SGV Connect

With the Foothill Gold Line Extension to Pomona at 90 percent completion, SGV Connect pays another visit to the Construction Authority’s office to chat with chief executive officer Habib Balian. The podcast can be found below, but you can read a transcript of it by clicking here. For clarity’s (or maybe confusion’s) sake, we are of course referring to the thrice renamed Metro “A Line.” 

Since 2020, tracks have been laid and station platforms have been poured from Glendora to Pomona. Now those stations really look like stations, and the last leg of the route has been funded: $798 million to build the last 3.2 miles to Montclair.

2025 is going to be a big year for the light rail line: construction is expected to finish, stations will be dedicated, and hopefully, service will begin. Listen to our interview with Habib Balian, and check out progress pics from our tour of the construction sites! AUDIO PLAYER HERE

A construction crew works on the decorative glass canopy above the ticketing machine at the Glendora Metro A Line station.

The decorative glass canopy above the ticketing machine at the Glendora Metro A Line station.

The ticketing machine at the Glendora Metro A Line station.

The pedestrian tunnel connecting the platform and parking lot at the Glendora Metro A Line station.

The pedestrian tunnel connecting the platform and parking lot at the Glendora Metro A Line station.

The passenger drop off turn out at the La Verne Metro A Line station.

Crews install a wall which will eventually support public art work at the La Verne Metro A Line station.

Crews install the platform roofing at the Pomona Metro A Line Station.

A layover building for train drivers under construction at the Pomona Metro A Line station.

Media relations professional Albert Ho gestures at the construction progress on the Pomona Metro A Line station.

Thanks as always to Albert Ho, Media Relations Director for the Metro Gold Line Foothill Extension Construction Authority, for keeping SBLA and its readers up to date on the project. Streetsblog’s San Gabriel Valley coverage is supported by Foothill Transit, offering car-free travel throughout the San Gabriel Valley with connections to the Gold Line Stations across the Foothills and Commuter Express lines traveling into the heart of downtown L.A. To plan your trip, visit Foothill Transit. “Foothill Transit. Going Good Places.”Sign-up for our SGV Connect Newsletter, coming to your inbox on Fridays!

Just last week, the legislative session for the year ended in Sacramento meaning a batch of legislation was passed that, if signed into law by Governor Gavin Newsom, would change the way the state conducts its transportation business. In this episode of SGV Connect, co-host Damien Newton goes it alone, interviewing Streetsblog California editor Melanie Curry.

As an aside, both Newton and Curry will be at the Streetsblog San Francisco/Streetsblog California anniversary party next week at Manny’s in the Mission on Thursday, September 12, at 6:00 p.m. along with a bevy of transportation reform superstars including mayors, transit board chairs and Senator Scott Wiener. If you happen to be in the area, drop by and join us. Reserve your ticket, here.

But for now, buckle in and enjoy today’s podcast. A full transcript can be found beneath the audio player below.

Damien

 

Before we get into the podcast, let me remind everyone that SGV Connect is supported by Foothill Transit, offering car-free travel throughout the San Gabriel Valley with connections to the new Gold Line Stations across the Foothills and Commuter Express lines traveling into the heart of downtown L.A. To plan your trip, visit Foothill Transit. “Foothill Transit. Going Good Places.”

 

Hello, welcome to SGV Connect episode 127. My name's Damien Newton. We have a bit of a throwback episode here in that I am doing it on my own - or well, I'm not on my own, I have a guest: Melanie Curry, the editor of Streetsblog California, who's going to give us an update on legislation that has been passed and is awaiting the signature of the governor…hopefully.

 

We timed this episode to coincide with our Streetsblog San Francisco/California anniversary dinner next Thursday. If you’d like to join us on September 12, click here for more details.

 

And a link with all the information is in the email, excuse me, in the text of the story that accompanies this podcast. Boy, I'm struggling today, Melanie. I hope you're on your A game. 

 

…and she gave a thumbs up. You guys can't see that because we're not recording the video.

 

All right. So it just so happens that the first couple pieces of legislation we want to talk about were authored and introduced by Senator Scott Wiener, who happens to be one of our guests of honor next week.

 

Isn't that an amazing coincidence? So why don't you start off by telling us a little bit about these two pieces of legislation? And again, these are passed by the legislature, but awaiting signature or possibly something worse from the governor.

 

Melanie

Oh, we don't want it to be worse. 

 

This is one of the reasons that we are giving a Streetsie to Senator Scott Wiener - because he got SB 960, a complete streets bill, passed… again. He's tried three times with this bill and last time it was vetoed by the governor. So we're crossing our fingers that that doesn't happen again.

 

It's a little bit different this time around. Caltrans pushed just as hard against it as it had in the past. They keep saying, “we're already making complete streets a priority.”

 

Damien

…um…are they already making complete streets a priority?

 

Melanie

It's hard to say. At the headquarters level, their talk is good, but how it comes out on the ground is a different story. CalBike is working on a report about that very issue, which they're not quite ready to release, but we'll find out soon what they have to say. 

 

At any rate, Caltrans says they have a complete streets policy. But they're not really doing it. So what happened with SB 960 is Caltrans pushed back. They got language that they are more comfortable with, which is kind of similar to what they already have: they'll make complete streets when they are working on maintenance projects where feasible, which still gives them kind of a lot of outs. 

 

However, the bill is a lot stronger than last time around. It specifically includes a requirement to create a transit priority policy at Caltrans - which is a huge difference. It requires better transparency, so Caltrans has to report on their complete streets and how much money they're putting into it. 

 

It also requires them to come up with a shorter encroachment permit process - which sounds really wonky and kind of is - but it makes it easier for cities to make their own changes on their streets if they want to build a bike lane or something like that without having to go through 

the onerous process that Caltrans makes them do.. 

 

Anyway, it's been passed. We've got our fingers crossed. It's not the solution, but it's a really good step in the right direction for making Caltrans make complete streets on all of their facilities when they are repairing them..Not freeways, but all the other ones.

 

Damien

If this is a stronger piece of legislation than last time, doesn't it seem less likely that Governor Newsom will sign it?

 

Melanie

Well, it's interesting. It's stronger in ways that are outside of the when and where. It's stronger because it has transit priority, which it didn't before. It's stronger because it calls for better transparency and a shorter permit process. But in terms of requiring when and where complete streets are to be incorporated into Caltrans projects, it's really similar to what the current Caltrans policy is. 

 

It's kind of an interesting argument. [Newsom] said “give Caltrans a chance” when he vetoed a similar bill in the past. But at that time, there was a new Caltrans director. So they got a chance. That was four years ago. They had their chance. We haven't seen any results. So we're back with this bill.

 

I think it will take something to get the governor to sign it, but it might not be as onerous as it would have been four years ago. I mean, weigh in, call the governor! I don't know. It definitely needed support to get passed by the legislature, but I think it has a better chance than the last one did.

 

Damien

But that's not the only thing that Senator Wiener's done that has him on our list of “legislation to talk about today.” He's also done something with passive speed enforcement. You might need to explain this one a little bit.

 

I know you just did a story on it, and I read the story. I could totally talk about this if I had to, but, you know, people would rather hear you talk about it than me.

 

Melanie

Are you sure?

 

Damien

I assume.

 

Melanie

I don't know. My voice can get a little whiny. No, it's not enforcement. It's assist. So it's in-car technology that tells people, hey, you've gone over the speed limit. And it does that with, like, a beep. 

