>> Oil companies agreed to pay $423 million to settle MTBE contamination lawsuits, "brought by water suppliers and users in California and 19 other states over groundwater contaminated with the gasoline additive." However, six oil companies -- including Exxon -- did not agree to settle. More legal fights to come.
>> Beauty and the beak: Beauty the eagle got its beak shot off, giving her a handicap akin to having "only one chopstick to eat," according to one biologist. A team of volunteers is working to attach an artificial beak to Beauty. Earlier: Fake flipper for a turtle named Allison.
Pasadena isn't the only city celebrating Bike to Work week next week. Events are happening nationwide, Metro's getting in on the bike riding fun with a weeklong schedule of activities (PDF), including lots and lots of giveaways, free bus rides and a guest appearance by -- Shrek.
Shrek will be working the giveaway table at the kick-off event for Metro's Bike to Work Week, happening 9 am on Monday, May 12, at the Universal City Metro Red Line Station. Take your bike on a train ride to see the event, and you'll get freebies ranging from bike water bottles to sunscreen samples to Clif bars. L.A. City Councilmember Tom Labonge, Glendale Mayor John Drayman, and Metro CEO Roger Snoble will all be there.
Can't commit to riding a whole week? Then at least commit to riding Thursday, May 15 -- the official Bike to Work day. Between 7 am and 10 am, bikers can take breaks at "pit stops" all over the city that will be giving out snacks and other freebies.
You don't even have to bike your whole commute. Many transit agencies are offering free bus and rail rides to bikers; all you need is to board with your bike or helmet on Bike to Work Day.
If you do plan to bike it on May 15, make your pledge-to-bike here to be put in a drawing for a folding bike from REI! Other prizes include gift cards for REI and other companies, passes to the Laugh Factory, and bike messenger bags. Oddly, pledges are accepted until May 16, a day AFTER Bike to Work day -- so you could technically "pledge" post-ride.
And to see just how much you'll be saving -- both gas money-wise and carbon-footprint-wise -- check out the new Bike to Work calculator on the Metro website. To the right's the calculations for a person who decides to bike instead of driving a Santa Monica to downtown L.A. commute (I grant you'd have to be a pretty hardcore biker to do this, but anyway....). The boxes aren't labeled very well, but after a call to Metro, I found out that the numbers under "Gasoline savings" mean this: You'd save $15.41 of your money and 3.75 gallons of gas if you switched to biking, assuming that your car gets 20 mpg and gas costs $4.11 a gallon.
Those really, really psyched about the savings can download a Bike to Work day screensaver. Caveat: screensavers don't save energy; put your computer to sleep or shut down instead!
L.A. girl Kathryn Pope has a goal for 2008: To get rid of her car entirely by June! Follow her de-car-ing adventures.
Busing It. As I was making the decision to go car-free, I read "How to Live Well Without Owning a Car," by Chris Balish (great book). Balish suggests having several backup options for transport when switching to a car-free lifestyle, to be sure that commutes go smoothly, even when the unexpected happens. So, while my Motorboard is fun and makes me cooler than ever, I need other options for rainy days and long distances. My first backup is public transit.
I took my first bus ride because I was angry with my car, not because of my environmental goodness. After failed smog tests, maintenance tickets, and a chunk of metal that started to drag on the pavement as I drove, I was fed up. At the time, public transit seemed like a radical idea -- sheer craziness, in a city where cars are fashion statements. As I stuck my head under the car to inspect the errant chunk of whatever it was under there, I felt just crazy enough to try it. What if it turned out that I didn’t need this pile of metal to get me around at all? What would life be like?
The idea seemed like a great adventure. So I found the Big Blue Bus line 14, grabbed my quarters, and gave it a shot. It turns out that I arrived early for my appointment that day (no need to hunt for parking on Wilshire), and I arrived calmer than usual -- relaxed, actually. I’ve been a public transit convert ever since. I have to say that the bus is a sweet ride, compared with my no-frills car. Not only do I get to read, e-mail, and otherwise keep myself busy while I’m driven around by a professional driver -- I get to do it with climate control. I’ve also run into students and former students on the bus, made friends with strangers, and learned about the history of L.A. from an 88-year-old expert.
