Huge coalition of interests at LA Trade Tech College (LATTC) today to talk about the proposed South LA Transit Education/Empowerment Zone application with U.S. Rep. Karen Bass, U.S. Rep. Lucille Roybal-Allard and LA City Councilmember Curran Price -- and to prep for a visit from HUD Secretary Julian Castro next week. Tough to convince Congress that LA should get a second empowerment zone but it's such a powerful way to bring economic development to neighborhoods that need some (with poverty rates as high as 45.48%)!

Gloria Ohland from Move LA says the future is streets designed for people not just cars. Transportation planning consultant Ryan Snyder wants more and better bus service. Carla de Paz of East LA Community Corporation is worried about gentrification near rail stations. Nelson & Nygaard's Steve Boland calls for transformational change and the willingness to make tough decisions (lanes for cars or bus?). Richard France of ELP Advisors wants quantifiable metrics that prove what works. Sarah Catz of UC-Irvine and Brandman University wants driverless cars. And Hasan Ikhrata of the Southern California Association of Governments reminds us that 4 million more people are arriving in SoCal by 2040 so we'd better get on it right now!

New Metro CEO Phil Washington provides his view on Wednesday, at the Plaza on Olvera Street in DTLA.

When Governor Brown called for a Special Session on Transportation a few weeks ago it was to find a way to increase the funding to repair streets, bridges and freeways – prompting transit advocates to call for a more balanced approach that would also consider the needs of transit. Transit remains woefully underfunded in California: One recent study found that by 2020 the revenue available for transit will cover just a third of the capital needs and fall 20% short of meeting operating needs. The state hasn’t done a dedicated transportation funding program since Proposition 111 in 1990 (which increased the gas tax to 18 cents/gallon), and the most recent temporary fix was Proposition 1B in 2006, a $20 billion bond that dedicated 25% to transit. At the same time the state has set ambitious goals for requiring reductions in GHG emissions and petroleum use – both of which require more transit since the majority of GHG emissions come from cars and trucks (40% of the statewide GHG total).

The furor over the Affordable Housing and Sustainable Communities program, one of several funded with Cap & Trade dollars -- the most significant new source of funding for good projects in our lifetimes -- has abated. And organizations, advocates, local governments and developers from around the state are sending off a mountain of letters providing input on the lessons learned from Round 1. Posted here is the letter Move LA is sending to the Strategic Growth Council, which administers the program. In sum, we recommend:

• Removing the jurisdictional cap on funding -- since larger cities offer some of the most cost-effective opportunities for VMT and GHG reductions -- in favor of an allocation scheme that's more sensitive to GHG reduction opportunities, population, and the presence of disadvantaged communities.
• Reducing the role of resource leveraging in the scoring of projects, which created a "them-that-gots-continue-to-get" dynamic. The best projects may not have ready access to capital.
• Enhancing the program's commitment to active transportation and first-last-mile infrastructure development.
• Enhancing the role of metropolitan planning organizations in making transportation infrastructure -- but not affordable housing -- investments. This is especially important in the SCAG region, where county transportation commissions have the money and authority to build transportation projects, but no obligation to demonstrate the GHG reduction potential of the projects they program and fund, while SCAG has that obligation but very little funding to incentivize the CTCs to build the projects that reduce GHG emissions (i.e. transit, first-last-mile connections to transit, bike lanes and paths and infrastructure for people who walk).

Read the letter here.

(Portland had a surfeit of parking in 1968, before the city chose to invest in more sustainable transportation. Photo: CafeUnknown.com.) LA has been slow to join the worldwide movement to re-orient streets away from cars and back towards people and community life by prioritizing the safety of all road users and emphasizing the public right to use what are undeniably public spaces. The City of LA's Mobility Element, up before the City Council Tuesday, maps out exactly this kind of overhaul of LA's outdated transportation priorities. Advocates had expected the plan to pass easily but its chances are now uncertain, following a story in the LA Times on Sunday that is causing some councilmembers to question the plan. These are the reasons we think the City Council should adopt it:

A new coalition of 20 environmental organizations named EnviroMetro has signed on to a letter that outlines priorities for a possible 2016 sales tax measure for transportation, and we enthusiastically applaud their choices, including “an explicit goal of increasing funding for public transit and active transportation and lowering drive-alone trips”! Their priorities are to:

• Give preference only to projects that are either GHG-neutral or that reduce GHG emissions . . . no projects that increase vehicle travel should be funded
• Target funding for, prioritize multi-benefit projects in, and avoid burdening “disadvantaged communities” already disproportionately burdened by multiple sources of pollution
• Prioritize multi-benefit projects such as cool pavements, increased tree canopy, and shaded transit stops to help cool down entire neighborhoods, reduce urban heat island effects, and improve air quality
• Integrate natural assets into a first-last-mile strategy
• Incorporate green infrastructure and biological mitigation for projects into funding measure

Lotsa media today at the press conference where Senate President Pro Tem Kevin De Leon announced LA had won $1.6 million from the CA Air Resources Board to implement carsharing in low-income neighborhoods, beginning with downtown LA, Westlake, Koreatown, parts of Hollywood, and East LA and South LA in the second year. The carshare project hopes to deploy 100 electric vehicles and recruit 7,000 carshare users, who will pay less than market-rate prices.

Tell us how you would invest in transportation: Would you prioritize investments in rail, bus, bike lanes and wider sidewalks, freeway improvements, road repairs? Some or all of these? Depending on where you live and work tell us which of the projects listed in our survey (link is below) you would support. A new transportation funding measure is under discussion and people across LA County are talking about which projects to fund. We are working with LA Metro on formulating the agency's Long Range Transportation Plan — which increases the likelihood that particular projects will get funded — and trying to understand priorities across the county.