MetroRiderLA

[tags]metro, los angeles, eastside, gold line, whittier, meetings[/tags]

Rendering of the Soto Station from Phase 1 of the Gold Line Eastside Extension. Courtesy of Metro.

Next up in the never ending flow of Metro expansion meetings comes the Eastside Transit Corrider Phase 2 Study Meetings. Try saying that five times fast. This time they’re looking into what’s next for the eastside, possibly a Gold Line extension from East L.A. to Whittier? As usual, you are encouraged to attend and let your opinion be heard.

The meetings are as follow:

• Thursday, November 8: 6:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m.
  Palm Park, 5703 Palm Avenue, Whittier
• Saturday, November 10: 9 a.m. to 12 p.m.
  Senior Center at City Park, 115 South Taylor Avenue, Montebello
• Wednesday, November 14: 6:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m.
  Potrero Heights Elementary School, 8026 East Hill Drive, Rosemead
• Thursday, November 15: 6:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m.
  North Park Middle School/Cafeteria, 4450 Durfee Avenue, Pico Rivera

Those unable to attend the meetings may also submit their input by phone, fax, mail, or e-mail by contacting: Kimberly Yu, Project Manager, Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority (Metro), Mail Stop 99-22-02, One Gateway Plaza, Los Angeles, CA 90012, Phone: 213-922-7910, e-mail: yuki@metro.net Written comments may be submitted at the meeting or no later than November 30, 2007.

[tags]metro, los angeles, commercial, advertising, television spot[/tags]

Your new Metro spokesperson.

Metro has recently created six television spots to further promote their burgeoning transit system and attract new riders. These spots feature a rather stocky balding man (some might refer to his demeanor as “douchey”) interviewing MetroRiders from all walks of life about why they “Go Metro”. The spots are well produced, and although the interviewer is annoying at best, I find the spots effective in presenting Metro as an attractive alternative to driving. Will the ads help boost ridership? That remains to be seen, but I’m a big believer in the power of advertising to influence the masses. I think just seeing a well-produced commercial on TV will legitimize Metro for some people

Has anyone seen these on television yet? What do you think about the ads?

Links to each individual spot after the jump…

(more…)

[tags]los angeles, gold line, light rail, east los angeles, curbed la, militant angeleno[/tags]

And they mean it!
Credit: Militant Angeleno

Curbed L.A. has more pictures of the Metro Gold Line Eastside Extension — this time, with some shots of the underground stations. Come for the pictures, stay for Curbed’s trademark high-quality commentary. Two days before this article appeared, Curbed had a query about construction progress.

Meanwhile, everyone’s favorite militant Angeleno, umm … Militant Angeleno, tells about a recent trip to The Real Eastside. He also has an eyewitness account of Gold Line construction, encounters an apparent epidemic of duck molestation in an East L.A. park, and tries a Mexican addition to his list of Southern California’s ethnic iced desserts.

See also:

• MetroRiderLA: Eastside Gold Line nude pix (safe for work)

[tags]west hollywood, metro, los angeles, westside, community meeting[/tags]

The City  of West Hollywood  is sponsoring a community meeting to discuss the Westside Extension Transit Corridor Study which aims to look at how to improve mobility on the Westside.  Issues to be discussed include:

• Does transit need to be improved on the Westside?
• Do you prefer subway, light rail, more buses, or another mode?
• Do you like a Wilshire or a Santa Monica Boulevard alignment better?
• Do you want a station in your neighborhood?
• What is important to you in evaluating these alternatives?

The meeting will take place on Monday October 29, 2007 from 6pm to 8pm at Plummer Park, 7377 Santa Monica Boulevard.

Comments about the study may be received at the community meeting, or by filling out the comment form on the project website, leaving a message on the information line (213.922.6934) or by wrting Mr. David Mieger, AICP, Project Manager and Deputy Executive Office, Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority (METRO), One Gateway Plaza, Los Angeles, CA 90012.  Comments must be received by November 1, 2007. 

[tags]flexcar, los angeles, car sharing, ladot, car-free, parking[/tags]

As usual, this is a little late, but there’s still time to write a letter or even attend the meeting if you are free. The following is straight from Flexcar.

On Wednesday, October 24, 2007, at 5 pm, the LA City Council Transportation Committee will begin consideration of a pilot on-street car-sharing program. This pilot program, which would designate specific on-street parking spaces for car-sharing, is a small but important step by the City to promote and expand car-sharing in Los Angeles.

In order for the committee to move forward with this proposal, the City needs to hear from Flexcar members who use the service and see the benefits of car-sharing for the City of Los Angeles. We are urging you to come to the meeting and voice your opinion.

Date: Wednesday October 24, 2007
Time: 5 – 7 pm
Place: West LA Municipal Building
1645 Corinth Avenue
Los Angeles, CA 90025

The LADOT report, indexed under Council File #: 05-2017, is available online.

If you can’t attend in person, please consider politely emailing your opinion to Adam Lid, the Committee’s Legislative Assistant (adam.lid@lacity.org) with a cc: to the Transportation Chair, Wendy Greuel (councilmember.greuel@lacity.org). If you do send an email, please refer to Council File #: 05-2017: On-Street Car-Sharing Program in the subject heading.

Since the meeting is basically going on right now, the email option is probably the best way to get your voice heard, you can read my letter after the jump…

(more…)

Atwater MetroRider Miles of MilesThink is wondering why LA Live is so forgetful of the Blue Line. Come on LA, get with the program already. In fact, it’s something we should all be quite annoyed by. For all the hype LA Live is getting I’ve yet to really see any promotions on how the 1st Blue Line stop at Pico/Chick Hearn is about a 2 minute walk from all the events. Not to mention, the Red line at 7th/Metro is a mere 12 minute walk. Oh wait… people in LA hate to walk, sometimes I forget that. Now I’ve yet to hit up the LA Live area but I’ve heard it’s pretty much a Downtown Disney in an urban environment rather than the swamps of Orlando. However, I welcome it with open arms–even though I missed Video Games Live last weekend–and hope they start opening their own arms to the many transit options in the area rather than promote the amount of parking they undoubtedly stocked up on.