Where are all the catastrophic earthquakes when you need one? Nineteen years ago last week, Los Angeles and much of the L.A. region were paralyzed when the Northridge earthquake decimated critical public infrastructure including sections of the Santa Monica Freeway.

Of course I am not wishing for an...

It had been four years since I was last in China; right after the 2008 Beijing Olympics. Back then, in July and August, it was hazy, hot, and humid. Now, while the temperature was considerably cooler, the poor air quality seemed to be about the same.

Between 2008 and...

This week, Los Angeles Times architecture critic Christopher Hawthorne continued his excellent series on L.A.'s boulevards with a piece on iconic Sunset Blvd. I love the piece and the way Hawthorne travels east from PCH rather than west to capture the energy and creativity of Sunset Blvd in...

A lot has been written about the Orange Line extension to Chatsworth, and this great new transit project deserves the praise. So for those who haven't ridden it yet, I'm adding my voice to the mix in the hope that it reaches some Angelenos and tourists who may...

It's been a difficult time for me lately. With the Rampture upon us and street services repaving the street I live on, even though my stretch seems just fine, I have been challenged of late to see the L.A. transportation glass as mostly full. Of course there are...

Last night I took my 17-year-old son to see Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band at the Los Angeles Sports Arena. What a rite of passage. It seems like...

This Super Bowl Sunday both on and off the field viewers watched the Giants and the Patriots. Between plays and at halftime, the off-the-field giants were Big Soda, with their ads for their elixir of obesity and diabetes. And you can bet the ads for Coke and Pepsi contained a...

A lot has already been written about CicLAvia but we are just getting started. It is only the beginning because this transformational health-promoting event is demonstrating to Angelenos and the rest of the world how this bloated, increasingly overweight and sprawling city isn't just for cars and doesn't...

Here's an important story that may not have made it onto The Daily Show yet. While it is only a matter of time before Streetsblog Los Angeles has the readership of the program where most Americans get their news, until then I'm using this soapbox to...

This is the piece in which I out myself about California's high-speed rail mistake. Let's face it, now is not the time to be spending a decent size country's GDP on a fast train between Los Angeles and San Francisco. Instead we should be spending that fortune completing much needed...

With parts of New Jersey and the rest of the Mid-Atlantic and Northeast still literally underwater from Hurricane Irene, it is time to examine the double standard that is New Jersey governor and likely presidential candidate Chris Christie's modus operandi. Sure, during the extended Tea Time we are living through...

Like a victory lap coming off its big win in the Prospect Park West Bike Lane Battle of the Bulge case, the New York City Department of Transportation (NYCDOT) is continuing its public space transforming work with its makeover of accident-prone and pedestrian menace Grand Army...

Last week, just after a large deer decided to make itself a hood ornament on our car, I got to thinking about what a great country this is. In spite of our political and social divisions and the still phlegmatic economic recovery, this special land is full of beauty and...

With Carmageddon upon us I took Metro's sage advice and got about as far away from LA as I could without a passport. And my mode of transportation? You guessed it. The car. The now-famous 405 freeway closing aligning perfectly with my kids being off at camp, it...

Dear Beverly Hills:

What were you thinking when you let your mayor write Metro basically threatening to pull the city's support for America Fast Forward if the public transit agency decides to build a Century City subway station at Constellation Blvd and Avenue of the Stars?

Dear America:

Don't get me wrong. I'm almost as delighted as Hizonner himself that LA Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa is the new president of the U.S. Conference of Mayors. What better perch from which to pitch the country, Congress and the president on the merits of America Fast Forward?

While the story of the year, if not the decade, is undoubtedly America Fast Forward, this piece is about the LA City Council and how it needs to stop talking and start acting on the Wilshire bus rapid transit (BRT) project. Maybe next week I will get back...

A few months ago an injury changed the way I see the need for more bus rapid transit (BRT) in Los Angeles. I'm 50 now and hardly the picture of fitness I was or wasn't when I was younger. And what is it they say? "Exercise will kill...

With Kate and William finally off somewhere alone and Osama Bin Laden gone from the scene it is time to bring the conversation back to the circus at home. And what better freak show to start with than the P.T. Barnum of our time, The Donald.

Watching Donald Trump as...

Though my invitation to the royal wedding appears to have gotten lost in the mail, I was pleased to have received an invitation to the recent tour of the Expo Line station at Western and Exposition. And at the cost of a Metro Day Pass, the...