MetroRiderLA

This March Metro asked you to share with them what you Imagine for L.A.’s transportation future. In two days however, the 45-day public comment period will come to a close, meaning you’d better act fast if you want your input on the Long Range Transportation Plan to have an impact.

The last of the seven community meetings being held to discuss the plan is tonight starting at 6 PM at the Marvin Braude Constituent Service Center in Van Nuys. You may also email your comments to metroplan@metro.net or call Metro’s LRTP Hotline at 213-922-2833 to leave a voice comment.

Perhaps you need some inspiration to help gather your thoughts for your own comments. Check out Damien Newton’s testimony over at Street Heat LA. His comments focus on the idea of creating balanced streets where all transportation modes get equal access to our precious streets. Also have a look at the conversation on the MetroRiderLA forum, perhaps Dan Wentzel’s ideas for making the Valley/Westside transit connection a reality is more along the lines of what you’re thinking.

Our very own Wad (who unfortunately has been too busy with real life to write for us lately), sent me his comments on the Long Range Transportation Plan, and his letter, aside from the fact that it contains some of the best recommendations I’ve read, is laid out in a manner that I plan on emulating because it’s organized so logically.

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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.