 

So this one was going to be a great bill. We were excited about it when Wiener first [introduced it] because he was looking for something more active - which is also a, technology that exists where … it prevents you from going over the speed limit. But that was just too crazy. So - not too crazy, it's a known and used technology. European cars have it. But there was too much pushback. So he said, “OK, passive speed limit assist technology in all new cars starting in 2030.”

 

And that passed. And you know it's better than nothing. A lot of new cars already have this technology…

 

Damien

…almost every rental car too

 

Melanie

It would be very surprising if it didn't get passed. It's a help. There's actually surveys that show that drivers like it.

 

And what's really strange to me is that about six or seven Republican legislators in California wrote this strongly worded letter to Governor Newsom telling him to veto it because enforcement is a better way to [handle this issue]. And they said it puts an “undue burden on the majority of responsible drivers,” which, uh, wait a minute.

 

Damien

Wait, but they're speeding, right?

 

Melanie

Yeah. Yet it's an “undue burden.” Like it's going to beep at you. Like one beep. It's only a one-time notification. So I don't know where they get any of that, “Undue burden on responsible drivers?” 

 

If you're going over the speed limit, wouldn't you want [your car] to tell you? I don't know. I really don't know where this comes from. I imagine all of them just want to speed like crazy for as long as they want to.

 

Damien

These are the people that obviously rent rental cars and then speed in them.

 

Melanie

And they don't like that one beep.

 

Damien

They don't like that beep…Not that I know from my recent road trip what that sounds like.

 

Melanie

Does it continue or is it just one [sound]?

 

Damien

I think it depends. The car that we had, it beeped every time you went 10 miles over the speed limit. So, we obviously heard it once and then adjusted our driving for the rest of the drive across the country because, yeah.

 

Melanie

Yeah. Right. Which is what people want. You know, like what if you're in a place that you don't know? What if you're driving in Oregon and there might be a cop that's going to pull you over?

 

Damien

Or what if the speed limit drops and you miss the sign?

 

Melanie

Exactly.

 

Damien

If we drove through a county and you know at the speed limit dropped 10 miles an hour, and then all of a sudden we went from driving roughly the speed limit to driving 10 miles over the speed limit…that's where we were.

 

Melanie

And that's where you're likely to get a ticket, too. So it's really helpful to be told by your car.

 

Damien

Was it the ticket lobby that was against this?

 

Melanie

You know, I don't know who those people are. I don't know if they're a lobby. They're just Republicans. I could find the letter and read you their names if you want, but they're Republican legislators who just hated it.

 

Damien

I'm just flashing back, as I always do, to the efforts to set the speed limit…legislation that we fought for for so long and finally got passed by Laura Friedman a couple of years ago, and the dumb arguments we would hear about it.

 

Melanie

Yeah, it's weird to me…. I'm looking at some of the names of the people that signed it, and I have to say some of them say some really dumb things in the hearings.

 

So I don't want to say they're dumb, but they're not very well informed.

 

Damien

We can say that if you want to.

 

Melanie

And this letter proves that…And they have an agenda that doesn't make a lot of sense. 

 

Just the idea there, they are law-and-order Republicans and for some reason they really love the idea of giving people tickets to enforce this [issue]. I don't understand their thinking. I have the feeling that's not going to have much sway with Governor Newsom. Who knows?

 

Damien

I mean, you never know these days. And he's been… he's been more conservative in the past year than I would have thought.

 

Melanie

Yeah.  I'm not a politician for a reason. I don't understand the way you think about things when you're a politician. It's not always logical.

 

Damien

Speaking of not always logical, let's talk about a bill that had to do with when you can and can't paint sharrows that was passed, but without the support of its initial sponsor, Streets for All…So what happened there?

 

Melanie

Gosh, who knows. So, this is SB 1216 from Catherine Blakespear.

 

This was also a[similar]  provision in another bill from Laura Friedman, AB 2290, but that one was just held back. It didn't go anywhere. 

 

So what this was trying to do was limit the use of Class III bike routes, which are, you know, they are signs and sharrows painted in the street, at most. They might just be signs, but they were really trying to get away from calling those even bike routes. People like Caltrans will put them down and say, “look, we made you a bike route.” But they don't really have any kind of good standards for when they use them, so the legislature tried to limit their use.. 

 

Plus, [the sponsors] wanted to eliminate funding for those projects. And actually, they sort of succeeded. When it was in the Assembly [Transportation} Committee, the bill was amended to restrict sharrows to roads that are 30 miles an hour or slower. 

 

Imagine riding your bike at, what, 10 miles an hour on a 30 mile an hour road, and there's a sharrow there telling you to go ahead and use it. So whoever decided that 30 miles an hour or slower made sense is not a bike rider. And [the committee] would not remove any limitation on using bike route signs, so they can mark a bike route wherever they want, which doesn't also doesn't make sense. 

 

Thinking of fast streets in the San Fernando Valley, for example, they could just call those bike routes. So when you look on Google Maps, it's going to tell you to go that way…and you get out there and you're like, “ah, I don't want to ride this road.” 

 

It was so bad that the sponsor, Streets for All, just gave up. But! One good thing about that bill is it does have a provision that says that … Active Transportation Program projects can no longer use [ATP funds] for Class III bike routes, after January 2026. 

 

I have a feeling that it doesn't really do that much anymore because the people who run the program are pretty aware of what makes a good bike route or a good bike project, and Class III doesn't really count. However, Caltrans is still going to use class III bike routes and claim credit for creating bike facilities. We have to keep our eye on that.

 

Damien

One piece of legislation that we covered in our Santa Monica publication is Malibu would now be able to put speed cameras on the PCH as part of the pilot program.

 

There's a lot of reasons this is interesting. 

 

A) that so many communities want to get in on a pilot program. There were three cities in Senator Ben Allen’s district, but only Malibu made it on this piece of legislation. 

B) is the need for this extremely complicated pilot program that a year after the legislation was passed, no cities actually have speed cameras up. Yet they're allowing other cities - and yet we [already] know from the entire rest of the world that speed cameras work - to join this complicated pilot program.

 

Do you want to talk at all about this legislation, what it actually does, and if maybe I took all of the thunder away on the interesting things, tell me to be a better interviewer. But if I did not, then fill in some other interesting things about this.

 

Melanie

SB 1297 from Senator Ben Allen adds the city of Malibu to the speed camera pilot program that was created by AB 645 last year. That was from assemblymember Laura Friedman that allowed Glendale, LA, Long Beach, San Jose, Oakland, and San Francisco to do pilot programs with a limited number of cameras under all these really tight restrictions about where they could be, how they could be deployed, how they collected information from them, how they gave tickets, and they had to keep the the tickets out of the court system, and the fines had to be low and all kinds of really really tight restrictions.

 

None of those cities, as far as I can tell, have put up any cameras yet.

 

San Francisco, Oakland, and San Jose have chosen locations for them, but they're not going to install them until next year. I can't find out about the other cities. At any rate, the city of Malibu will be able to add five cameras along the Pacific Coast Highway in Malibu [under this bill].

 

So what do we do about all the other cities like Santa Monica that might also want to put up speed cameras? They're all gonna have to wait. There's so much pushback from privacy groups and law enforcement, all these people who object to these programs. For law enforcement, this will make their life easier, but okay, whatever.

