>> Internet dating service DateforTrees will plant a tree for each month you pay for its services. A small green incentive to keep looking without ever settling? (via grist)
>> Save some money and find your dates in trains. There are more fellow commuters to meet and mingle with, now that commuter rail ridership's way up in the L.A. area. Earlier: Subway Crush: Like Craigslist's Missed Connections, except for subways.
>> The light-rail-accessible Aquarium of the Pacific is 10 years old and more popular than ever. "At a time when the world's seas are in deep blue trouble, the aquarium assists in local coastal cleanups and fish population surveys." Earlier: TransitPeople and a trip to the aquarium via Metro.
>> Bikes too are getting so popular we now have instructions for ugging them up -- so as to deter thieves. Get instructions for everything from faux rust to mismatched pedals. (via lifehacker)
>> With more people opting for less travel or more eco-travel, airlines are suffering -- but also getting greener, sort of. Wired's Dave Demerjian has the scoop from the Eco-Aviation Conference this week.
>> Would-be Al Gore imitators can pick up PowerPoint tips from Nancy Duarte of Duarte Design, the company behind the slide show featured in "An Inconvenient Truth."
Photo by Liz O. Baylen, L.A. Times
 >> Want to stay cool this summer? There's a quick solution that will "lower summertime temperatures in cities, dramatically reduce your air-conditioning bills and help trap some of the greenhouse gases responsible for global warming": plant a tree!
>> The most eco wading pool is the public pool -- or the beach! Says Umbra of Grist: "If you live in a city with a nearby wading pool, please use that publicly available resource instead of your kiddie pool. It's the public transit of summer swimming."
>> Drive, don't fly, to your summer vacation destination, says Pablo of Salon.com, before adding this: "But are you sure you really have to travel? Consider taking what is being called a 'staycation.' "
>> One staycation idea: Form a summer nature club. "Parents, grandparents and even kids can create clubs quickly in any neighborhood, urban or suburban. This is an approach that can reduce fear and increase motivation."
>> If you do decide to drive to your summer destination, use these hyper-miling techniques to save gas, money, and a little teeny tiny bit of the environment.
>> Summer dilemmas for the modern eco-parent. Lou Bendrick shares her best tips in Grist: "I like to approach the topic of global warming the way I approach the topic of sex: with a steady stream of age-appropriate facts. My first grader, for instance, ... doesn't need to know about ocean acidification any more than she needs know about chlamydia." Relatedly, here are tips on greening your kid this summer.
Photo by Oz Mendoza via Flickr
 Amtrak has reason to celebrate. Thanks to gas prices -- and perhaps also due to environmentalists seeking to lower their carbon footprints -- Amtrak's ridership for 2008 is already up 12%. So perhaps it's no surprise that Amtrak has declared Saturday, May 10, the first National Train Day -- and is throwing a party at L.A.'s Union Station to commemorate it.
The highlight of the event is a free concert by Drake Bell, but train activities will happen all day. The train-curious can take train tours on Amtrak equipment, check out train driving simulators and train model displays, take in a train photography exhibit, and peruse the many Amtrak and vendor display booths.
Amtrak will even have a train cutout, behind which you can get a free commemorative picture taken. For kids, there'll be face painting, arts and crafts, toy trains and performances by the Fun Train Strolling Minstrels.
When: Saturday, May 10, 10:30 a.m. – 4 p.m. Here's the full schedule of events.
Where: At the Old Ticket Concourse, Main Station, and Arcade of Union Station, 800 N. Alameda St., Los Angeles
Cost: Free!
Why May 10? The date's the anniversary of the completion of the Transcontinental Railroad in Utah on May 10, 1869. Amtrak's reportedly spending $2.2 million on its day of celebration -- with major events also happening in New York City, Washington D.C., and Chicago, and other, smaller events taking place all over the U.S., including at the L.A. Zoo and train stations in Anaheim and Irvine.
>> Radiohead frontman Thom Yorke said the band didn't fly to perform at NBC's Late Night with Conan O'Brien because the trip would have created "a carbon footprint equivalent to driving a car for a solid year." Radiohead recorded a live version in London to air on the show instead.
>> Jason Hill, son of a General Motors designer, is designing greener, sleeker cars
after founding Long Beach-based firm Eleven. "With its low,
three-wheeled stance and a shape akin to a raindrop, the Aptera
prototype is five times more slippery in the wind than a Toyota Prius
and 25 times more than a Hummer."