So what do you need to know, if you’re a bus novice eager to give it a try? A few ideas:
Use a TAP card and/or Little Blue Card. Fare cards save so much hassle in searching for the right change –- and, as I learned on my first ride, the driver won’t give change if you hand her a bill. The TAP card is still in its infancy, but if you buy one at certain locations in Culver City, you can put any dollar amount you want on your card and use it gift-card style on Culver City and Metro buses. The Big Blue Bus has a card of its own, the Little Blue Card, which you can buy online at the Big Blue Bus website.
Bring entertainment. Buses have to navigate traffic too, and they’re sometimes late or slow. Bring something fun or productive to pass the time, and you won’t find yourself tapping your foot impatiently and checking your watch.
Grab schedules to take with you. Public transit in L.A. is complicated when compared with other cities. It helps to know exactly which lines you’re taking and when the buses are scheduled to come. This will be even easier when we get Google transit in L.A. this summer. Until then, use metro.net’s trip planner and 1-800-COMMUTE.
Start with one short ride. For your first bus adventure, try taking a short ride on the bus that runs closest to your house, rather than starting with a commute to work or another important event. Even if you're not ready to think about de-car-ing just yet, a ride or two on the bus every so often can reduce your emissions, curb your gas-buying, and (although it may sound strange) give you a sense of community and warm fuzzies about the amazing people who live in L.A.
>> Debating the future of L.A. transportation. Read the five-part debate between USC professor Peter Gordon and the Transit Coalition’s Bart Reed -- with a grain of salt, as both men make false claims on occasion. Reed, for example, claims that the HOT lanes will force carpoolers into adjacent lanes -- despite the fact that carpoolers may be able to use HOT lanes for free. (Concrete decisions haven't been made yet.) Gordon's arguments are often just bizarre, with his own conjecturing being the only "proof" for his assertions: "As more people drive, they will have more range and more options." Seriously? Have you heard of, um, the congestion problem we already have? Being trapped on the 405 -- with no option to take a train that would avoid traffic entirely -- isn't exactly what I call freedom.
>> In Washington, D.C., newlyweds ride the train from the wedding to the reception: "I think Metro's easier than driving during rush hour," said the bride. "I've taken the Metro my entire career in rush hour. And it's always quicker than cabs or cars.... I just thought it would be a fun processional march and a way of getting strangers involved in sharing our joy." (via eecue)
>> Heart sidewalks? Many do, but unfortunately, it's not the item on top of Angelenos' want lists. City Planner Deborah Murphy speaks out on why roads aren't just for cars in a new StreetFilms video. In it, she points out that while L.A. residents say they want sidewalks, they're not pushing politicians to take action en masse -- perhaps because they're too busy being stuck in traffic. The biggest problem, in her opinion, is free parking -- even in our homes. "We give up so much of our private land to cars," she says.
>> Ocean debris, sorted. Ocean Conservancy reported that their volunteers found 6 million pounds of trash on the world's coastlines -- in one day. Wired mag asked for specifics -- and got them in great detail. "Perhaps not surprisingly, there's also a disturbing amount of condoms floating around the world's oceans."
New to the discussion? You can catch up on the details of the early scoping meetings that took place back in October last year, where the crowd almost unanimously agreed that the Westside needs a subway running down Wilshire all the way to the beach -- and maybe another line down Santa Monica Blvd. as well. Above's the tentative map that was displayed at that meeting.
Since then, some of those alternatives have likely been abandoned, and the map redrawn. This new round of meetings will brief the public on a "refined set of alternatives that will continue for further study and the schedule for future steps." The five meetings will happen:
Mon., May 5, 6-8 p.m., Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Terrace Room, 5th Fl., 5905 Wilshire Blvd., Los Angeles.
Tues., May 6, 6-8 p.m., Westside Presbyterian Church, 10822 Wilshire Blvd., Los Angeles.
Thurs., May 8, 6-8 p.m, Santa Monica Public Library, Multipurpose Room, 2nd Fl., 601 Santa Monica Blvd., Santa Monica
Mon., May 12, 6-8 pm, Plummer Park, 7377 Santa Monica Blvd., West Hollywood
Each meeting will start with an "open house" -- which in the past has meant people just hanging about looking at displayed maps and agendas -- with the project update presentation starting at 6:30, followed by a Q&A.