 

Damien

The whole thing baffles me. Allen introduced this after there was a high profile crash that killed a bunch of Pepperdine students standing on the side of the road late last year. The PCH in Malibu has always been a safety disaster for bicyclists, for pedestrians, for car drivers, for everyone. Allen tried to address this - there are several different project programs that are going on, educational programs, enforcement programs…this effort was sort of added on to those.

 

But as soon as he announced it, all the other cities in his district were like, “ooh, us too, us too.”

 

Because cities want these. It just feels weird to me that the state is making it so hard, with a cumbersome pilot program and only certain cities.

 

This feels like an effort to keep them out, not an effort to promote them.

 

Melanie

Yeah. What's fascinating to me about it is one of the arguments - which is a valid argument - against this was that street design is a more [effective] way to slow people down.

 

Yes, it's true. So one of the provisions in the original bill is that other street design changes had to be made. And especially if they put up a camera and it didn't slow speeds, then they had to make those street design changes. 

 

Well, PCH really needs some design changes. And the ones – the responses that they have [had] to that crash are just pathetic. I'm sorry, they put up speed feedback signs and they put up signs. Education, enforcement, those are fine, but those are not the kinds of things that make people slow down or actually change the street so that people have to drive slow.

 

We just have so much resistance to creating calm streets. And because the PCH is such a heavily used thruway, people want to zoom on it. It doesn't make sense for people to be zooming on it. But it's just part of our speed culture that we just can't change [yet]. It's a bummer.

 

Damien

I say romantic, I don't necessarily mean romance; but how many pop culture references over the years feature the hero or heroine in their convertible speeding up the PCH?

 

Melanie

Absolutely. It's glamorized for sure.

 

I say people who want to go fast and feel the wind in their hair should roll their windows down and stick their heads out the window while they drive and feel the wind that way because it feels like you're going fast even if you're going like 20 miles an hour.

 

Damien

Is it a little weird to hear the argument that it's road design that really slows streets down so we can't…we shouldn't do speed cameras 10 minutes after we were just discussing how Caltrans doesn't want to be mandated to do safe road design.

 

Melanie

Yeah, we're in a very strange tangle trying to make sense out of all of this.

 

I mean, we can see it, advocates can see it. But the arguments can be complicated. I maintain hope that we will prevail sooner or later. And it's partly because we have super smart people working on these issues. But man, it's not easy. It's not easy.

 

Damien

There was one more piece of major legislation we wanted to talk about before we might run down some of the other pieces, and that was what's been going on with e-bikes. It doesn't appear like there's much of an effort to make statewide e-bike policy. Instead, it's an effort to define what different communities can and can't do.

 

Melanie

Yeah, and I wouldn't even call these major legislation.

 

Both of the authors of these two e-bike bills, [Assemblymembers] Tasha Boerner and Damon Connolly, had started off with bills that were going to require a license to ride e-bikes, at least class 2 or class 3 e-bikes. I'll go over the classifications in a minute. They're all about speed and throttle and stuff like that. But it became pretty clear those bills were not going anywhere. So both of them changed them. 

 

In Boerners case San Diego and in Donnelly's case Marin County - they allow local jurisdictions to create e-bike restrictions. 

 

Borners would allow San Diego to pass an ordinance banning children under 12 and from riding class 1 or 2 e-bikes. You have to be 18 to ride a class three e-bike [already]. What is a class 3 e-bike? Let's see, [it’s] a little complicated: You have to use the pedals. You can't use just the motor, but it can go up to like 28 miles per hour using pedals.

 

You have to be 18 to ride that kind of bike. So Boerner wants it to change it so no one under 12 can ride a class 1 e-bike, which has a little bit of pedal assist up to 20 miles an hour at the most, or class 2, which has a throttle assist up to 20 miles per hour. And then after that, you would have to use your pedals, but [a class 2] could go 28 miles per hour.

 

Connelly has a similar bill, but he doesn't want anyone under 16 [to ride]. So [his bill would] allow Marin to pass an ordinance to require people to be at least 16 to ride a class 2 e-bike. And they could, if they wanted to, [also] pass an ordinance requiring any e-bike rider to wear a helmet. Even adults. 

 

So it's a problem because they're inconsistent. They're local ordinances. Local helmet ordinances from the get-go are a bad idea. There's a lot of people from Berkeley who ride into Marin. So like, what are they going to do suddenly? There's a different law for them over there?

 

Damien

I remember down here when one city was talking about banning scooters and others weren't, and it was like, well, what's gonna happen to someone riding on a scooter when they cross a border…Is it just gonna, like, stop?

 

Melanie

Yeah. Well, yeah, actually they can. They do put speed limiters on scooters! Not cars…not cars where they could really do some good. 

 

Those [bills] are like mostly annoying. They both passed, though. They're on the governor's desk. He may well sign them. Whether San Diego and Marin County passed those ordinances is a different question.

 

Another e-bike bill was from Senator Dave Min, which is kind of [an] interesting [one]. First it says that any e-bike sold in California has to have an e-bike battery that is certified to be safe, either the UL or the EU certification [or the like]. People are worried about battery fires and that would prevent that.

 

It’s not without its controversy because when they were talking battery standards for the e-bike incentive program, there were a lot of bike sellers who were mad about that. They were selling bikes that didn't have that certification. And they were like, “they're fine! 

 

But anyway, that passed. So if he signs it, they'd have to be certified.

 

And then the other thing that [the bill] did was clarify the definition of e-bikes. The reason that was an issue was because there is at least one manufacturer that makes these bikes that they sell as class 2 ebikes. 

 

So class 2 has a throttle assist and you can go with the throttle up to 20. With pedaling you can go up to 28 miles an hour. So they were selling these as class 2 e-bikes, but they had a switch on them that would allow them to go “off-road.” [That would allow them to] go way faster with just the throttle, which means they're basically mopeds. Min’s bill made those illegal. If  you sell something that's switchable, it's not an e-bike.

 

Wait, it's not illegal. It's a moped, which means, you know, age restriction and helmet restriction, etc. Because if you can go over 28 with a throttle, it…Yeah, that's not an e-bike.

 

And the thing is, like, how do you enforce that?

 

Can a cop tell from looking at it whether a bike is an actual class 2 e-bike or is it something else?

 

Damien

So let's try and run down the rest of the legislation we had that we were going to at least touch on today.

 

Melanie

Just a few things…One thing that passed that I think is really important because it makes me nervous is Assemblymember Aguiar-Curry worked really hard to get a bill passed that said you could not have any autonomous vehicle big rigs being tested on California roads unless there was a human operator present.

 

It was amazing how hard she had to argue for this.

 

Newsom had vetoed a similar bill last year, so he may veto this again. But meanwhile, the DMV is already … starting to put out draft regulations… for autonomous big rigs.

 

Isn't that fun to think about: driving on a road like Highway 5 and knowing the truck next to you has nobody in it?

 

If he signs this, there will have to at least be a person in the vehicle.

 

Damien

Yeah, he's not, he's not signing that, I bet.

 

Melanie

Maybe I can just like curl up in a ball and stay home for the rest of my life. Or they hurry up with that train so I don't ever have to get on a highway again.

 

Damien

You saw the video? I mean, it looks like it's just about finished.

 

Melanie

Uh no… but okay it's happening.

 

I would say one more more [bill] that's kind of cool is AB 2503 which gives a CEQA exemption for zero emission trains. There’s a problem with that, of course, as it's another way that they're poking holes in CEQA instead of just reforming CEQA, and also it specifically says zero emission trains and people are still calling hydrogen trains zero-emission trains, and they don't understand why I refuse to do that. So, okay…a CEQA exemption for clean energy trains.