>> Wangari Muta Maathai, the founder of Kenya's Green Belt
Movement and the first African woman to win the Nobel Peace Prize,
spoke in L.A. about "simple things that can be done, such as recycling, planting trees, changing light bulbs and using public transportation."
>> USC professor Martin Kaplan praises Grand Avenue civic park plans for its potential to encourage civic engagement. "This place will be a stage, a setting, a platform for spectacle, an arena intended for every kind of public play and political performance that the city can muster."
>> With no shade, drinking water, or bathrooms at the Santa Ana station, Metrolink riders are tired of sweating it out. "Metrolink officials say the responsibility for making improvements ... rests with the city. But city officials say they share the concerns of Potter and others. The city has applied for funds from OCTA for the upgrades but won't know until sometime this summer whether it will get the money, officials said."
>> Peak water's coming fast, and cities have to learn to cope. Read about how Phoenix, London, and pretty much every major city in Australia are dealing with water shortages.
Photo by Gordon via Flickr
The following is a guest post by Damien Newton, who blogs at Streetsblog LA.
When I was a kid, I remember my Dad once remarking about some
pandering politician, "Wow, I sure hope he's lying and doesn't actually
mean that." That's how I felt when I heard that John McCain had
announced a plan to give Americans a "Summer Holiday" from the federal gas tax.
Basically, to make it more cost effective for people to drive to their
vacations, McCain proposed cutting the 18 cent per gallon gas tax and
24 cent per gallon diesel tax to nothing during the summer travel
season. Even if we ignore that lowering gas prices isn't necessarily a
laudable goal, there are so many reasons a gas tax break is a bad idea
that I can't list all of them here. But for all our sakes -- after all,
there's a 50-50 shot this man will become our next president -- I hope he's just
pandering to a population sick of gas prices and doesn't really mean it.
First, it's not like the money that is earned from gasoline taxes
goes towards the general fund. Gas tax funds go back into
transportation projects. While it can certainly be argued that the
government wastes money on stupid projects such as road widenings, the
gas tax also provides funds for repairing the system, modernizing and
expanding transit and even funding some bicycle and pedestrian projects.
It was just last year that the nation was given a harsh reminder
that our transportation infrastructure is old and falling apart when a
highway bridge in Minnesota did just that. Across the country the
condition of our roads and bridges get worse every day. We didn't build
our highway system to handle heavy freight trucks and SUV's. We built
it to handle Model T's and milk trucks. The pounding our pavements
receive every year is taking its toll. Now is not the time to cut off
funding for fixing them.
There's no word on whether or not McCain will call for a holiday for
American roads and bridges this summer by requiring people to stay home
for three months as of this article's publication.
Pulling no punches, John Horsely, the director of the American
Association of State Highway and Traffic Organizations (basically a
non-profit or people that work at DOT's), said in a written statement about McCain's plan:
"This proposal would have devastating impacts upon the federal-aid
highway and transit programs, sharply reducing funding available to
states and jeopardizing hundreds of thousands of jobs nationwide. Such
a move would be short-sighted and damaging to our nation's economy,
while providing little relief to America's drivers."
It's probably not everyday that highway engineers and
environmentalists are in agreement, but based on this quote from
Friend's of the Earth's Colin Peppard (found on the blog of Smart
Growth America) that's exactly what happened. Peppard tells SGA:
"Suspending the gas tax will set back our fight against global
warming. Eliminating the federal gas tax will increase driving and
resulting global warming pollution at a critical time. Further, his
proposal will hamstring the federal government's ability to invest in
the energy-efficient, climate-friendly transportation alternatives we
need to reduce transportation emissions. If McCain were serious about
addressing global warming, he'd be thinking of ways to decrease this
pollution rather than proposing actions that would send it through the
roof."
To summarize, McCain's plan would further destroy our transportation
infrastructure, reduce state's ability to produce transportation
projects and encourage more people to drive, thus increasing oil
prices, all with one proposal.
Here's my counter proposal. Instead of encouraging more people to
drive, McCain should call for more people to take alternative
transportation. If the Straight-Talker wants to lower gas prices, he could do so by promoting activities that reduce the
demand for foreign oil.
