This was the press release from Governor Brown's office last Friday:

SACRAMENTO – Moving to defend Governor Edmund G. Brown Jr.’s landmark package of pension reforms, the state of California today sued the U.S. Department of Labor for improperly denying federal grants to California public transit providers after it erroneously concluded that the pension reforms constrain workers’ collective bargaining rights.

“Bringing this lawsuit is just another step to ensure that our pension system is viable long into the future,” said Governor Brown.

The court filing can be found here.

Governor Brown proposed legislation in September to ensure that $1.6 billion in federal grants continue to flow to transit districts after the U.S. Department of Labor denied grant money to the Sacramento Regional Transit District. The Sacramento transit provider is a co-litigant in the case, which the state filed through Caltrans, whose own federal transit grant was denied last month.

Today, the Governor signed the bill (AB 1222), authored by Assemblymembers Richard H. Bloom (D-Santa Monica) and Roger Dickinson (D-Sacramento). The legislation temporarily exempts local transit agencies’ workers from the California Public Employee Pension Reform Act of 2013 to allow the state to pursue its case in court and creates a state loan program to assist transit operators that have lost federal transit grants.

Earlier this year, Governor Brown sent a letter to acting U.S. Department of Labor Secretary Seth Harris on this issue.

Yes the Downtown News is bullish on downtown but it's hard to argue with the fact that 94 development projects are moving forward, including a replacement for the Sixth Street Viaduct, an Ace Hotel, an Urban Outfitters, a Whole Foods, and . . . have you taken a look at the residential buildings going up in Little Tokyo recently? Read all about it here.

 

 

California Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg's legislation, SB1, would have re-created redevelopment in "sustainable community areas" near transit. The Times wrote: "Lawmakers proposed replacements [for redevelopment] last year, but it was too early to start over. This year, it should have been a different story. SB 1 by Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg (D-Sacramento), which would have created Sustainable Community Investment Authorities to succeed the CRAs, almost made it to Brown’s desk — almost. At the last minute, Steinberg held the bill back for fear of a veto, but he should put it near the top of his agenda when the Legislature reconvenes in January. And Brown should sign it." Read the story here.

The cavernous rail station build in Changsha for China's new high-speed trains was nearly deserted when it opened four years ago but not anymore. Practically every train is sold out even though they leave for cities all over the country every few minutes. The high-speed rail system now carries twice as many passengers a month as the country's domestic airlines, and by early next year is likely to handle more passengers than are carried by domestic flights in the U.S. Read about it in the New York Times.

Seattle crosses the 50% threshold to join a select group of cities that includes, of course, New York, San Francisco, Washington DC, and Boston. Read it in the Seattle Times.

The fact that Los Angeles County is in the midst of a transit transformation has been duly noted in the media,  from the LA Times (“LA – transit’s promised land”) to the New York Post (“Los Angeles is the future . . . NYC watch your back”),  and from Atlantic Cities (“Is Southern California this Country’s Next Environmental Success Story?”) to Slate (“How a ballot initiative, visionary mayor and a quest for growth are turning LA into America’s next great transit city”).

With the passage of the Measure R sales tax in 2008 -- which won 67.8% of the vote – voters resoundingly affirmed their interest in modernizing LA County’s transit system, and in helping to pay for it. This is a story that has resonated far and wide. “Many people are surprised to learn their city’s reputation is at an all-time high among international transit scholars,” author Taras Gresco wrote in an LA Times op ed. Added international transit consultant Jarrett Walker on his Human Transit blog: “When I talk about public transit I don’t talk much about Boston or New York . . . When I really want to shift [the audience’s] thinking I talk about Los Angeles.”

Measure R helps pay for a doubling of the size of our rail transit system,  12 projects ranging from a rail connection to LAX to the Westside subway to the downtown Regional Connector, which will make a one-seat ride possible from Azusa to Long Beach, and from East LA to Santa Monica. Measure R is funding an infrastructure enhancement program that could be as important to our future as William Mulholland’s water project -- only this time a two-thirds majority of voters will have approved it. We can also thank Measure R for the fact that Metro’s fares continue to be among the lowest in the U.S., and  for making it possible for the region to meet greenhouse gas reduction targets of  8% by 2020 and 13% by 2035.

And we think LA County is just getting started. Lots of people have begun talking about Measure R-2 because we need money to fix the 405 with underground light rail and tolled lanes that help pay for it, and we could connect the San Fernando Valley to Hollywood and then to LAX, and connect the San Gabriel Valley to the Inland Empire and to Ontario Airport, and extend the subway beyond Westwood. Improved Metrolink service! More bike lanes and more walkable communities! Student transit passes! A Great Boulevards program! Clean freight corridors with electric and natural gas trucks and freight rail!

This is the discussion that we think needs to be heard in the corridors of LA Metro and in meeting rooms around the county, prompted in part by the very close vote on Measure J last November. Measure J, which would have extended the Measure R sales tax, got 66.1% of the vote but fell just short of the required two-thirds majority. This means that voters have twice registered an extraordinarily high level of support for a clean and modern transit vision, and with the 2016 presidential election looking like an especially good opportunity for high voter turnout, a lot of people are talking about what LA Metro should do to complete the transit transformation.

In the new book entitled The Metropolitan Revolution: How Cities and Metros Are Fixing Our Broken Politics and Fragile Economy,  Bruce Katz and Jennifer Bradley of the Brookings Institution write that the paralysis in Congress has created a leadership vacuum, and that regions are stepping up with transformative agendas to fill the void. Katz and Brookings like to point to Los Angeles and its success with Measure R as a prime example of what self-help regions can do.

Los Angeles isn’t often cited as an example of what works – especially when it comes to transportation. But we have entered a brave new world.

Madame Chiang Kai-Shek at Union Station, a Fred Harvey girl, Errol Flynn arrives with his dad, and more on The Source.

AB 1222 passed the Assembly yesterday 72 to 0 and will go to Governor Brown for his consideration. LA Metro thanks Metro Board Chair Diane DuBois and Metro Board Directors Eric Garcetti and Zev Yaroslavsky for their efforts in both Sacramento and Washington DC. AB 1222 would exempt transit workers from the state's pension reform in order to continue the flow of federal transit funding. To find out more go to The Source.

From the Charlotte Area Transit System (CATS) . . .

 

 

The Red/Purple Line and the Expo Line had their best months yet, Steve Hymon writes on The Source, with 164,081 boardings on the subway and 27,280 on Expo. The Gold Line had its third best month with 44,451 average weekday boardings (ridership was higher in June and July of last year).

Ridership on the bus system remains about the same.

Overall Metro ridership in August 2013 was higher than the previous two Augusts, with 41.22 million boardings on bus and train.

Read it here.