories on my days off, the op-ed piece by Metropolitan Transportation Agency chief Roger Snoble and Caltrans LA area director jumped out at me. Not the least because the last time I heard Snoble’s name, it was when outgoing Assembly Speaker Fabian Núñez demanded his head on a platter for allegedly failing to fight hard enough for freight corridors bond money from the California Transportation Commission.
This was about another way of collecting money for transportation, with the advantage of not costing interest and, according to Snoble and Caltrans, a proven way of reducing congestion. It’s what they call “HOT,” or high-occupancy toll lanes around here, with the FasTrak-paid toll raised or lowered to keep traffic moving:
The states of Washington, Oregon and Idaho have reduced their gasoline usage to about a gallon lower than the national average, according to a study I found in my inbox this morning:
Measured per capita, gasoline consumption in
the Pacifi c Northwest states has fallen to its lowest level since 1966. Per-person gas consumption in the region has declined in seven of the last eight years; and climate-warming CO2 emissions from gasoline have fallen by six-tenths of a ton per capita in the region since 1999. That decline in per capita gasoline consumption—11 percent, overall—is the equivalent of every driver in the Northwest taking a Read the rest of this entry »
You knew it would happen. After all the arm-in-arm campaigning for Prop 1B by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, Senate leader Don Perata and Assembly Speaker Fabian Núñez, you knew that with $19.9 billion on the table, all that caring and sharing would have to come to an end.
In talking to the folks back in 2006, when that transportation bond measure was on the ballot and I was just stumbling my way around my beat, they all said they’d work in harmony to get the money spent.
If they didn’t, the pols insisted, the voters would see that it was just another cynical money grab and the next time one of these measures went on the ballot, they’d Read the rest of this entry »
As many of you have noted, I’m not smart enough to argue that high-speed rail has some serious hurdles to overcome. Today I found a story that high-speed rail opponents will no doubt use to side-track November’s $10 billion high-speed rail bond measure. Click here.
And for those of you who are serious about getting the system up and running, there’s a meeting of California High-Speed Rail Authority board members tomorrow in Sacramento that I plan to attend. It’s to be held at the Sacramento Area Council of Governments Board Room, 1415 L St. Show up and you can upbraid me on the public record.
Here’s the agenda:
Legislation: Staff will brief board members on pending legislation affecting the proposed high-speed Read the rest of this entry »
The e-mail gave me sort of a jolt this morning. I’m usually happy to hear from readers; first, it’s reassuring to know that they still exist; second, I appreciate feedback on my work and thirdly, I often learn something new.
This wasn’t new, but it was startling both in content and tone. Greg Wright, who had read this week’s update on Bay Bridge construction, wrote this:
You know people are getting excited about high-speed rail when legislators from Palm Desert are turning up in Japan, as I learned in an editorial from the Desert Sun (www.mydesert.com):
Sen. Jim Battin, R-Palm Desert, and Assemblywoman Bonnie Garcia, R-Cathedral City, are part of a delegation visiting Japan over the Legislature’s spring break this week. They are using campaign funds _ not public money _ to pay for the trip.
We’re having a hard time seeing how a trip to Japan will make them better state lawmakers or benefit their constituents.
ANDERSON _ A 29-year-old woman who was walking on railroad tracks while talking on her cell phone is recovering after being struck by a freight train.
The conductor of the Union Pacific train told authorities that Melinda Champion was talking on her phone when the train hit her from behind on Wednesday.
What’s going on with railroad crossings lately? Every time I turn around, I’m reminded of the unfortunate confluence of pedestrian and rail traffic. I know more people get killed at crosswalks, but trains are so much more dramatic.
When I heard that the sheriff’s deputy who killed two bicyclists on Sunday told people he’d fallen asleep, I’m sure I wasn’t alone in being reminded of personal experiences of drowsy driving.
To start with, there’s right now. I’m jet-lagged from last week’s vacation (thus explaining the stale blog) and will probably drive home tonight.
I can think of too many instances of leaning forward, clutching the steering wheel, eyes bugging out, munching on grotesquely spiced snack foods to keep from dozing.
“Stop and get a motel room,” my wife would tell me over the mobile. “Don’t be fatally cheap.” She has special standing on this point, having lost her dad to “that sleep of death,” to Read the rest of this entry »
Of course, supporters of both routes threatened to pick up their toys and go home if they didn’t get their way, but these threats were generally dismissed.
Today I noticed that of of our newspapers, the Contra Costa Times, and the Stockton Record (not one of ours) editorialized against both the decision and the bullet train enterprise altogether.
After getting the most vigorous response to date for my Nov. 30 post, I shouldn’t dwell too much on the positive aspects of taking public transit.
But I believe in fairness, and today was a good day for transit; at least it was for this and a few thousand other commuters.
I made it to the train station with five minutes to spare and had the wisdom to avoid taking my bicycle because of the wet forecast. That left me with the dilemma of how to get the last 1.7 miles from the Oakland Coliseum Amtrak station to work on Oakport Street.
No worries, the 98 bus was there, waiting for me. It left about five minutes later, leaving some leeway in case the Capitol Corridor had been late. I made it to work in good time, which is more than I can say of Read the rest of this entry »
As many of you have noted, I’m not smart enough to argue that high-speed rail has some serious hurdles to overcome. Today I found a story that high-speed rail opponents will no doubt use to side-track November’s $10 billion high-speed rail bond measure. 
When I heard that the sheriff’s deputy who killed two bicyclists on Sunday told people he’d 
In the wake of the 
After getting the most vigorous response to date for my Nov. 30