SGV Connect

Today, Damien Talks with Graham Wheat our new Central Valley writer for Streetsblog California. Topics include:his life, transportation habits, journalism experiences and future-favorite-writing-projects. The Bakersfield native and resident has a lot of interesting views, including his big hopes for California High Speed Rail and what it can be for Bakersfield and the rest of the world.

Check it out, I can think of no better way to meet someone than to listen to a conversation between that person and me using my "NPR Voice."

We’re always looking for sponsors, show ideas, and feedback. You can contact me at [email protected], at twitter @damientypes, online at Streetsblog California or onFacebook at StreetsblogCA.

Thanks for listening. You can download the episode at the Damien Talks homepage on Libsyn.

This week, DamienTalks with Dave Snyder, the executive director of CalBike about the current legislative session and generally about how things are going in Sacramento. Spoiler: so far, pretty well.

But the biggest fish is still in the sea. The legislature will come back for a special session in August to try and deal with the state's transportation infrastructure crisis...specifically the lack of funds to deal with such a crisis. Snyder and others are pushing for both a complete streets policy for any "fix-it" project, so that with any new asphalt comes improvements to the bicycle and pedestrian grid and increased funding for other Livable Streets projects.

As you'll hear...Snyder is more of an optimist than I am.

We’re always looking for sponsors, show ideas, and feedback. You can contact me at [email protected], at twitter @damientypes, online at Streetsblog California or onFacebook at StreetsblogCA.

Thanks for listening. You can download the episode at the Damien Talks homepage on Libsyn.

Today #DamienTalks with Ethan Elkind, about the efforts to reform how the state measures transportation impacts of a proposed project. Currently, the state measures how a project impacts car travel time, but a change to state law will turn that rule on its head so that we’re encouraging projects that don’t produce more car trips instead of just mitigating the ones that do.

Not surprisingly, there is pushback. Surprisingly, it’s coming from a group that should gain from the change from “LOS” to “VMT.”

Ethan Elkind is the Associate Director of the Climate Change and Business Program, with a joint appointment at UC Berkeley School of Law and UCLA School of Law. In this capacity, he serves as the lead author of UCLA-UC Berkeley’s grant-funded series of policy reports on business solutions to combat climate change.  He also researches and writes on the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA), climate change law, environmental justice, and other environmental and energy law topics.  

His book Railtown: The Fight for the Los Angeles Metro Rail and the Future of the City was published by University of California Press in January 2014. 

And we really like Ethan. Jason Islas conducted an interview with him earlier this year for Santa Monica Next: Part 1, Part 2.

We’re always looking for sponsors, show ideas, and feedback. You can contact me at [email protected], at twitter @damientypes, online at Streetsblog California or onFacebook at StreetsblogCA.

Thanks for listening. You can download the episode at the Damien Talks homepage on Libsyn.

Good Data, it’s the Holy Grail of transportation reform advocates.

Today, #DamienTalks with Richard McKinnon, the head of Safe Streets Santa Monica and a member of the local planning commission, about his organization’s efforts to bring data to an often emotional debate over street safety. Santa Monica is one of the more progressive cities when it comes to transportation planning, yet there is a common belief among many residents that bicyclists are somehow a menace on the streets.

Using TIMS data, collected by the local police and compiled by statisticians at University of California at Berkeley, Safe Streets Santa Monica mapped 9,600 crashes that occurred over the last ten years.

Less than fifty of these crashes were caused by cyclists. McKinnon is sharing this data with his fellow planning commissioners, city staff and the City Council to inform the discussion when issues of traffic safety are brought up.

Want to repeat Safe Streets’s success? Head over to the TIMS website and get cracking.

We’re always looking for sponsors, show ideas, and feedback. You can contact me at [email protected], at twitter @damientypes, online at Streetsblog California or onFacebook at StreetsblogCA.

Thanks for listening. You can download the episode at the Damien Talks homepage on Libsyn.

Today, #DamienTalks with Jim Stone, the executive director of Circulate San Diego, about the recent announcement that the city will pursue a Vision Zero strategy for its transportation planning. Stone discusses the research and politics that happened behind the scene before this week’s announcement and what steps San Diego is taking to create a safe and livable city.

On Monday, the Mayor of San Diego, leaders of the City Council and the SDPD joined Stone to announce the city will create a Vision Zero plan for San Diego. Stone also presented a report by Circulate that details both the need for and some ideas to implement Vision Zero. I covered this story for Streetsblog California, earlier this week. For that story, click here. To read Circulate’s report, click here.

