MetroRiderLA

[tags]inland empire, omnitrans, union, organized labor, strike[/tags]

Bus riders of Omnitrans don’t have to worry about finding other rides after Friday.

The San Bernardino agency avoided a strike by its drivers, represented by Amalgamated Transit Union Local 1704. The union was set to strike Friday if a deal was not reached. Under a tentative agreement, Omnitrans offered and drivers accepted a $65 million package that raises drivers’ wages 13.5 percent over three years.

The Omnitrans board must approve the deal next month.

See also:

• Omnitrans press releases (PDF format)
  • Omnitrans and labor union reach tentative labor agreement
  • Fact sheet
• San Bernardino Sun: Bus strike averted
• Riverside Press-Enterprise: Omnitrans, union reach tentative deal

[tags]metrolink, public transit, orange county, los angeles, riverside[/tags]

It seems Metrolink riders know how good they’ve got it.

According to the Riverside Press-Enterprise, commuters on the Metrolink 706 train on the 91 Line are a wild bunch. A recent article describes how passengers in the last car of the 706 behave like reckless, uninhibited teenagers although most are creeping past middle age. It all started 8 years ago when a conductor would repeatedly nearly miss a stop (La Sierra in Riverside). The passengers found it amusing and decided to let the conductor know when the stop was coming, in the most immature way possible, by screaming like banshees when they passed the Magnolia Bird Farm.

In past years the group of commuters have also thrown toga parties on the platform, started whiffle ball games, crammed 13 people into the bathroom, among other bits of tomfoolery. What makes these grown adults feel that they can act like children while real commuters are idling out on the 91 Freeway? Maybe because they’ve got a sweet subsidized ride and they’re not afraid to use it. And I say, more power to them.

Apologies to underground indie hipster comedian Johnny Pemberton for the headline.

[tags]los angeles, la city beat, public transit[/tags]

Illustration credit: Scott Gandell, L.A. City Beat. Clicking on the illustration links to the interview.

L.A. City Beat has produced a good series of transit-related stories recently, many written by capable reporter Alan Mittelstaedt. This is an interview with Allison Yoh, a UCLA PhD candidate and former Metro board member from 2001 to 2003. Former L.A. Mayor James Hahn made her one of his three appointees. She was selected because of her experience as an academic and a board member who used transit. While she could have been an exemplary board member, her brief tenure ended when Hahan replaced her with this guy.

Yoh’s answers seemed guarded

[tags]los angeles, la city beat, public transit[/tags]

Once again, L.A. City Beat’s Alan Mittelstaedt — the L.A. Sniper — brings up the curve for all of Southern California’s media when it comes to transportation reporting. This week, he echoes the sentiment expressed in this page that it’s the pols’ positions on transit, not their riding habits, that really matter. In the first item, he finds councilman Greig Smith is a Metrolink rider, wonders why councilman Tony Cardenas didn’t respond to the survey, and runs down the list of meetings to get billions invested in a subway to the sea (or other projects on the Westside).

In the last item, he doesn’t care much for AT&T’s ad blitz on the Metro Gold Line.

[tags]green la girl, los angeles times, emerald city, christopher hawthorne[/tags]

You go, girl!

Siel is now the Green L.A. Times Girl. Her hard work and insight on her own site, Green L.A. Girl, led her to become the Times’s enviro-blogger on Emerald City. This is a tremendous opportunity for a well-respected and popular blogger. Siel is very active with all things eco-friendly, and her enthusiasm is incredible. Siel has worked with MetroRiderLA on the Silver Streak ride report and the PSFK conference.

MetroReaders, let’s offer congrats to Siel for her new high-profile blog. And from MetroRiderLA, a rose:

—<-@

The items on L.A. Times are consolidated on one post, so while we got the positive out of the way first, the tone becomes much darker for the following two items. One pertains to architecture critic Christopher Hawthorne, and the other does not dignify a response other than to note that it is — without hyperbole — a compositional Chernobyl and a crime against journalism, the English language and thought.

(more…)

[tags]los angeles, mta, red line, orange line, san fernando valley, north hollywood, transit oriented development[/tags]

This part of land is not going to remain so empty when a billion-dollar development goes into NoHo.
Credit: FredCamino via Flickr

North Hollywood is about to get one of L.A.’s largest and most expensive transit oriented developments.

Metro approved the NoHo Art Wave, a $1 billion plan by Lowe Enterprises last week that would bring 562 new housing units, nearly 1.75 million square feet of retail and 6,200 parking spaces around the terminals of the Red and Orange lines.

L.A. political blogger Mayor Sam said the project was railroaded through — no pun intended — with minimal input from the community.

See the following links:

• Tribune properties
  • Los Angeles Times: Large transit-oriented development OKd for North Hollywood
  • KTLA-Channel 5: $1 Billion Development Proposed for North Hollywood
  • Times’s Bottleneck Blog: North Hollywood: transit hub
• Los Angeles Business Journal: Lowe Lands NoHo Art Wave Project
• San Fernando Valley Business Journal: MTA Picks Developer Lowe For NoHo Project
• Los Angeles Daily News: Mixed-use project near transit hub moves ahead
• Bloomberg.com: Lowe Selected to Develop Los Angeles Subway Project
• Curbed LA: $1 Billion North Hollywood Project Approved