 

We need that, but still it's not great.

 

Senator Blakespear had got passed SB 689 so that you would not need to conduct a study to convert a vehicle lane into a bike or a transit lane in coastal areas. That was specifically to overcome problems with the Coastal Commission process. 

 

And then there's another one, AB 3177. Streets for All sponsored it, and it's a little wonky. It says that you cannot require a new housing project to pay a mitigation fee to be used towiden a road. So that’s big. And then there's one more, AB 2086, which calls for more transparency from Caltrans -  they have to create a dashboard that shows their funding which is very complicated

 

None of these have been signed, however.

 

Damien

Right. None of these have been signed. Based on previous years, some of them might not be slam dunks, but if people have heard anything today that they want to weigh in on - again, you can contact your governor.

Sorry. It's a little play of words off the, you know, contact your representative today. Contact your governor. It's the same governor I have. I think he's in state right now. So it's a good time to get him

 

So again, if you want to talk to us about this in person, we will be in San Francisco next week at Manny's in the Mission at 6 PM on Thursday. Feel free to stop by. Feel free to buy a ticket. Feel free to say hello. More information on that event is on Streetsblog California and Streetsblog 

San Francisco, and of course, links to all of that are included with the text that accompanies this podcast. 

 

Thank you for your time today, Melanie, and we will talk to you again probably at the end of the year. We'll talk about which of these bills have been signed and not signed and what we're looking forward to in 2025, which is getting closer.

This week's SGV Connect returns to our regular formula with a pair of interviews by Damien Newton and Chris Greenspon.

First, Chris interviews Melissa Mora Hidalgo, a queer entertainment writer living in Whittier. The interview goes back and forth between fun and serious, as the two discuss both her work and the performative allyship that occurs during Pride month. In short, Hidalgo would prefer a city that works to create safe environments for all its residents to one that puts up rainbow flags one month a year.

You can read a transcript of the interview here.

After that, Damien interviews Jonah Kanner, an advocate for safer streets with the Pasadena Complete Streets Coalition. Kanner recently authored a post for PCSC's blog entiteled, "Pasadena Is Almost a 15-Minute City." Kanner explains what a 15-minute city is, and what little things Pasadena can do to come ever-closer to joining the 15-minute club.

You can read a transcript of the interview here.

SGV Connect is supported by Foothill Transit, offering car-free travel throughout the San Gabriel Valley with connections to the new Gold Line Stations across the Foothills and Commuter Express lines traveling into the heart of downtown L.A. To plan your trip, visit Foothill Transit. “Foothill Transit. Going Good Places.”

Did we mention SGV Connect won a big award at the L.A. Press Club this week? Read all about it here.

This week Chris brings us a special feature interview with artist Isabel Pan. Pan is the artist in residence at C.A.S.A Zamora in El Monte. Her project has been a documentary-style, slice of life comic strip depicting the impact of sweatshop labor and refugee crises on the children of immigrants in the San Gabriel Valley. 

Pan’s subject is the son of a sweat shop worker, Denny. His parents came to El Monte in the late 70’s, fleeing the Vietnam War. They endured the loss of family en route to America, and the struggle of working in the garment industry once here. Pan’s comic strip is titled Má, which is what Denny calls his mother.

Má explores the generation gap and communication breakdown that Denny experienced growing up with parents who were traumatized by their escape from Vietnam and exploited by employers in Southern California. Denny’s mother was a work-from-home seamstress, payed cents per piece, who provided a home for her children. 

Pan - raised in part by working class grandparents - talks frankly with SBLA about the physical and emotional burden of this labor,  as well as the beauty of sharing these experiences with other Monteros. Her comic can be found at Matilija Lending Library in El Monte.

Streetsblog’s San Gabriel Valley coverage is supported by Foothill Transit, offering car-free travel throughout the San Gabriel Valley with connections to the Gold Line Stations across the Foothills and Commuter Express lines traveling into the heart of downtown L.A. To plan your trip, visit Foothill Transit. “Foothill Transit. Going Good Places.”Sign-up for our SGV Connect Newsletter, coming to your inbox on Fridays!

This week’s SGV Connect continues our theme of focusing in on various areas of the SGV for our podcast episodes by looking at the Greater Pasadena area.

First, Damien and Chris traveled to El Sereno to meet with some of the Reclaimers, unhoused residents of El Sereno who moved into Caltrans owned properties during the pandemic. Benito, Sandra and Fanny return to SGV Connect (their first appearance can be found here) to advocate for affordable housing and community spaces, discuss the ongoing eviction battle between Caltrans and the Reclaimers. Personal stories and experiences are shared, emphasizing the need for accountability and justice from those in power: especially Caltrans, the county’s homeless services provider, and Los Angeles City Councilmember Kevin DeLeon. A transcript of their discussion can be found here.

This discussion references the Roberti Act, passed in the 1970’s to guide Caltrans on how to manage and eventually sell these properties. A good description of Roberti can be found in this article about the competing vision between the Reclaimers and DeLeon for El Sereno.

Rick Cole has been a regular commenter at Streetsblog and Santa Monica Next for years. After his election to the Pasadena City Council in March, we reached back out to him to discuss the need to improve Pasadena's transportation infrastructure and engage the community in a more inclusive and proactive approach to address gentrification. Cole emphasized the importance of prioritizing safety, affordability, and alternatives to car use, and the need for a more inclusive approach to urban planning, involving the public in decision-making processes. A transcript of their discussion can be found here.

 

SGV Connect is supported by Foothill Transit, offering car-free travel throughout the San Gabriel Valley with connections to the new Gold Line Stations across the Foothills and Commuter Express lines traveling into the heart of downtown L.A. To plan your trip, visit Foothill Transit. “Foothill Transit. Going Good Places.”

This week's SGV Connect is focusing on the election to replace Councilmember and Vice-Mayor Sasha Renée Pérez of Alhambra. Pérez has given up her seat to run for the State Senate.

  Chris interviews Nicolas Kiet Quach, the president of the Alhambra Library Board of Trustees. While only 18, Kiet Quach is no newcomer to politics having worked for and with Pérez. If you choose, you can read a transcript of the interview, here.   Next, Damien talks to Je-Show Yang, a community activist who has appeared a couple of times in Streetsblog articles about the Fremont Avenue exit ramps, Alhambra bicycle and pedestrian master plan and other stories. If you choose, you can read a transcript of the interview, here.   Normally, SGV Connect likes to provide a little more context in the text that accompanies the podcast, but since we're talking to a pair of political candidates and we're a federally recognized non-profit we're going to pass on anything that could be seen as editorializing. These are both exciting candidates and we hope you enjoy the podcast.  

SGV Connect is supported by Foothill Transit, offering car-free travel throughout the San Gabriel Valley with connections to the new Gold Line Stations across the Foothills and Commuter Express lines traveling into the heart of downtown L.A. To plan your trip, visit Foothill Transit. “Foothill Transit. Going Good Places.”

We continue our tour through the San Gabriel Valley with an episode focused on the City of Glendora, known as the Heart of the Foothills.

