General LA
LA Regional Connector Opens
The long-awaited Regional Connector transit project has finally opened to the public. Construction began in 2013 for the project, which includes 1.9 miles of track to allow light rail trains to travel between Union Station and the busy 7th Street/Metro Center Station in Downtown’s Financial District. Some customers riding to and through downtown Los Angeles could save up to 20 minutes by eliminating the need to transfer. The project also includes three new stations downtown: Little Tokyo/Arts District, Historic Broadway, and Grand Avenue Arts/Bunker Hill..
The A (Blue) line will take passengers from Long Beach to Azusa
The new E (Gold) line will connect Santa Monica to East L.A.
Advocates Organized By ACT-LA Oppose Metro Plan For In-House Police Department
LA Metro’s Board of Directors voted on June 22 to direct staff to come up with a plan to bring public safety in-house. Part of the idea is to repurpose budgets and have more homeless and mental health crisis teams, according to the LAist. ACT-LA organized advocacy organizations, including BikeLA, to oppose the motion, saying that Metro overlooked the shared services model of emergency response in their current feasibility study and should properly study the shared services model as an alternative to contracts and in-house police. The groups are working to push Metro to invest instead into deeper care-based safety alternatives to policing:
Frequent buses and trains
Universal fareless transit
Services for unhoused people, like outreach, housing offers, and mental health services, instead of policing
The transit ambassadors are a helpful presence on Metro, and I’d like to see them continue to be funded permanently, and in greater numbers.
110 Freeway To Shut Down For Pedestrians, Cyclists and More On Oct. 29
On Oct. 29, ArroyoFest will allow car-free exploration of six miles of the 110 Freeway connecting Los Angeles and Pasadena. In June 2003, seven years before the first CicLAvia “open streets” event, ArroyoFest shut down the Arroyo Seco Parkway for three hours, giving thousands of people the chance to tour the freeway as they never had before.
San Gabriel Valley
Light-Rail Track from Glendora to Pomona Completed, as Project Moves Closer to Opening
Workers on Saturday completed construction of light-rail tracks that soon will extend the A Line train 9.1 miles from Glendora to Pomona. The line is expected to be open for service in January 2025, bringing light-rail service to connect Azusa to Long Beach.
Westside
West Hollywood City Council Votes 3-2 To Keep Electric Scooters For Now
The motion also directed City Staff to immediately re-negotiate the contracts with the scooter providers and calls for a speed cap of 10 miles per hour for all scooters and e-bikes within city limits to be instituted as soon as possible. City Council will decide in late October what to do with the program after that.