One easy idea would be to back legislation that is currently
moving through the House of Representatives that allows cyclists and
transit users to write off a greater portion of their transportation
expenses, similar to a benefit that car drivers have now. Instead of
taking a windfall of cash that is dedicated to transportation; this
plan would take a smaller amount from funds dedicated to the general
fund. Instead of encouraging people to spend more time in their
greenhouse gas creating, pollution spewing and oil consuming cars; he
would be encouraging people to exercise on their bikes or sneakers or
getting on a bus or train with their fellow commuters.
Or if he doesn't want to push a tax cut for the general fund
during a time of massive budget deficit and debt, he could encourage
people to take a "Summer Holiday" from the gas tax by taking a vacation
that doesn't require a long car trip.
McCain famously admitted that he wasn't an expert in economics
during the Republican Primary this winter. While he certainly tried to
prove that statement with this proposal, at least we can glean that he
realizes that there's a lot he has to learn. Hopefully he'll learn
something about transportation funding and fix this proposal before it
goes any further than a statement read at a press conference.
Photo by Gregg Moscoe
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.
Earlier: How the Motorboard has made me (a little, kinda-sorta) cool
 My Motorboard keeps on kicking, as I ride over the LA River, past the road work crew on Inglewood and the worker who calls out "That's the way to ride," across Sepulveda, past the bumpy section of sidewalk, over the hill, and through the corporate parking lots. To work I go.
After three months of daily rides, I had my first wheel change in February. Although my owner's manual assured me that a wheel change is simple, I took the Motorboard to Bikecology, just in case. I didn't know if the bike experts there would be able or willing to work on an electric scooter, but they did – changing the wheel (and pausing to marvel at the electric motor behind it) in less than 10 minutes. Thank you, Bikecology!
I'm hoping these guys will become Motorboard maintenance experts for me, since the one downside to the Motorboard is the lack of local repair and maintenance knowledge. There are no Motorboard stores in LA, no place to casually pop in and say, "Hey, what do you think of this?" Roth Motors is great for handling the big things (like replacing a motor), but they're not accessible enough to answer the little questions, like why did my wheel wear out like this?
…and what does that new squeaking sound mean? For some people, maybe most people, this is probably not rocket science. But I'm mechanically challenged. I can't just squirt oil anywhere to loosen a squeak. Can I?
The following essay is the third of a guest series on HOT lanes by Damien Newton, author of the blog Street Heat LA. Here are Part 1 and Part 2.
 Back when opening HOV Lanes was
the craze around the country, government officials promised commuters that
these new lanes would provide congestion relief for all those who chose to carpool to work (or other destinations) and would reduce congestion for everyone
else by encouraging more people to carpool.
While that may have been true at
one time, as the population and vehicle miles traveled in Southern
California continue to grow, it becomes less and less true every
year. Last summer, federal officials
reprimanded the State of California
because our HOV lanes
are too congested. The feds specifically
noted that the problem is worse in Los Angeles
and Orange counties than in the
rest of the state. While handing out 85,000
stickers allowing HOV access to hybrid owners certainly didn’t help
matters, CALTRANS officials stated that HOV lanes were filling up because the
population was growing faster than expected. As this trend continues, even the HOV Lanes that are still providing
free-flowing traffic now will get more and more congested.
CALTRANS’ first reaction to HOV
overcrowding was to crack
down on HOV lane cheaters. While
this may provide some short term relief, even if CALTRANS managed to clear
every cheat out of the lanes, the population growth would again over-crowd the
lanes and lead to congestion. Of course,
having a tolling system to gain entrance to HOT lanes would eliminate
cheating altogether.
Some would argue that the HOV
overcrowding is good news. The lanes are
overcrowded because more and more people are choosing to commute in car pools
and the numbers of single-occupant commuters is going down.
Unfortunately, the numbers don’t
back that statement up.
The percentage of people who
commute via car pooling in
Los Angeles County has remained static. According to the U.S. Census, in 2002 12.8%
of commuters in LA County commuted by car, but by 2006 that figure fell to
12%. Because neither 2002 nor 2006 were
years when a full census was completed, the change in the percent of commuters
who chose car pooling is within the margin for error of the survey. The figures for Orange County show a slight increase in
both number and percent of commuters who car pool, but that figure is also
within the margin for error. (I had to go to www.census.gov and do
the math myself; I couldn’t find a link that had these numbers. Feel free to double check me.)