It might surprise you if you're not familiar with what's going on at this small suburban community, but Glendora is working hard to build out a bike network, calm traffic on its streets, build up a downtown in its 'village' area and continue to plan for the coming A Line (Gold Line) Station. Our first interview is with Steve Mateer, who is responsible for executing the vision for a new and green Glendora. We talk about how the City Council is pushing a smart growth vision for the city and how their community outreach strategy has helped reach consensus instead of conflict on new projects such as bike lanes or parklets.

Second, Chris interviews Adam Cousins, the satirist behind the Memes of Glendora Instagram page. The social media site provides a tongue-in-cheek view of suburban life in the San Gabriel Valley.

The audio of our podcast can be found below. If you prefer the written word, you can find a transcript of our interview with Steve here and with Adam here.

SGV Connect is supported by Foothill Transit, offering car-free travel throughout the San Gabriel Valley with connections to the new Gold Line Stations across the Foothills and Commuter Express lines traveling into the heart of downtown L.A. To plan your trip, visit Foothill Transit. “Foothill Transit. Going Good Places.”

Welcome to the first SGV Connect podcast of 2024! We start our new year with the first in a new series that focuses on different regions and communities in the San Gabriel Valley and examines both the state of their mobility projects and cultural and community projects.

 

This week, both interviews were completed by Chris Greenspon. The first is with David Diaz, the executive director of Active SGV, where they discuss several projects going on in the area: a multimodal projects coming soon to the area, a linear park and greenway on Merced Avenue, the Rosemead Boulevard Complete Streets, and projects on Rush Street, Santa Anita, and Parkway Drive.

 

The second interview is with Pedro Gonzales, the librarian at Libros Monte, a lending library run by the South El Monte Arts Posse and staff member with Mt San Antonio College’s El Centro: Latinx Student Program. The conversation bounces back and forth between Libros Monte and El Centro at Mt SAC (and some soccer).

 

If you prefer reading rather than listening, you can read transcripts of the interview with David Diaz here or Pedro Gonzalez here.

 

SGV Connect is supported by Foothill Transit, offering car-free travel throughout the San Gabriel Valley with connections to the new Gold Line Stations across the Foothills and Commuter Express lines traveling into the heart of downtown L.A. To plan your trip, visit Foothill Transit. “Foothill Transit. Going Good Places.”

 

Last Friday, Foothill Transit celebrated its 35th anniversary with a party in the parking lot of its West Covina headquarters. Joe Linton and Chris Greenspon were among those on-hand and they had a chance to catch up with a handful of people that helped shape Foothill Transit's past and will guide the agency into the future. Those short interviews are included in this podcast and include:

Congressmember Judy Chu

Foothill Transit Executive Director Doran Barnes

Former Duarte Mayor John Fasana

Former Glendora Councilmember Bob Kuhn

Deputy Chief Executive Officer of Foothill Transit, LaShawn King Gillespie

You can also read Linton's coverage of Friday's event here. A full transcript of the interview can be found below the podcast.

SGV Connect is supported by Foothill Transit, offering car-free travel throughout the San Gabriel Valley with connections to the new Gold Line Stations across the Foothills and Commuter Express lines traveling into the heart of downtown L.A. To plan your trip, visit Foothill Transit. “Foothill Transit. Going Good Places.”

Chris Greenspon (in studio): Welcome to SGV Connect 121, this is a shorter episode, but it’s a special montage of interviews from the 35th anniversary celebration of Foothill Transit at their headquarters in West Covina. Joe and I heard from board members past and present, local legislators, and higher ups in the transit agency about its history and where it’s going. Before we listen to that, I’d just like to remind you that: Streetsblog’s San Gabriel Valley coverage is supported by Foothill Transit, offering car-free travel throughout the San Gabriel Valley with connections to the Gold Line Stations across the Foothills and Commuter Express lines traveling into the heart of downtown L.A. To plan your trip, visit Foothill Transit dot org…… “Foothill Transit. Going Good Places.” Now let’s revisit the celebration that took place last Friday.   Judy Chu: Well, good afternoon. I'm Congress member Judy Chu. And I just had to be here to say congratulations to Foothill Transit on your 35th anniversary. I can't believe it's been 35 years but I can believe it because Foothill has made such an impact on the San Gabriel Valley. And I am a huge admirer of this agency. I'm especially thrilled because it's addressed an issue that Southern Californians have had to deal with, which is traffic and congestion on our roadways, carbon emissions and having better ways to get to work school and to other communities in the San Gabriel Valley. But Foothill Transit has been at the forefront of solving these problems and ensuring that communities in the San Gabriel Valley that are underserved by transit have a convenient, sustainable connection to the rest of the Los Angeles area. And I especially admire Foothill Transit because it's leading the way in terms of clean energy. You're the first transit agency in the world to deploy heavy duty, fast charge electric transit buses in service. How about that? And I always boast in Washington DC about the fact that Foothill Transit is pushing for a 100% clean fueled fleet, and they're well on their way to getting it. And just look at all the tremendous steps that happened this year alone. In June, we celebrated the grand opening of Foothill transits Mount SAC Transit Center, which provides on Campus Transit to thousands of students, staff and faculty members. And by implementing the new Foothill Transit Rose Bowl shuttle service thousands of people can get to and from Rose Bowl events without having to deal with the hassle of traffic and parking. So you are making public transit more accessible for everyone. You're reducing the number of cars on our overburdened roads, and you're helping to fight climate change and building a greener and healthier community. So congratulations Foothill Transit and everyone here on this wonderful milestone. Thank you for all the work that you're doing to serve our communities, improve our public transit, and protect our environment. And I'd like to present a certificate of congressional recognition to Foothill Transit for 35 great years...   CG: First of all, first name, last name, who you are, why do we care. Doran Barnes: Hi, Doran Barnes, Chief Executive Officer here at Foothill Transit. CG: So when/why/how was Foothill Transit founded?

DB: Well, Foothill Transit was created to be responsive to the communities that we serve, to really focus on the San Gabriel and Pomona Valleys, to be here to be located here, to really understand the conditions in the community and how we can best serve the community and its residents.