All meeting locations are easily accessible via the Metro lines running on Wilshire (20, 720, 920) and Santa Monica (4, 704) Blvds., as well as some Big Blue Bus lines. Ride the bus -- or fight traffic at the wheel -- and dream about how nice it'd be to have a traffic-hassle-free subway that whisks you from downtown L.A. to the beach in just 35 minutes.
>> Woman moves to Santa Monica, de-cars, loves life. She's like me, except a half-century older. "Instead of jumping into your car to do 11 boring errands in four hours, you do one errand, or two, and it takes as long as it takes, and you only buy what you can carry, or push, in a cute little cart.... I'm here on the ground, walking past flowers, and I don't miss those cars at all."
>> Massive bus service cuts averted! The Metro board decided that the proposed cuts were too severe and voted to limit cuts to 6 lines.
>> Why food prices are suddenly going up. In Grist, Tom Philpott breaks down the many reasons behind the sudden rise in food prices around the world. Item 4, which details Haiti's transformation from a food secure nation to a country of displaced farmers and hungry urban poor, is especially saddening. Support local agriculture!
>> Penguin swims in a custom-made wetsuit. Pierre, an African penguin that was going bald, got dive gear company Oceanic Worldwide to make him a suit. "With his plumage restored, Pierre is being weaned off the suit, taking more and more dips in the buff. There are no plans to make him a matching surf board." Earlier: Fake flipper for a turtle named Allison.
It's true -- L.A.'s main thoroughfare's going car free for most of Earth Day. Wilshire Blvd. will become a pedestrian walkway -- at least between Western and Harvard! So -- How to get there:
* Bike! You'll even get free bike valet service from the Los Angeles County Bicycle Coalition. And you'll be able to join in a couple short bike rides the LACBC will be leading; check the LACBC booth for ride times.
* Bus! The Metro Bus Lines that run down Wilshire -- That's the 20, 720 and 920 -- will be re-routed to 8th Street between Western and Vermont; just get off on Western to enjoy the festivities without traffic or parking hassles. In addition, Metro Lines 18, 66 and 209 will operate via regular routes, but will use alternate layover zones. All three lines will make all regularly scheduled stops except for the stop at Wilshire and Western.
* Rail! Traffic's bound to be messy in the area, but taking the subway will let you avoid the jam altogether. Metro Purple Line subway service will run according to schedule, every 10 to 12 minutes.
Soon, it'll be as easy to get public transit directions as it is to get driving directions via Google. By the summer, Angelenos will likely be using Google Transit, a Google Maps-based application that seamlessly links up walking to various public transit modes, to easily plan their bus and train rides in L.A.
Although L.A. transit agencies won't make the Earth Day 2008 challenge deadline proposed by Google, Metro and Metrolink are working hard to get their system info into Google Transit. Both agencies are currently in the testing phase.
Matthew Barrett of the Metro Library says the Metro bus information's ready to go -- and is already being tested -- but that they're waiting to get the rail info in there before the roll out. No firm dates -- aside from the fact that the launch will be after Earth Day -- have been set yet -- but since Metro and Google Transit had a conference call yesterday, more details should come out soon.
Metrolink, for its part, is planning an early May rollout. "Google Transit is a huge opportunity for us," said Francisco Oaxaca, Metrolink's manager of media and external communications, "because we think we're the ones most vulnerable to not having a multi-agency trip planner." Oaxaca pointed out that many Metrolink riders require multiple transfers between different agencies, and often have to go cobble together a route using multiple trip planners from various agencies. Google Transit, by contrast, would give people "an opportunity to plan door to door."
Of course, the success of Google Transit for L.A. requires that ALL of our many transit agencies in the area join Metro and Metrolink to really offer Angelenos a comprehensive trip planner. The OCTA and the Burbank Bus are a step ahead and already in the Google Transit system, but most local agencies are not. The Big Blue Bus, the Culver City Bus, and all the various bus lines also need to format their schedule and fare info to work with the Google Transit system. It's only when all the agencies get involved that riders will be able to take full advantage of both the Google Transit app and L.A.'s network of transit systems.
