Things to read from the past week:

  • L.A. rent is falling, with some big drops in luxury buildings: The declines appear concentrated in the top end of the marketplace, according to multiple data sources, but there are signs rent is falling slightly on the lower end as well. (LA Times)
  • More than 1,600 Californians have been evicted during pandemic: "A loophole in the state eviction moratorium forces hundreds from their homes after shelter-in-place orders. Without clear state orders, sheriff departments decide whether to evict." (CalMatters)
  • The Green Line is 25 years old. Some thoughts on that.: "In its own weird way, the C Line has offered another unusual legacy: what not to do when building a transit line. In the case of Metro, freeway median stations have long been out of fashion (although a few would get built) and future projects give stations a much firmer footing in the communities they are intended to serve." (The Source)
  • Downtown Culver City Expanded Outdoor Dining, New Bus Lane: "On Culver, a former parking lane and travel lane have been converted to space for walking and outdoor dining. Westbound traffic on Culver has been trimmed to a single bus/bike lane." (Streetsblog LA)
  • Cheapest Apartments at Biggest Foreclosure Risk as Payments Fall: "The decline highlights how hard the lockdown has squeezed the country’s lower- and middle-income renters, who are more likely to live in Class C housing and have service jobs that have been severely cut back by social-distancing rules." (Bloomberg)
  • How a rush to reopen drove Los Angeles County into a health crisis: "This timeline shows that after originally talking about beginning to reopen the economy as late as July, officials allowed thousands of businesses to unlock their doors in May. Local leaders seized the opportunity when California Gov. Gavin Newsom loosened reopening criteria....It appears to have happened too fast. Officials initially discussed opening businesses in waves, allowing a few weeks to pass between each round of reopenings. This plan was abandoned for a faster reopening." (LA Times)
  • A New Metro Budget Briefing Raises Worrying Signs for NextGen: "There are many questions as-yet unanswered about what Metro riders should expect from the fiscal year to come, but, with the deadline for the Board of Directors to vote on the budget approaching at the end of September, a new presentation has been released that casts some doubt on the agency’s commitment to following through with the NextGen bus reorganization." (Investing in Place)
  • L.A. City Is Nixing Metro’s Pedestrian-Priority Plans for Union Station: "The project’s design process has been a tug-of-war, with walk/bike advocates and Metro pushing for effective site-specific walkability features, and L.A. City departments insisting on car-centric business-as-usual standards." (Streetsblog LA)
  • Uber, Lyft are denied a delay in treating California drivers as employees: "The appeals process could take years in a case that threatens the business model for the ride-hailing giants and the gig industry as a whole." (LA Times)
  • Man Calls For More LA Metro Safety Measures After Train Collision: "A spokesperson for the L.A. Metro said they performed a post-accident inspection their equipment and found that all warning lights, crossing gates, and warning bells were functioning at the time of the accident. They also said the driver made an illegal left turn and used the wrong traffic lane to circumvent the lowered crossing gate." (CBS)