CG: But just for a little context, it wasn't the first agency serving this jurisdiction, right? DB: It was not. Originally, this area was served by the Southern California Rapid Transit District. We were part of the county wide service that provided service here in the San Gabriel Valley. Our community leaders wanted to have that local control and that local responsiveness. So that's how we were founded.   CG (in studio): All right, now let's listen to some of those electeds for a more detailed picture of Foothill Transit's past.   John Fasana: John Fasana, I was a council member in Duarte for 33 years. I also was on the Foothill Transit executive board for a while and served on the Metro board for 27 years. Joe Linton: The longest serving person on the Metro board. JF: Yeah, I was. I was an original. JL: So talk a little bit about what your role has been with Foothill Transit and maybe a story about what what Foothill Transit has done? JF: Well, Foothill Transit, I think in the early days, what it came down to... the SCRTD was going to cance routes, they're having budget issues. And in the San Gabriel Valley, the were going to do substantial cancellations of routes. So in the early to mid 1980s, people like Supervisor Schabarum, and at the Transportation Commission, Sharon Neely and others were looking at strategies, "Well, rather than canceling lines, is there a way to get better efficiency in the lines or better performance?" And people like Bob Bartlett in Monrovia, Don McMillan, Judy Wright and Claremont, McMillan was in El Monte. They were coming together like, "Yeah, we don't want to lose all our routes. What can we do to still keep our routes and still provide the service that people need?" So they looked at forming this agency, it started off very small. They talked with  cities in the San Gabriel Valley. First they were going to do the entire valley. Then they scaled it to 20 cities, I believe, mostly in the eastern Valley. And it's been a success. I mean, over the years, they've done a lot of innovation. They've run a great service. They had clean buses at the time in the early 90s. And Metro buses had a lot of graffiti in them. So the Foothill buses were very popular, and the Metro I think, has improved their services and runs a good service. But cost wise, I think Foothill is still extremely efficient. And they continue to be the eyes and the ears of the San Gabriel Valley in terms of what's needed out here. They've been a key stakeholder in terms of also informing us about what some of the transportation needs, how do you keep that 10 busway moving for, for example, keep people moving and not having the busway gridlock. There's some of us I know that was formed as a bus way originally. And then there was a transit strike that after it sat empty, people couldn't deal with that so they let cars in. And it's been a good story. But Bob Kuhn out of Glendora, who was on the council back then, also would have a lot of that ancient history of how it started.   CG: Hi, Bob, what's your name? What's your claim to fame? Bob Kuhn: Okay, I'm Bob Kuhn. I was on the Foothill Transit Board in the early years. I've been a city council member for the city of Glendora, former mayor. I currently serve on three different water boards right now. I don't know if that's a claim to fame, or just a fact. CG: That seems more like a humble brag. JL: So tell us tell us about this: Foothill has been around 35 years, when did you come into the picture? And what was it like then? BK: I got into the picture on an early end of it. And that was from the standpoint of talking with Pete Schabarum and the fact that he wanted to bring an independent transit agency out into the San Gabriel Valley. He wanted to see cleaner buses, he wanted to see on-time production. And he also wanted to see some of the school districts served, that was really a big issue for him. At that time, Metro wasn't doing a particularly good job of servicing the school districts. And that was basically the ridership. And so he made a pitch to Glendora, which I had just gotten elected. It was my very first meeting as a city councilman. And my mistake for me personally, was calling the guy who made the presentation on Pete's behalf, it was a guy named Bill Forsyth. And I called Bill the next day. And I said, "Bill, I really do understand English, but I didn't understand a single word you said. You were talking in transit." He was involved in the 1984 Olympics and set up their transit system. So he was asked and tasked to set this up. And I didn't understand the routing. I didn't understand really what he was saying about about on time. Those were all issues that just didn't, didn't register with me. So he and I sat down for about two hours. And then he said at the end, he says, "I need an elected to go with me to some of the different city councils and make presentations." He said, "It's always good to have staff, and it always looks better when you're talking to electeds to have electeds there." And I said, "As long as I don't have to talk, I don't mind being there." And that's the way it worked out. I went with him. And toward the end, I was making the presentation and he was sitting there watching and it just came to be. It was just something that was destined at that time.   CG (in studio): Okay, let's bring it back to the present now.   LaShawn King Gillespie: I'm ready. I don't even have to take off my glasses because you don't have a camera. Isn't that great? Hi, I'm LaShawn King Gillespie and I serve as Deputy Chief Executive Officer here at Foothill Transit. JL: And talk a little bit about what you do. What's your day to day job? LKG: My day to day job is to support the team in both the operations, the planning, the day to day operations. I also work with our operations contractors at both locations, so that they can have what they need to provide the excellent service that we've committed to providing our customers. JL: Great. And what's an accomplishment that you're proud of recently at Foothill? Or even in the past of Foothill, what are you proud of having done? LKG: I think there's a few things that I'm super proud of. Of course, our commitment to technology and innovation, but our commitment to our community, both those who live here, who are educated here, those who play here, and making sure that we provide the highest level of service that we can, and what that looks like is clean buses, on-time performance, friendly operators/customer service representatives, and reliable service. JL: Any any like stories like some time you were out on a bus or you were talking to a customer, if you've got a story, that'd be awesome to add. If you don't want to add, you're done. CG: Her head jerked. That means yes. LKG: I probably have more stories and you want to hear about. One of my favorite stories, and I think they talked about this during the presentation today is our Rose Bowl service. When I go out on January one, at eight o'clock in the morning, the parades going on, and I see 70 meticulously clean Foothill Transit buses, there, ready to provide service to the thousands of customers or 1thousands of people who are going into the Rose Bowl, and the service that we provide that community and the feedback that we get after doing that service. That is one of my favorite things ever. Just imagine 70 buses -- am I getting a little too excited -- 70 buses lined up along the parade route. You see the floats going by and the buses, and then we are ready to just get people from that parking lot out to the Rose Bowl, seeing that. So that's one of my favorite things. In some of my day to day service... I do take the service, because we need to know our product. I remember when I first started, I got lost, I got lost and I was stranded. And I'm like, "Oh my gosh," it was before a lot of the technology was available, but calling our customer service representatives and them helping me and guiding me on how to get from where I was back to the office. I was like, "Alright, this is a cool place to work because they care." They absolutely care.   CG (in studio): And let's close out once again with Foothill Transit CEO, Dorian Barnes.   CG: Okay, two questions about the future. How close are we to getting... well, we're looking at about an initial purchase of about, was it 30 Fuel Cell buses? Are they all in pocket now? DB: Yeah, 33 Fuel Cell buses, they're here, they're operating so you can take a ride on those fuel cell buses today. They're out in the field, more to come. We're looking at additional zero emission technology, really looking at how that technology is evolving. And it's up to our policymakers to make those smart decisions about how fast we move. CG: And Foothill Transit has service to like we already mentioned L.A. but also the fringes of Orange County and the Inland Empire right into them, not to the edge of them. Are there any future plans or hopes to bolster up these inter-regional connections? DB: Well, we're really part of a mosaic of services throughout the region. So we do connect to Omnitrans at Montclair, we connect to OCTA in Brea. And then of course, connecting into downtown Los Angeles, where there lots and lots of different operators. We're constantly looking at those partnerships, looking at how do we not only serve our communities, but provide connectivity beyond our communities with our partners. So it's really an ongoing process looking at how do we make improvements. CG: Okay, last question for you, Doran. I know your time is very valuable. So there's been some development from the San Gabriel Valley Council of Governments. They've been working on a transit study and Bus Rapid Transit plan, how hopeful and how aggressive might Foothill Transit be about pursuing service provision for that line? DB: We've been very much involved with the creation of that study that's looking at additional lines in the region, BRT style lines. We're very hopeful that we'll be the operator of those services. As they're getting closer and closer to finalizing the preferred routes and the highest priority routes. We think there's some pieces that could fit really nicely into our network and further expand what we do for the communities we serve. CG: Just as an addendum, why do you think Foothill is the strong agency to do that? DB: Well, again, we're we're focused on the San Gabriel Valley. So blending those services into what we do makes it even more seamless for our customers. Certainly, whoever operates the lines, we'll want to make sure that we're interfacing very closely. But again, we think it fits into our network very nicely. CG: All right, Doran, thanks so much, and enjoy the rest of the party. DB: Thanks. I'm looking forward to it.   CG (in studio): To see photos of our coverage of the Foothill Transit 35th anniversary celebration, look at Joe’s most recent stories, linked in the text for this episode. We’ll be back with more SGV Connect after the winter holidays.

Jeanie Ward-Waller is not a household name in California, but until recently she may have had the most important job in the state as far as Streetsblog readers are concerned. Ward-Waller served as the Deputy Director of Planning and Multimodal Programs at Caltrans, where she not only oversaw many of the great programs that we regularly highlighted at Streetsblog; but also served as the internal whistleblower to make certain the agency was working to meet its own climate and equity goals.

