SGV Connect

With the next election day less than two months away, SGV Connect sits down with Topher Mathers who reviewed dozens of ballot measures throughout the San Gabriel Valley before Active SGV made endorsements for local measures throughout SGV cities.

This is our second podcast focusing on the 2022 election. SGV Connect #100 featured an interview with Ricardo Martinez, a progressive challenger to the incumbent La Puente Mayor and Katrina Kaiser with Streets for All who moderated a City Council debate in Monterey Park.

For a full list of their endorsements, and details for why they endorsed each measure, listen on or visit the Active SGV Elections page. You can also read a full transcript of the talk between Damien and Topher on Streetsblog. If you haven't received your ballot, or don't know where you can cast an in-person ballot, visit the L.A. County Elections page.

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."

Sign-up for our SGV Connect Newsletter, coming to your inbox on Fridays, and catch past episodes of SGV Connect and #DamienTalks on LibSyn, iTunes, Google Play, or Overcast.

This week's SGV Connect is a bit of a departure from our usual format. Instead of two interviews, we start with a discussion between Damien and Chris about a lawsuit filed by the City of San Dimas against the Foothill Gold Line Construction Authority. The lawsuit calls for a halt to constuction while the issue of where the parking lot for the station is built.

The discussion builds on years of reporting, some by Streetsblog and some by other local news. For more background please read, "San Dimas Lawsuit Over Light Rail Parking Project May Mean the Train Skips the Station" from the Daily News earlier this month, "San Dimas Has a List of Issues It Wants the Gold Line Authority to Address" from the Daily Bulletin in 2018, and "Reduced Parking Being Studied for Planned Foothill Gold Line Extension" from Streetsblog in 2020.

After that, Chris interviews Julian Lucas. Lucas is a photographer, publisher, bookseller and Pomona native. He shares his thoughts on the local art scene and he has an exhibit of street photography up at the Bunnygunner Gallery in Claremont through the end of the month. For more details and hours of operation for Bunnygunner, click here.

Would you rather read than listen? Click here for the discussion on the San Dimas parking controversy, and here for the interview with Julian Lucas.

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."

Sign-up for our SGV Connect Newsletter, coming to your inbox on Fridays, and catch past episodes of SGV Connect and #DamienTalks on LibSyn, iTunes, Google Play, or Overcast.

This week's SGV Connect features an interview with the director of the Pasadena Department of Transportation and Vincent LaRocca of the new group ride bicycling group SGV Cycling.

As Damien notes in our first interview with Pasadena's Laura Cornejo, SGV Connect was long overdue for a story on the Rose City. In the couple of days since we recorded the podcast, Chris Greenspon covered the 19 projects that the city is planning to build with repurposed funds from the defunct 710 expansion project, but before that it had been awhile.

In just the past couple of months, Pasadena has embraced a Safe Systems approach to transportation planning. Cornejo explains what that is and promotes the city's focus on pilot and demonstration programs to show Pasadenans what could be possible on their streets. For a full transcript of the interview, click here.

In our second interview, Chris interviews Vincent La Rocca, one of the members of SGV Cycling. LaRocca describes some of their recent rides and tells listeners how they can get in on the fun. For a full transcript of their discussion, click 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."

Sign-up for our SGV Connect Newsletter, coming to your inbox on Fridays, and catch past episodes of SGV Connect and #DamienTalks on LibSyn, iTunes, Google Play, or Overcast.

This week's SGV Connect features two interviews by Chris Greenspon on two different, but important issues.

First, Chris interviews James Drevno, a Senior Regional Planner with L.A. County Planning. James is working on the East San Gabriel Valley Area Plan which focuses on the unincorporated "islands" that are scattered throughout San Gabriel Valley. Within these areas, the Mobility Action Plan focuses on where there is the most need for bicycle and transit infrastructure improvements. To read a transcript of the interview between Chris and James, click here.

Next, Chris sits down with Josh Sanchez, a former SAC student who is transferring to Cal Poly Pomona. This eye opening conversation focuses on Josh's experience local and student journalism. What happens to areas when this type of journalism goes away in a tightening media market and what happens to journalists who can't afford to pursue their career anymore? For a full transcript of the discussion between Chris and Josh, click 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."

Sign-up for our SGV Connect Newsletter, coming to your inbox on Fridays, and catch past episodes of SGV Connect and #DamienTalks on LibSyn, iTunes, Google Play, or Overcast.

This week's SGV Connect focuses on a pair of local city council races in the cities of La Puente and Monterey Park.

The first interview features Ricardo Martinez, a progressive challenger to the incumbent City Councilmember and Mayor Charlie Klinakis. The interview touches on Martinez's personal history, platform, and plans to revitalize the city by encouraging investment in La Puente's downtown.

In the second interview, Damien talks with Katrina Kaiser with Streets for All. They helped program and moderated a debate in Monterey Park working with locals with Safe Streets for SGV last week with four candidates for City Council. Kaiser explains how the debate shows differences between candidates and inform Streets for All's endorsement process. If you'd like to watch the entire debate, you can do so, 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."