In short, despite their popularity, HOV lanes aren’t causing single passenger commuters to switch to a carpool.
Metro deserves credit for
recognizing that the HOV system around Los Angeles
is slowly, but surely, failing. In order
to protect its investment (HOV Lanes cost a lot of money)!, and to be able to
fulfill their promise of a congestion-free commute for some, Metro decided to
look into HOT Lanes, i.e. converting HOV lanes into variable toll lanes with
the cost depending on the number of people in the car and the time of day.
This decision has been
criticized as being unfair to carpoolers, unfair to hybrid owners and unfair to
those people trying to make the most responsible decisions when choosing
transportation. While it’s unfortunate
that LA is growing too quickly for HOV lanes to fulfill the promise of a
congestion-free commute for the most-responsible of us, what would be most
unfair is a government agency that sees a system that is failing and doesn’t do
anything about it because the solution might be politically unpopular.
Visit Damien Newton's blog, Street Heat LA, for more on L.A. transportation matters.
Photo by Don Bartletti / LAT
The following essay is the second of a guest series on HOT lanes by Damien Newton, author of the blog Street Heat LA. Read Part 1 here.
Recently, I heard someone discussing Metro’s plans to add variable toll lanes (HOT lanes) in place of HOV lanes say, "Wealthy people can buy a better ride and would have negative impact on those that can't afford it. 30% of the (City of LA’s) population is at poverty level."
This statement wasn’t from someone who is ignorant of transportation policies. It was from L.A. City Council Member Richard Alarcón, a former Metro Board Member and current member of the Council’s Transportation Committee. Alarcón is the second Council Member (and second member of the Council’s 5-person transportation committee) to speak out against HOT Lanes, joining Tom LaBonge.
But does the argument hold true? Are HOT lanes really just special congestion-free roads for the rich? The history of HOT lanes on California roads suggests that any debate over Metro’s pricing plans shouldn’t be steeped in class warfare.
This may seem counterintuitive to people. Why would people of lesser means be more supportive of a road-pricing plan that makes commutes more expensive for those that wish to drive quickly? Put simply, because most money collected from HOT lanes (although SR-90 SR-91 is an exception to this rule) goes toward transit projects, and because people of all means prefer having a congestion-free lane in emergencies or special events. HOT lanes, where they have been tried, have been popular with drivers. SR-90 SR-91 in Orange County has some of the oldest HOT lanes in the country. Studies show that they’re used by people of all economic backgrounds. An FHWA report shows that 40% of all vehicles (and probably a higher number of people that travel on the road since carpoolers and transit buses are likely to use HOT lanes) on SR-90 SR-91 in Orange County are using the HOT lanes to travel.
Just farther South, in San Diego, surveys show that support for HOT lanes is stronger among people of low and moderate circumstances than with people who would be considered well-off.
One organization with a national perspective that helped debunk the "Lexus Lanes" argument is the Democratic Leadership Council. Its report on HOT lanes matched the findings from our two local examples "... studies of HOT lanes have shown that a representative mix of commuters use them, not just the wealthy. Moreover, commuters in the regular lanes benefit from reduced congestion... it is low-to-moderate income commuters who most often encounter the kind of work or family emergencies that can be eased by the ability to occasionally buy a quick commute."
As far as how proceeds from HOT lanes will be used in L.A. County, Metro claims that all profits will be put into transit projects along the corridor where the money is collected. In her most recent "online chat," Metro Board chair Pam O’Connor stated that, “... any money collected -- although this is far from a huge money-making tool -- would be used to increase other transit options along the corridor like van pool subsidies and add more freeway express buses to help everyone move better … especially those who use transit or carpool.”
Given California’s recent history of spending transportation funds on non-transportation projects, it’s natural for people to be skeptical of this claim. Metro can somewhat calm these fears by passing either a resolution affirming the desire to use HOT lane funds for transit, or Metro can put this principle in the final plan that the Board passes this spring. If HOT lanes become a new pool for keeping fares low or funding transit projects, then the benefit to the poor people who are "excluded" from using HOT lanes will far outweigh the cost of having more cars on the non-toll lanes.
Visit Damien Newton's blog, Street Heat LA, for more on L.A. transportation matters.