 

While we were all surprised when Politico announced earlier this fall that she was fired/demoted, in retrospect maybe the surprise was that she lasted as long and accomplished as much as she did.

 

Below you can find the audio of a twenty minute chat we had last week, and then a stack of links about her time at Caltrans and Calbike before that and then a lightly edited transcript of the podcast.

 

Jeanie Ward-Waller Streetsblog Highlights, going from most recent backwards:

 

Analysis of her reassignment

I Lost My Job at Caltrans for Speaking Out Against Highway Widening

2021 Interview About Her Work at CaltransOn a panel about speeding up busesOn the challenges of incorporating equity: JWW created new Walk and Bike Technical Advisory Committee at Caltrans, with wider representationHired at CaltransAt CalBike advocating to get Caltrans to adopt a Complete Streets policy:SBCA gave out very few "Streetsies" and this was the best oneStanding up to California Transportation Commission

 

Interview Transcript:

 

Damien Newton

So as mentioned in the intro, I'm here with Jeanne Ward-Waller, who recently was the Deputy Director of Planning and Multimodal Programs at Caltrans. We're talking today about some of the changes that have happened at Caltrans recently, including that she is no longer the Deputy Director of Planning and Multimodal Programs at Caltrans. 

 

For those of you that don't know, Jeanne has been a frequent guest on Streetsblog, California, or I shouldn't say guest frequent source person quoted in stories. Not just with Caltrans...but before that she was with Calbike. When she was first put in this position, we were all very excited. And I'll actually put some links to some of our old Streetsblog California stories in the text that accompanies this podcast if people are interested. But having said all that, welcome to our podcast, Jeannie.

 

Jeanie Ward-Waller

Thank you. Thank you, man. That's great to see you. Great to be with you.

 

Damien Newton

Thank you. So I did mention that you have a much longer history than just working at Caltrans recently. So why don't we do a little bit of your biography to give some people that might not be as familiar with you an idea as to why there were so many people across the state really excited when you were originally tapped for this position to Caltrans.

 

Jeanie Ward-Waller

Thank you. Yeah. I appreciate all those nice things. I am originally I don't know how far back you want me to go. But I'm a trained engineer. I did start my career as an engineer working in Boston. I transitioned into advocacy via a bike trip across the country, which was where I kind of cut my teeth on advocacy and fundraised for the Safe Routes to School National Partnership. And just like very serendipitously, at the end of that trip, I met the founder of that organization, Deb Hubsmith, who hired me to move to California and start working in advocacy here in Sacramento. 

 

I consider myself so lucky, because I just absolutely...it was the career shift that I needed. I loved being in advocacy so much, and certainly have found my passion in the world of sustainable transportation. But I spent a couple of years working for Safe Routes to School, as you said, I then moved to the California Bicycle Coalition as a policy director there. And then found my way to Caltrans, about six years ago. I started at Caltrans as the Sustainability Program Manager, helping to build that program, which was really pretty new at the time, and had grown out of that Caltrans reform effort from about 10 years ago. 

 

And so I was really excited...I felt like if I was ever going to try to make change inside of government, that that was the place to do it. And that program was new, growing and really came out of the idea of how do we change. The Department of Transportation and make it more modern, more oriented towards schools of climate inequity and community quality of life, the things that we want to see in our transportation system today. After a few years in that program, I was  appreciated and recognized for my brand of change. 

 

I was promoted into the Deputy Director role over the planning and modal program, which is a pretty large portion of Caltrans, kind of the part of Caltrans is responsible for looking into the future and deciding how the policies and the work of the department need to shift. And that was my job. I took it very seriously because both as an advocate, and then as a civil servant, public servant, I felt like that work is really, really important.

 

Damien Newton

When people describe what these positions were, the shorthand is, "It's Jeanie's job to make sure that Caltrans is actually trying to meet the climate goals that the governor and the legislature have put out." But sometimes shorthand is inaccurate. Sometimes it doesn't go far enough. Sometimes it glosses over. Is that  accurate? Were you the internal person who was trying to make sure that Caltrans was helping them meet climate goals?

 

Jeanie Ward-Waller

It is accurate, but I wasn't the only one. There is also a deputy director of sustainability, who is a governor appointee. That person's job is also oriented around our climate goals. But because I oversaw the planning program, and also the modal programs, multimodal programs, which included our rail and transit programs; I was more on the implementation side of how we get future projects to be better aligned with our climate goals. And thus reach the goals that we have set out in our statewide plans like the California Transportation Plan, which the  legislature requires  that document show the path to our 2050 Climate goal; which is an 80% reduction in GHG, which is massive. So that's a very ambitious plan. 

And somehow what we do today, and the projects that we're initiating, that are coming in the future; need to kind of put us on the path to those goals. So that was the work of the Planning Program, which was in my purview.

 

Damien Newton

What are some of the things that you were able to work on at Caltrans that were exciting to you, or particularly things that you can point out and be," Wow, the six years that we've spent there up to now we're really worthwhile looking at these great things."

 

Jeanie Ward-Waller

Oh, my gosh...so many things. And I'm incredibly proud of the time that I spent in Caltrans. 

 

And I also want to say, it's not just me. I don't want to take credit for all of the great things that were happening. I was in a leadership position, which is important to help set the course. But there are just so many good people at Caltrans, so many people that I worked with that were on my team. Some work in different parts of the department that are really responsible for making change happen. And so, it was really fun work, a lot of things that I'm really proud of. 

 

We were working on something called CSIS or the Caltrans System Investment Strategy. And that is a set of metrics that help us determine whether the projects that we're doing in the future are aligned with the goals that we have, not just climate, equity, safety; but multiple different policy priorities. And that, I think, is really fundamental to trying to make good decisions in the future. That's something that's still ongoing. It's not complete, it will be something that iterates over many years and gets better with time. But we've spent a huge amount of time on that. 

 

Now, the thing I take a lot of pride in is helping to really create the equity program. I founded a Caltrans office of race and equity and brought people together from different parts of the department that were working on Native American liaison issues and  community engagement issues, and we created a kind of cohesive unit in headquarters that was responsible for leading that work. And there have been policy policies that have grown out of that work, also something that we call the equity index, which is also telling us about where and what are the characteristics of communities where we're doing projects? And how do we make them better, from an equity perspective, reduce harm, improve benefits. 

 

So those are a couple of things. 

 

There were other things that were actively underway, like we were working on transit priority policies and projects, which I think Caltrans has a huge amount of opportunity to improve how transit flows, especially, not just on the state highway system that Caltrans owns, but also across the system, often on local streets. That's also still underway. It's to be seen, what comes of some of those efforts. Without me there, I think all those things need a really strong champion to to really be implemented and live up to the goals that we have.

 

Damien Newton

A lot of the headlines have used the word "fired," that you were fired, or let go from your position. But you were really internally reassigned, but the reassignment was done in such a way that it's just basically the same thing. Because you haven't left Caltrans, you're still there, but you're currently on family leave. Let's just untangle all of that at first so people can understand exactly what's going on. 

 

Jeanie Ward-Waller

Because I was in an executive role, it's a little bit of a unique state government position, where you can be terminated in an executive role. Because as I mentioned, before, I had come into Caltrans in a civil service classification as the sustainability program manager, I had return rights...legal rights to return to that classification. And based on the longevity I have at Caltrans actually one level above that level. The details are not that important, but functionally it is kind of a demotion, if I accept my rights of return, which I have I've done and at this point. I've been on family leave for the last month and a half, but I am still an employee of Caltrans. 

