At our 7th Annual Transportation Conversation we honored Zev Yaroslavsky, Art Leahy, Richard Katz, Pam O'Connor, Bonnie Lowenthal and Antonio Villaraigosa — all of them stars!

(Graphic is from Metro's First-Last-Mile Strategic Plan.) Jonathan Parfrey and Climate Resolve hosted 48 environmental organizations this week in a big discussion about the possibility of putting another sales tax measure on the ballot in 2016 (we call this Measure R2; previously the Measure R sales tax for transportation was passed in 2008). The conversation among about 100 people was held at the Community Health Councils office in South LA on Monday, and also included Metro Interim CEO Stephanie Wiggins and government relations staff, city staff, and staff for several elected officials.

This was the reaction of one conference attendee, Matthew Sharp, senior policy director at the Goldhirsh Foundation:

“The conference was surreal. Every hour included more and more voices from distinct perspectives and communities and zip codes. The thoroughness of the coalition-building and the underlying relationship-building work you have done exceeds the norms for coalitions . . . The speakers covered every potential angle. Your playbook and execution implements the best lessons of political science and movement building.”

Legislation introduced by California Assemblymember Jim Frazier (D-Oakley) would reduce the voter threshold for approval of local tax measures for transportation from 66.6% to 55% and make the change effective immediately for other measures on the ballot. We urge you to call or write him to express your support for this bill — ACA 4!

April 22 was a big day for Move LA at Union Station — the Cathedral of Public Transportation — with a big crowd, big panels and a big, aspirational conversation about what LA County can be. See Ted Soqui's photos on our flickr page. (Click on the photos to see a caption explaining who is who.)

If anyone had doubts that LA has a resounding interest in transit, 2015 is the year that will dispel even the mostly staunchly held ones. Earlier this year the Live Ride Share conference Move LA staged with partners trended briefly on Twitter in LA the day after the Academy Awards. And this week Move LA's 7th Annual Transportation Conversation — about what the proposed Measure R2 ballot proposition could fund — trended locally on Twitter for several hours. We hope you enjoyed the event. But if you weren't there, our Storify recap — tweet by tweet — may be the next best thing.

There are two questions hanging over Move LA’s 7^th Annual Transportation Conversation: Question #1) How robust a sales tax measure should Metro place before voters in 2016? Should it be for 30-years, like Measure R -- which could provide an estimated $46 billion for transportation improvements? Or a 45-year measure that could provide $92 billion or more? Or how about a measure with no sunset — which would provide a permanent endowment for transportation modernization in LA County?

The business-labor-environmental coalition that believes we must build out our transit system is even broader now than it was when we helped the Measure R sales tax win a 2/3 vote on the ballot in 2008. A bigger, bold new coalition is coming together around a possible new transportation ballot measure, and it includes LA County's cities and subregional councils of government, faith-based organizations, students and community colleges, people with disabilities, community-based organizations concerned about public health and social equity, affordable housing advocates and arts organizations.

The story of Denny Zane's transit epiphany, in the Santa Monica Daily Press: The epiphany came to Denny Zane as he sat in his idling vehicle, exasperated. It was about eight years ago, and the former Santa Monica mayor was stuck in demoralizing eastbound traffic on Olympic Boulevard between Stewart Street and Interstate 405. READ MORE.