Photo by Don Bartletti / LAT
The following essay is the first of a guest series on HOT lanes by Damien Newton, author of the blog Street Heat LA.
In Los Angeles, it’s not hard to picture yourself missing a plane or an important meeting because you’re caught in traffic. Figuring out how to end L.A.’s traffic nightmare has become a top issue not just for transportation planners, but also for Mayor Villaraigosa, the City Council and Metro Board Members. Yet, when Metro announced it was submitting a funding proposal to pay for a congestion pricing plan, the reaction was near-uniformly negative.
Before going on, let's make clear what congestion pricing is. Metro defines congestion pricing as “charging for the use of a transportation facility, such as a roadway, based on the level of traffic congestion. The greater the level of congestion, usually occurring morning and evening rush hours, the higher the cost to use the facility.”
The particular plan being proposed involves so-called high-occupancy toll (HOT) lanes, which have a price that fluctuates with demand and the number of people in the car. Much of the current anger comes because Metro is, in some instances, going to take lanes that are currently HOV lanes and change them to HOT lanes. Many people see this as a new tax on people driving hybrids or carpooling.
When the L.A. Times asked people to e-mail them their comments, the response was negative: “every reader who e-mailed us said they hated it.” LA City Beat described the public reaction as similar to what would happen if a small tactical nuclear bomb went off.
When it comes to public reaction, Metro only has itself to blame.
When New York City decided to propose a congestion pricing plan, Mayor Michael Bloomberg realized such a proposal would be controversial. Before releasing his plan to the public, Bloomberg enlisted allies. Leaders of environmental and transportation reform groups were given special briefings and banded together to promote the plan and win over a skeptical public.
The key to gaining approval was knowing what the benefits of the plan would be. Congestion pricing proponents were able to paint a complete picture of the benefits: lower air pollution, better transit service (funds generated go right back to transit) and less highway congestion. New York City hasn’t unified around a single congestion pricing plan, but several different plans are being discussed at the moment, and the natural allies for congestion pricing have kept the most ambitious plans on the table.
In L.A., it hasn’t worked out that way. If there was a head’s-up to transportation reformers and environmentalists, it didn’t energize anyone enough to get them to speak up for the proposal. The silence from potential supporters is deafening.
If HOT lanes are ever going to catch on with the general public, these leaders have to join the debate. Right now, the discussion in the public is about whether or not tolls can solve congestion. It’s not one Metro can win on their own. A massive and organic PR campaign would change the debate and focus people on the positives (clean air, better transit) instead of the costs.
The dispute against Metro’s plan (which incidentally, hasn’t been completed yet) can usually be traced back to one of four arguments:
1) This is just another tax.
2) This plan will disproportionately help the rich.
3) Drivers already pay too much for roads.
4) The plan (yet to be finished or released) doesn't make any sense.
Each of the four arguments show at least some misunderstanding of what an HOT lane really is, and each will be discussed in future posts.
Visit Damien Newton's blog, Street Heat LA, for more on L.A. transportation matters.
Photo by Don Bartletti / LAT
>> The new alternative fuel: Human fat?! An engineer and sailor from New Zealand, along with 2 of his crew members, got 2.5 gallons of fat liposucked out of their bodies to use as fuel to circumnavigate the globe in world-record time. Mostly, however, the boat'll be fueled by biodiesel.
>> Muscle car aficionados unlikely to suffer from the new 35 mpg standard. "Putting aside the question of whether anyone needs that kind of power, you can argue the 35 mpg standard will make all cars - including high-performance vehicles - better. Some of the first things Detroit will do to boost fuel efficiency are reduce weight, improve aerodynamics and reduce parasitic loads by replacing engine-driven components like power-steering pumps with electric parts. That's a sure-fire recipe for better performance even if horsepower figures decline significantly."
Earlier: 35 mpg by 2020 might mean just 33.2 mpg for Detroit.
>> Green hotels in California, reviewed. Along with Santa Monica's own Ambrose, The Orchard Garden in San Francisco, Gaia Napa Valley Hotel and Spa in Napa Valley, and Cedar House Sport Hotel in Truckee get some ink. Earlier: Green hotels in the LA area.
>> The ultimate R&R: A green burial. "If nothing else, penny-pinching baby boomers might be willing to embrace the economic good sense of natural burial, which is thought to cost one half to one-third the price of a regular burial." (via Utne)
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