 

But I will not return to Caltrans in the role I was in before and it's not clear what my role will be when I return

 

Damien Newton

In the meantime your old position still exists. And hopefully, it's still working on some of these issues. It's been reported in a lot of the press, including Melanie and Streetsblog, California that the impetus for them making a change was really the opposition you were giving internally to a freeway project in the Sacramento region. I think a lot of us were sort of caught off guard when all this happened. I remember when we all read the Politico story,  at Streetsblog we're like, "wait, what's happening? Really? That doesn't make sense." Can you sort of explain what you think happened as best you can, without tripping on the legal case that you have against Caltrans? I mean, was this a surprise, or was it something you saw coming as you were expressing opposition to some programs, or some projects, that Caltrans was pushing that really weren't living up to the goals that the agency was publicly expressing?

 

Jeanie Ward-Waller

Short answer is that it was a total surprise to me. 

 

And I'll tell you, the reason that I was surprised by the change by the termination is that the questions that I was asking about this specific project in Sacramento are the kinds of questions I asked every day in my job at Caltrans: is this project aligned with our goals? Are we living up to the public benefits that we're claiming we will get from these projects? Those were the kinds of questions I asked every day as an employee of Caltrans. 

 

And frankly, I felt like that was my job. I was put in a job where I'm a change agent. It's part of my job description, to sort of look into the future and figure out how the department needs to change. And so it would be me not living up to my duties in that job, if I wasn't asking questions, like I was asking. Frankly, as a public servant, I take really seriously that we need to be telling the truth to the public, and we need to create the required opportunities to have public engagement and public input to our work. So that requires being transparent, and also requires being honest in our analysis. And I was concerned that wasn't happening on those two projects that are the exact same location. 

 

So it kind of functionally seemed like one project, but this location on I-80. I was very surprised by the termination. And the timing of it was right on the heels of me saying I was concerned about accountability. And not really seeing any response to those questions prompted me to say, "I really think this warrants an external audit, this is the kind of thing whistleblower opportunities exist for when you're asking questions, and they're not being answered, and nobody's taking it seriously. I just felt like I had an obligation to appeal to other forms of accountability and government. So again, none of that was different from what I had always done in my time at Caltrans. And so it was a big surprise. when the next thing to happen was that I was terminated in my role.

 

Damien Newton

I'm  down here in Greater Los Angeles. Caltrans has been getting beat up a lot recently in the past week...I mean by Streetsblog, always...but in the past week in the mainstream press because of what went on with the I-10 fire in East LA. When we were doing our pre interview you were talking about how the role of Caltrans keeps changing and expanding. And to be fair to people working at the agency, it's really hard to keep up with all of the "extra things." 20 years ago, it was "build the freeways" and maybe be a landlord for some random houses along the 710 corridor. 

 

But now there's all these different things they have to take into account. So I guess what I'm trying to ask is, how fair is it to just level  some of these larger accusations at the agency? How difficult is it to sort of be at Caltrans these day. You're someone who is got a few things to say about the agency, but you also bring a different perspective than I think your average person that just exists in California or even your Streetsblog editor.

 

Jeanie Ward-Waller

I think it's incredibly hard, especially at the leadership level trying to make decisions about priorities. I think the job of Caltrans today is so much more complicated than it was, as you said, even 20 years ago. The crises of the past that Caltrans has dealt with and responded  incredibly well to are things like earthquakes and  damage to the system...mudslides. We see a lot of these emergencies, crises, where the system gets impacted severely, and Caltrans can respond in an incredible fashion, and usually does and I think will to this fire and the damage that was done to the 10 freeway. That is really the bread and butter and what Caltrans does really well. 

 

And building and maintaining the highway system is what this agency was established to do and has done through its whole history. The "new stuff" is complete streets, and how do we deal with these other users that aren't in a car that maybe want to be in a bus or train or have options, or, maybe don't want to travel want to have like, options to not have to travel as much or as far. Those are like way more complicated problems that interact with air quality land use, community opinions, and all of this other complicated stuff. 

 

Certainly being landlords of folks who are unhoused in particular is just such an intractable difficult issue and to think about engineers who are trying to build highways, suddenly having to figure out how to, like, take care of people. It's just...it's not what people came to Caltrans thinking that they would be doing. And so I do think that the agency's job has become incredibly complicated, and I'm very sympathetic to that. I think we need to appreciate what Caltrans does well, and keeping the roads open and keeping them working pretty well  is impressive. The other things are very hard. And there, it's gonna take a lot of time and a really strong push. 

 

You need people like me, right? You need people to push for change to actually change an organization like that. And sometimes it takes a generation. You need to bring in all new people with all new ideas, trying to think about problems differently, before you really get true change in an agency.

 

Damien Newton

All right, well, we are hitting our artificially created time limit of 20 minutes, but you know, it's the internet. So it's not like it's a hard and fast rule. I always like to close with the assumption that maybe there's something I missed or a question I didn't ask. So if there's a question I didn't ask that you really want to answer; feel free to ask it now. If not, I think maybe just take a short look into the future and tell us what should advocates who are interested in working on issues with Caltrans...what should we be looking for in 2024 and beyond. You can just answer your own question or mine or do both in either order.

 

Jeanie Ward-Waller

That's a really good question. Maybe I'll at least partly answer it, because I don't have a magic looking glass. So I don't know exactly what's going to come in the future. But I do think that there's so much more work to do with Caltrans and with all of Caltrans partners. Down in your neck of the woods, obviously, LA Metro is working hand in glove with Caltrans. So there's a lot of kind of accountability and influence and engagement to do with all of the folks that are making these decisions. But it's so important...I would just say there's more money in transportation now than there ever has been. 

 

Caltrans' budget is bigger than it's ever been. And that's because there's both more state money as well as more federal money flowing into transportation right now. And so the decisions that get made in the next five to 10 years are going to create the system and the communities of the future. And so I just think  it's such an important time to be engaged and to be doing this work, and to be paying close attention to asking the hard questions for what Caltrans and other agencies are doing. So I really appreciate the work of advocates. I talk to advocates all the time. A lot of them are my good friends. 

 

I think it's important that we all be honest with each other both about what we're doing well, and what we need to improve. So I just want to leave with maybe some appreciation. 

 

Damien Newton

All right, well, hey, thank you so much for your time. Again, there's some links and some of Jeanie's story that go back to... I don't know if we have  one's back to your Safe Routes days. I'm sure if I look hard enough, we can find some quotes or two.I often say the the people that do open streets and the people that do Safe Routes to School don't know how lucky they have it, because the opposition to taking kids to school safely or to doing an open street event is so much less than the opposition to so many of the other issues we work on. 

 

Jeanie Ward-Waller

It's like mom and apple pie! And biking across the country....that was part of why I picked it as an organization to focus on biking across the country. We were biking through the south and all across the country everybody cares about their communities being safe for kids to be able to walk and bike to school. So I agree with you. It's an issue that goes to my heart, and always will be.

 

Damien Newton

Thank you so much for your time today. And again, there's some links to some old Jeanie Ward-Waller stories on Streetsblog, California that are included with the text that accompanies this podcast and we will keep in touch and keep an eye on what's going on.

 

Jeanie Ward-Waller

Thank you so much, Damien. This is fun.