PUC bans cellphone use in trains and Measure R: Ramping up, Sept. 19

Measure R: Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and the Legislature reached a budget deal Thursday that could clear the way for the governor to start signing bills. There are a whole mess of them that affect transportation and driving. But the one that this blog has been watching is AB 2321, which would allow a half-cent sales tax increase proposal, called Measure R, to go to voters in Los Angeles County on Nov. 4. The money would go to mass transit and road improvements.

Cellphones in locomotives: The California Public Utilities Commission banned the use of phones by locomotive engineers Thursday in response to reports that Robert Sanchez, the Metrolink engineer, may have been using his in the moments leading up to last Friday's crash. The Federal Railroad Administration doesn't have a rule, but Metrolink had a "no using the cellphone" policy in place.

Now the question comes to enforcement. Who will be watching? What will the penalties be? The PUC says that state workers may be doing inspections and that it is considering setting up a toll-free phone number through which residents can report safety problems. I'm officially skeptical unless they come up with a rule that says something along the lines of "If we find a cellphone in the cab, you're banned from trains for life."

National Park(ing) day: This is the day of the year when people convert parking spaces into parks to make a statement that maybe every square inch of cities doesn't need to be covered in asphalt. Bottleneck is glad to accommodate anyone who wants to publish a photo of his or her newly spruced-up parking spot. Send 'em to the e-mail below.

-- Steve Hymon

Comments

[Ken Alpern]

Well said, Dana. I was aghast at the sales tax idea floated by the governor--it'll be hard enough to push for the local sales tax, but it would be well nigh impossible if Sacramento had imposed its own sales tax.

[Dana Gabbard]

The other thing about the budget deal is it includes no temporary sales tax, an idea the Governor floated for the longest time to help raise revenue to close the budget deficit. That would have made selling Measure R much harder.

So while this horrible budget will rob transit blind at least it lets us take control of our own destiny by imposing a local tax that the folks in Sacramento can't touch.