Things to read from the past week:
- At 121 degrees, Woodland Hills hits all-time high temperature for L.A. County: "Woodland Hills is one of the hottest parts of Los Angeles and often records extreme temperatures. But the 121 degree reading — taken at Pierce College — marked the highest temperature from an official NWS station from both only L.A. County but also Ventura, Santa Barbara and San Luis Obispo counties." (LA Times)
- While Adding Bikeway Mileage, L.A. City Missing Some Opportunities: "The L.A. City Department of Transportation (LADOT) has made some efforts to prioritize projects based on where safety improvements are needed, focusing on the Vision Zero High Injury Network. But, by and large, bikeway implementation remains more opportunistic than strategic. LADOT still tends to put bikeways where they fit easily, rather than where they are most needed. This tends to mean more bike lanes in more suburban parts of the city – especially the San Fernando Valley – and fewer bike lanes in central Los Angeles. It also results in a scattered, unconnected bikeway network with many, many gaps." (Streetsblog LA)
- For L.A. Latinos, Whittier Boulevard is still a crossroads of change and hope: "Fifty years ago, a coalition of Mexican American activists solidified a landmark East L.A. thoroughfare as the epicenter of the Chicano Movement." (LA Times)
- Op-Ed: Why Most Pedestrian Infrastructure Is Really for Drivers: "These elaborate and expensive pedestrian bridges are at best a remedial effort to minimize the danger this environment poses to anyone who isn’t in a car. They don’t really make the area any more desirable for walking. The real problem is not the infrastructure, or lack thereof, but a built environment that’s inhospitable to walking and cycling." (Streetsblog USA)
- After near collapse, LA’s building sector begins to rise: "After nearly seizing up during the COVID-19 shutdown, the pace of new construction in Los Angeles – a key driver of the local economy – has risen steadily over the past few months." (Crosstown LA)
- Eyes on the Street: L.A. Street Reconfigurations for Outdoor Dining: "Not all outdoor dining is created equal. With huge amounts of street space given over to drivers, outdoor dining can crowd out pedestrians. In some cases, sidewalk dining has blocked wheelchair access." (Streetsblog LA)
- L.A. hitches conditions to funding rent assistance for homeless people: 'Council President Nury Martinez, who rejected a staff proposal to immediately authorize $97 million in spending for rapid rehousing and related programs, argued that the city needed to hold the agency accountable because it “frankly has underperformed in the past.”' (LA Times)
- ‘Sad, tragic loss for all Californians’: Death toll in state fires at 20 (LA Times)
- Councilmember Koretz Kills ‘Uplift Melrose’ Safe Streets Project: "Koretz got assists from the city's Fire and Police Departments, and Fix the City" (Streetsblog LA)
- Golf Courses Emerge as a Fix for L.A.’s Affordable Housing Crisis: "A Los Angeles architect argues that the solution to the city’s housing woes might lie on the 18th green. Urban golfers don’t agree." (CityLab)
- A 2006 Heat Wave Was a Warning from the Future. Why Didn’t L.A. Pay Attention?: "The deadly impacts of climate change on a hot, hardscape city were clear 15 years ago." (Curbed)
- Fareless transit: A Q&A on Metro’s study to eliminate fares: "The task force aims to deliver a recommendation to Phil and ultimately the Metro Board of Directors by the end of 2020 with a decision by the Board whether to go forward soon thereafter in the new year." (The Source)
- Newsom endorses November ballot measure to limit Prop. 13 property tax rules: "If approved by voters in November, Proposition 15 would create separate tax rules for commercial and residential property. Since the passage of Proposition 13 in 1978, the value of all property has been based on what it sold for when last purchased. That initiative capped property tax rates at 1% of the assessed value with annual increases of no more than 2%. Californians who hold on to their property for long periods of time end up paying significantly less in taxes than those who have bought similar property more recently." (LA Times)