Damien Newton
Recent Posts
A First Peek at L.A.’s Measure R2: Sales Taxes for Transportation
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Earlier this afternoon, Los Angeles Times transportation reporter Laura Nelson reported on many of the details of the sales tax ballot measure that will be presented to Metro Board committees next week. With the approval of the Metro Board of Directors, the measure would go on this fall’s ballot where it would need the support […]
#DamienTalks 32: Livable Downtown San Diego and the L.A. Bicycle Festival
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Two for the price of one! Today #DamienTalks with a pair of Southern California bicycle advocates, BikeSD’s Samantha Ollinger and the Bicycle Culture Institute’s Nona Varnado. First, #DamienTalks with Ollinger about the exciting plans for Downtown San Diego. The City Council will vote next week on a plan to add 9.3 miles of protected bikeways […]
#DamienTalks 31 – CalBike’s Jeanie Ward-Waller and a Proposal to Create Bike Rebates
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Today, #DamienTalks with Jeanie Ward-Waller, the Streetsie Award-Winning activist with CalBike about a proposal to provide rebates for people purchasing bicycles for their commutes. The Air Resources Board already provides rebates to those purchasing hybrid, low-emission and zero-emission vehicles. So why not provide the same benefit to those purchasing bicycles — the ultimate zero-emission vehicle? […]
A State Legislator Is Really Proposing to Slash Fines for Running a Red Light to Turn Right
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State Senator Jerry Hill (D-Millbrae) has been earning a lot of attention recently for a proposal to slash the fine for drivers turning right at a red light without stopping. This move seems particularly heartless considering California’s streak of leading the country in traffic fatalities, nearly a quarter of which were pedestrians. Failure to yield […]
Sorry Jerry, Sometimes Better Isn’t Good Enough
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Yesterday, the administration responded to the critique that Governor Jerry Brown’s proposed budget does not advance the state’s stated goal of reducing greenhouse gas emissions by increasing the safety and comfort of those that walk and bicycle. While the op/ed, written by California State Transportation Agency Secretary Brian Kelly, only directly addresses a different opinion piece […]
#DamienTalks 30 – SCAG’s Hasan Ikharta and the Pilot Program That Could Slay the Gas Tax
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Today, #DamienTalks with Hasan Ikharta, the executive director of the Southern California Association of Governments about the pilot program that could be the second step in replacing the state’s gas tax with a vehicle miles traveled tax. Last week, the state announced it was looking for 5,000 drivers to participate in a pilot program to […]
Falling Gas Tax Revenue Leads to Slash in State Transportation Money
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The timing seems less than coincidental, announcing a cut in transportation funding days after announcing a pilot program to study road users’ fees–but the message is just as stark. The State of California is running out of money to fund transportation. Last week, the California Transportation Commission (CTC) slashed its own estimates of what the gas tax […]
State Releases Proposed Rules That Would Finally End LOS in Enviro. Law
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Earlier today, the State of California released its anticipated final draft set of changes to the state’s environmental law, the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA). Under the new CEQA rule, environmental studies will use measurements that better correspond to actual environmental costs and benefits. This realigns the CEQA process to foster better transit, more walking and bicycling, and […]
Caltrans Seeking 5,000 Drivers to Try VMT Fee Instead of Gas Tax
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As the value captured from the state’s gas tax continues to fall, and the conditions of the California’s roads and bridges continues to worsen, state leaders unveiled a plan last week to pilot a program that could lead to replacing the gas tax with a road user fee based on vehicle miles traveled. A summary […]
PIRG: L.A.’s Proposed Freight Highway Tunnel Among Country’s Worst Projects
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Yesterday, the Public Interest Research Group (PIRG), a national non-profit with state chapters throughout the country, released a report detailing the “12 biggest highway boondoggles” under study in the country. Not surprisingly, a California highway project made the list, the I-710 Tunnel Project in Los Angeles County. PIRG explains the project. San Gabriel Valley Route […]
#DamienTalks 29: Coalitions, Taxes and Placemaking with Jessica Meaney
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This week #DamienTalks with Jessica Meaney, a longtime friend of Streetsblog and the founder of the Los Angeles based Investing In Place. Meaney has been a leading fighter for equity in transportation planning and funding by mode, by geographic need and by economic need. Today we focus on Meaney’s efforts to insure that any future […]
#DamienTalks 28: Melanie Curry on the Proposed State Budget
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Welcome back to #DamienTalks! Today we’re broadcasting our first episode for 2016 on Streetsblog California (we posted a local episode on Streetsblog Los Angeles yesterday). Today, Damien Talks to the most familiar of faces and voices, SBCAL editor Melanie Curry. Anyone that missed last week’s report on Governor Brown’s proposed state budget must listen to this episode, […]