MetroRiderLA

This Thursday, April 10th, Metro will be hosting poetry readings at Union Station during rush hour. Starting at 4pm, three poets from the Poetry Society of America (Elena Karina Byrne, Suzanne Lummis, and Marisela Norte) will read selections of their work to commuters. This special event is being held to commemorate 10 years of Poetry in Motion, a program created by the Poetry Society of America that places poetry on our buses and trains where ads might typically be found. Poetry in Motion was first introduced in New York City in 1992, and came to Los Angeles in 1998. There are over 60,000 poetry placards on the interiors of Metro buses.

Of particular interest is poet Marisela Norte, whose work is not only featured on Metro buses, but is written on them! According to her artist statement, Marisela writes most of her East Los Angeles inspired poetry while riding Metro Line 18[PDF] from East LA to Downtown. She doesn’t drive and considers her poetry her vehicle, which is cool enough for me to actually give poetry another chance and check out Marisela and the others Thursday at Union Station.

Image courtesy of iZENstein.

Image courtesy of xero79.

The dust has settled from the Dodgers historic reunion with the Los Angeles Coliseum this past weekend. Over 115,000 people showed up for this game, and many of them were hoping that the mass transit alternatives offered by both Metro and the Dodgers would spare them the parking and traffic nightmare they’ve grown accustomed to at Dodgers games. According to the L.A. Times, 35,000 people showed up at Dodger Stadium hoping to take advantage of the shuttles to the Coliseum provided by the Dodgers. Unfortunately, the shuttles turned out to be a colossal failure. Apparently most of the shuttles were just that, smaller van-like buses that could hold a very limited amount of passengers, and according to people who were there, the whole process was very chaotic and unorganized. Some fans were still stranded at Dodger Stadium while the game had been going on for an hour some six miles away. These people will likely never attempt to go to a baseball game without a car ever again.

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Last night in West Hollywood the first of seven community meetings scheduled to discuss the Metro Long Range Transportation Plan took place.  Streetsblog LA’s Damien Newton was there with over 60 other Westsiders to report on and contribute to the discussion about the LRTP and what it means for Los Angeles and the West Side in particular.  In journalist mode, Damien reports that support for rail was unanimous among the 20 people who spoke.  In citizen mode, Damien gave a stirring testimony  encouraging Metro to place more emphasis on biking and pedestrian improvements, and less on highway expansion projects.  Check out his full report on Streetsblog LA and read his testimony in its entirety on Street Heat LA.

If you were hoping to find out what the folks out Metro thought about the first meeting, you won’t find it on Metro’s own Imagine… blog, which hasn’t been updated since its first impersonal post over two weeks ago.  That post has collected 43 comments so far, and there’s yet to be one response from Metro, so it’s likely the blog is little more than window dressing, created just because websites are supposed to have blogs now.

The next community meeting is tonight at Metro Headquarters, aka the Taj Mahal, adjacent to Union Station.  The fun starts at 6:30pm on the 3rd floor Board Room.  Take the train, bus, bike, or walk tonight and share your thoughts on the future of transportation in Los Angeles.

The Exposition Construction Authority’s next phase 2 Community Workshops - on grade crossings, station and parking locations, bike routes and more - are scheduled (notice):

• Wednesday, March 26, 6:30 pm, Webster Middle School, 11330 Graham Pl., Los Angeles
• Tuesday, April 1, 6:30 pm, Crossroads School, 1714 21st St., Santa Monica
• Thursday, April 3, 6:30 pm, Vista Del Mar Child and Family Services, 3200 Motor Ave., L.A.

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Metro’s draft Long Range Transportation Plan (LRTP) has been released, with public comment due by April 25. This is the master plan for Expo and all other potential new transit lines in Los Angeles County. The Westside and Downtown public meetings are:

• March 26, 6:30pm, Plummer Park, 7377 Santa Monica Bl., West Hollywood
• March 27, 6:30pm, Metro HQ, One Gateway Plaza, Board Room - Third Floor, Los Angeles

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To learn more about the Expo Line, visit Friends 4 Expo Transit and the Expo Line Construction Authority.

This Earth Day, April 22nd, the Wilshire Center Business Improvement Corporation(WCBIC)in collaboration with The City of Los Angeles will close off four blocks of Wilshire Boulevard, from Western to Harvard, to show off the possibilities of “green urbanism” that Wilshire Center and other parts of Los Angeles offer. Although so far only Wilshire Center will be closed off the car, the Car-Free Day is a city-wide motion [PDF].

Starting at 10 AM and going until 5 PM on Tuesday, April 22 2008, Wilshire Center’s Earth Day Celebration will include:

• Live music performance (with acoustic set by Michael Franti)
• Bike raffle
• Reusable grocery bag give-away
• Tours of Metro Rapid Bus
• Organic food vendors
• Screening of “An Inconvenient Truth”

The WCBIC really seems committed to the eco-goals that led them to this event, with a whole section of their website dedicated to addressing ecological sustainability. They have a vision of Wilshire Center as a transit oriented urban village, where people can live work and play in a densely populated area without the need for a car. I hope more neighborhoods in Los Angeles follow Wilshire Center’s example and close of their streets on Earth Day… and if the message gets out, permanently.

Central/South Los Angeles

WHAT: Workshop for Central/South Los Angeles residents to provide input on bicycle policies facility improvements and other issues relating to the 2008 Los Angeles Bicycle Master Plan Update.
WHERE: Expo Center Swim Stadium, Community Room
WHEN: Saturday, February 16, 10am - 12pm
HOW TO GET THERE:

Expo Center Swim Stadium is located at 3980 S. Menlo Ave and is served by bus. Click the above map for nearby transit stops from Public Routes. You can also check the Metro Trip Planner for the best route from your location.

West Los Angeles

WHAT: Workshop for West Los Angeles residents to provide input on bicycle policies facility improvements and other issues relating to the 2008 Los Angeles Bicycle Master Plan Update.
WHERE: Felicia Mahood Multi Purpose Center
WHEN: Wednesday February 20, 6:30pm-8:30pm
HOW TO GET THERE:

Felicia Mahood Multi Purpose Center is located at 11338 Santa Monica Blvd. and is served by bus. Click the above map for nearby transit stops from Public Routes. You can also check the Metro Trip Planner for the best route from your location.

Valley Area

WHAT: Workshop for Valley Area residents to provide input on bicycle policies facility improvements and other issues relating to the 2008 Los Angeles Bicycle Master Plan Update.
WHERE: Marvin Braude-San Fernando Constituent Services Center, Conference Room1B
WHEN: Wednesday February 27, 6:30pm-8:30pm
HOW TO GET THERE:

Marvin Braude-San Fernando Constituent Services Center is located at 6262 Van Nuys Blvd. and is served by bus. Click the above map for nearby transit stops from Public Routes. You can also check the Metro Trip Planner for the best route from your location.

Harbor Area

WHAT: Workshop for Harbor Area residents to provide input on bicycle policies facility improvements and other issues relating to the 2008 Los Angeles Bicycle Master Plan Update.
WHERE: Banning’s Landing Community Center
WHEN: Saturday March 1, 10am-12pm
HOW TO GET THERE:

Banning’s Landing Community Center is located at 100 E. Water Street and is served by bus. Click the above map for nearby transit stops from Public Routes. You can also check the Metro Trip Planner for the best route from your location.