We’re always looking for sponsors, show ideas, and feedback. You can contact me at [email protected], at twitter @damientypes, online at Streetsblog California or on Facebook at StreetsblogCA.

Thanks for listening. You can download the episode at the Damien Talks homepage on Libsyn.

Today, DamienTalks with Meea Kang, the founder of the Council of Infill Builders. Meea and I talk about A.B. 744, legislation that has cleared the Assembly that would remove minimum parking requirements for affordable housing near major transit hubs.

This is an interesting interview because Kang has an impressive array of stats and figures about how excessive parking damages neighborhoods and how, as we all know from reading Donald Shoup, the market does a better job determining parking needs of a community than heavy-handed zoning laws.

Also, for our dedicated fans, you can see why I spend more time listening than talking in these as I try to talk about similar legislation I covered a couple of years ago only to discover it is actually the same legislation.

If you’re just reading this introduction, and haven’t listened to the podcast, but want to help get this legislation passed or have some ideas about the legislation contact Lisa Engel ([email protected]) at Assemblymember Ed Chau’s office.

We’re always looking for sponsors, show ideas, and feedback. You can contact me at [email protected], at twitter @damientypes, online at Streetsblog California or on Facebook at StreetsblogCA.

Thanks for listening. You can download the episode at the Damien Talks homepage on Libsyn.

This week, #DamienTalks to South Pasadena Councilwoman Marina Khubesrian. Khubesrian, who happens to be a medical doctor for her day job, is also one of the leaders of the Beyond the 710 movement. Worn down by Caltrans and Metro (Los Angeles County MTA) pushing a freeway widening and tunnel project for over three decades, a group of San Gabriel County communities banded together with local activists and national nonprofits to create a new vision for the corridor.

We've written a lot about the attempts to dig a big highway tunnel in L.A. County's San Gabriel Valley at Streetsblog L.A. If you're interested, read more here.

Beyond the 710 is an innovative effort by progressive transportation reformers to reframe the debate. Instead of being "opposed to highway expansion" they are “for a series of smart fixes and great streets” that would both address the congestion hot spots and “for improving transportation options for all.”

We’re always looking for sponsors, show ideas, and feedback. You can contact me at [email protected], at twitter @damientypes, online at Streetsblog California or on Facebook at StreetsblogCA.

Thanks for listening. You can download the episode at the Damien Talks homepage on Libsyn.

This week Damien Talks to Jim Brown, executive director of Sacramento Area Bicycle Advocates, known locally as SABA. 

SABA has an out-sized role as they not only have to advocate for safe and attractive bicycle conditions in Sacramento; but are also the most visible advocates to many a Caltrans staffer, Assemblymember or Sentator or even executive staff with the Governor’s office. In fact, our call last week occurred moments after the end of a bike ride with the head of Caltrans.

Also, Jim is like an encyclopedia on bike policy, so this broadcast is extra-fun.

We’re always looking for sponsors, show ideas, and feedback. You can contact me at [email protected], at twitter @damientypes, online at Streetsblog California or on Facebook at StreetsblogCA.

Welcome to a special episode of Damien Talks. Today, Damien Talks with Colby Tibbet, the new Fresno writer for Streetsblog California. You may have seen a freelance piece Colby wrote for us earlier about Fresno's blight ordinance. We look forward to seeing what Colby has in store for us going forward.

We talk about Colby’s career to date, some of the favorite stories he's written and the bicycle and transit scenes in Fresno. My favorite part of this interview is Colby’s description of the underground bike network in some of the more suburban parts of the city. And by underground, we literally mean subterranean.

We’re always looking for sponsors, show ideas, and feedback. You can contact me at [email protected], at twitter @damientypes, online at Streetsblog California or on Facebook at StreetsblogCA.

Welcome to the third episode of Damien Talks, our podcast about the people and politics behind the Livable Streets Movement throughout California. Our first month coincides with Bike Month, so we’ve been working up the coast, talking to bike advocates throughout the state. 

This week, Damien Talks with Chris Kidd, a board member with CalBike, Walk/Bike Oakland, and Bike East Bay. When he’s not being one of the state’s leading advocates, he has a day job with Planning super group Alta Planning and Design. Longtime readers of Streetsblog Los Angeles may also remember Chris as the first editor of the LADOT Bike Blog.

This week’s Damien Types is taking part in a special week devoted to looking at how a new Department of Transportation could change things in Oakland.

We’re always looking for sponsors, show ideas, and feedback. You can contact me at [email protected], at twitter @damientypes, online at Streetsblog California or on Facebook at StreetsblogCA.