According to Oaxaca, Google Transit can be a real money saver for transit agencies. Building a trip planner from scratch could cost an agency "easily over $100,000," Oaxaca said, while formatting the transit information to fit into Google Transit cost Metrolink just "several thousand." Oaxaca also noted that once transit agencies put up the front end cost of getting into Google Transit, updates will be painless. "It really takes a lot of the burden off the transit agencies."
So encourage your local transit agency to get on to Google Transit! There's certainly great support for Google Transit among transit riders, as evidenced by a recent MetroRiderLA post and the ensuing 20+ comments. I have a call in to the Big Blue Bus, but haven't heard an update yet. More to come on that soon.
In the meantime, look forward to Metro and Metrolink's debuts on Google Transit. After the initial rollout, Metrolink will work on getting Amtrak information onto Google Transit, since the two agencies have a joint "rail to rail" service that allows passengers to ride either agency's trains interchangeably. Metrolink also plans to start testing its real-time train status function in May. Happy riding.
>> SoCal received just $1.65 billion -- as opposed to the $2.2 billion asked for -- from the California Transportation Commission yesterday. That $1.65 equals 56.5 percent of the entire pot of money, but many in SoCal believe we deserved more: "Three dozen state legislators had asked that at least 70% of the money go to their region because it is home to the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach, which combined handle 85% of the shipping cargo containers that move through California."
>> In response to CTC's decision, Metro released a statement saying the agency had a "mixed reaction": "On the one hand, the monies will be put to good use funding dozens of transportation projects.... On the other hand, Metro is disappointed that the CTC did not award this region the full $2.2 billion.
>> The CTC's decision also has Assembly Speaker Fabian Nuñez calling for the resignation of Roger Snoble, head of Metro (photo above). "Nuñez charged that Snoble agreed to a bad deal that shortchanged Los Angeles County early in the competition for funds and that the MTA's chief executive officer failed to provide enough transportation projects ready to compete for the money." Snoble happened to be on vacation yesterday.
>> No salmon for you!
There will be no salmon fishing off California and Oregon, due to
efforts to protect the chinook salmon population. The ban's the first
in the 150-year history of the West Coast fishing industry.
>> Get ready for higher utility bills if you get your power from one of these companies:
Southern California Edison, Southern California Gas Co., Pacific Gas
& Electric and San Diego Gas & Electric. California utility
customers will foot the bill for a $600-million global-warming think
tank -- The California Institute for Climate Solutions -- aimed at
"accelerating research into ways to quickly cut harmful greenhouse gas
emissions." LA DWP customers won't be affected, because the surcharge
can't be added to public utilities.
>> Don't miss the FREE Earth Day on the Promenade tomorrow, Sat., April 12, from 10 a.m. - 7 p.m., on Third Street Promenade, between Broadway and Wilshire in Santa Monica.
>> Drop by the reception for Zone 5 in the City: Art Sustaining Nature, "a project that brings professional artists together with Franklin High School students to explore the issue of sustainability through the construction of site-specific installations on the grounds of the Audubon Center at Debs Park." The free event -- which includes an edible plant walk -- happens tomorrow, Sat. April 12, from 2 pm to 5 pm at Audubon Center at Debs Park, 4700 N. Griffin Ave., Los Angeles.
Watch it to find out how it differs from both buses and trains -- and to hear about some of the reasons why BRT systems are put in instead of rail, and about the future of transit in L.A.
L.A. City Council member Wendy Greuel and Rex Gephardt, Metro's Regional Transit Planning Director, both make an appearance and talk about how politics and money weigh into the decisionmaking process for public transportation. This BRT film's hopefully the first of many to come from StreetFilms about de-car-ing in L.A.
As a teenager, Siel sped past Paramount Studios on the 10 Metro bus to get to Fairfax High School. Now she cuts through the concrete jungle of Los Angeles on her pink Townie bike to shop at local farmers' markets and socialize in pre-loved Prada heels. A contributing editor to BlogHer, Siel also keeps a personal blog, green LA girl. Send your burning green questions to greenlagirl@gmail.com.
>> Free eco-themed Mother's Day e-cards from Grist. Earlier: Eco Mother's Day gifts for any budget. 
Emerald City calendar