Sign-up for our SGV Connect Newsletter, coming to your inbox on Fridays, and catch past episodes of SGV Connect and #DamienTalks on LibSyn,iTunes, Google Play, or Overcast.

This week on SGV Connect, we're bringing you a special interview with Adolfo Guzman-Lopez and then our quarterly update with Melanie Curry of Streetsblog California.

Adolfo is a household name in the public radio world, covering higher education at KPCC. He spent the last year on a special assignment, investigating the death of a 90's Chicano civil rights activist from Baldwin Park, Oscar Gomez for a podcast from KPCC's LAist Studios.

Imperfect Paradise: The Forgotten Revolutionary follows Gomez's young adult life from star athlete and scholar at Baldwin Park High School to student activist at UC Davis and his mysterious end below the cliffs of the coast off UC Santa Barbara. Chris' interview with Adolfo looks at Oscar's roots and legacy in the San Gabriel Valley, the pressures he was under as a student and activist, and Adolfo's own coming out as a Chicano rights activist at the same time as Oscar… a part of his identity he's long shielded from his journalism career.

Damien and Melanie touch base on what the new state budget means for cities' sidewalks, bike lanes and bus stops as well as talk about the legisltation that is, and isn't, moving. For a more detailed look at the legislation, check out her most recent legislative update.

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."

Sign-up for our SGV Connect Newsletter, coming to your inbox on Fridays, and catch past episodes of SGV Connect and #DamienTalks on LibSyn,iTunes, Google Play, or Overcast.

This week's SGV Connect features an interview with Carlos Morales of the Eastside Bike Club and Stan's Bike Shop. The interview, conducted by Chris Greenspon, discusses Carlos' history as a carfree journalist and how bicycling saved his life.

Longtime readers may remember that when Morales wasn't publishing his by-line with Voice Community News, you could occasionally find his work at Streetsblog L.A.

THIS is a long-form interview you won't hear anywhere else.

So please, as you listen to this interview with a local LEGEND, think about giving a few bucks to Streetsblog's fundraising drive.

For a full transcript of the interview, click 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."

Sign-up for our SGV Connect Newsletter, coming to your inbox on Fridays and catch past episodes of SGV Connect and #DamienTalks on LibSyn,iTunes, Google Play, or Overcast.

This week's SGV Connect Podcasdt features an interview by Chris Greenspon with two members of the Memories of El Monte collective, Aron Montenegro and Alma Zarate. Chris visited the collective's new home on 626 Day when Memories of El Monte celebrated their new space and the local holiday.

Memories of El Monte is planning to open a soup kitchen in January and possibly expand with a cafe and even bar in the coming years. The interview covers their plans, the collective's goals, and what makes Memories' preferred coffee so special.

For a full transcript of our interview, click here. You can also check out our podcast with Memories of El Monte conducted last year, by clicking 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."

Sign-up for our SGV Connect Newsletter, coming to your inbox on Fridays and catch past episodes of SGV Connect and #DamienTalks on LibSyn,iTunes, Google Play, or Overcast.

This week sees a special #SGV Connect podcast with Damien Newton interviewing Habib Balian, the executive director of the Foothill Gold Line Construction Authority. As we publish this podcast, the Authority is holding a press conference to celebrate the 50% completion point of the current Gold Line extension out to Pomona.

For a full transcript of our interview, click here. Read the press release for today's event, 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."

Sign-up for our SGV Connect Newsletter, coming to your inbox on Fridays and catch past episodes of SGV Connect and #DamienTalks on LibSyn,iTunes, Google Play, or Overcast.

Tonight, Megan Lynch will present "Acesible and Complete Streets" at tonight's meeting of the Pasadena Complete Streets Coalition. To get the zoom link, click here and send a note to UC Access. Today, we feature her at SGV Connect for those that can't make tonight's meeting to hear her message.

When she's not pushing for transportation planning that includes infrastructure that is accesible to all potential users, Lynch is a graduate student at UC Davis. There, she founded UC Access Now, an advocacy group for the disabled. In the interview, she discusses how one can support their advocacy by writing to the Governor and legislature to support their efforts on UC campuses. Click here for their Link Tree page and here to take action. And if you still haven't gotten enough Megan, you can watch her in a panel at Calbike.

In our second interview, Chris interviews Supervisor Hilda Solis about the future Puente Hills Park. After literally decades of advocacy, Solis and L.A. County have secured over $100 million to convert over 140 acres of what was once the Puente Hills Landfill into one of the region's largest parks.

In the interview, Solis recounts her memories growing up near the future park and the impact that growing up near a dump had on her and her family. Getting rid of the dump is a major victory for the entire community, and replacing it with a park is a legacy project that Solis is clearly already very proud of.

For a transcript of the podcast, click 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."

Sign-up for our SGV Connect Newsletter, coming to your inbox on Fridays and catch past episodes of SGV Connect and #DamienTalks on LibSyn,iTunes, Google Play, or Overcast.