MetroRiderLA

… or at least win a Pulitzer Prize for talking about it.

Los Angeles Times columnist Steve Lopez is working the angle of his career in Los Angeles: talking about traffic congestion on the Westside. Traffic problems plague the entire county — no, the region — but no area can claim as many white, affluent and well-educated drivers that are prized by advertisers and marketers to warrant attention. Orange County can, but that’s Register turf.

He even has a comments section for you to post your what-for on the matter. Post them there, not here (comments are off).

The Los Angeles Times reports on a December 22 incident where a person appeared to be pouring mercury at the Pershing Square Metro Red/Purple Line station. The article also has video of the incident from KTLA-Channel 5.

What had been originally thought of as a “harmless accident” is now being looked at as sheriff’s deputies blew the response.

From the article:

Saying that “basic protocols were not followed,” MTA Chairwoman Gloria Molina today ordered an immediate investigation about what went wrong.

[...] 

The MTA has focused less attention on training for problems that involve chemicals and biological agents. While the agency has installed a gas detection system, workers have not been fully trained on how to deal with reports of hazardous materials.

Metro may lose $100 million from the state.

The Daily Breeze reports that Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger is planning to withhold the money to pay down a $104 million deficit projected for the next fiscal year. This means Metro must look elsewhere to fund projects in Los Angeles County.

The news comes on top of Metro’s own deficits, and the agency is considering raising fares and cutting service on unproductive routes.

James W. Cragin, a former Gardena city councilman who also served on the Metro board through the tumultuous 1990s, died this weekend of cancer. He was 82.

The Metro board meetings were farcical while a tidal wave of problems battered the agency, but the soft-spoken Cragin was above the petty politics and tried very hard to tackle the problems within and outside of the agency.

The Los Angeles Times has a small obituary on him.

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