Recent Streetsblog USA posts about California

The vacant lots encompassing the 8400 and 8500 blocks on Vermont have held the community hostage to blight for over 26 years. The 8300 block (from which this photo was taken) had also remained vacant for a number of years and was originally going to be incorporated into the Vermont Entertainment Village project. In the mid-2000s, Eli Sasson sold off his 8300 block parcels (helping to doom the mall project) and the County services building rose on it instead in 2007. Source: County Supervisor Mark Ridley-Thomas

Transit Public School Set For Blighted L.A. Lots

By Sahra Sulaiman | Oct 22, 2018 | No Comments

For black stakeholders eager to shed the despised "Death Alley" label and address the damage rooted in segregationist policies, the stakes feel especially high

The proposed Highway 101 express lanes project would add more than 22 miles of new lanes, at a total cost of $534 million. Image: Caltrans.

Highway Boondoggles: US 101 Expansion in San Mateo, California

By Matt Casale and Gideon Weissman | Jun 28, 2018 | 20 Comments

Caltrans has widened U.S. 101 seven times since 1996 and hasn't cured congestion. But it's not going to try a new approach.

A used car dealership in Austin, TX. Photo Credit: Flickr user Lars Plougmann, CC BY-SA 2.0

The Bus Not Taken: How Easy Auto Loans Reinforced Car Dependence and Killed Transit Ridership

By Rachel Cross | Feb 15, 2018 | 22 Comments

Easy credit added 5 million cars to American roads in 2015 -- a blow to transit agencies and a precarious situation for borrowers.

Ken Schwartz was mayor of San Luis Obispo, California, from 1969 to 1979. Photo: Heidi Harmon

Former California Mayor Calls New Bikeway “Urban Rape”

By Angie Schmitt | Feb 9, 2018 | 62 Comments

"No other word would be proper" to describe the bike lane besides "rape," according to the former mayor of San Luis Obispo.

One of Sacramento's poorest neighborhoods doesn't have enough crosswalks. It also has a high rate of jaywalking arrests. Image: KXTV

What Will It Take for Sacramento to Make Walking Safer in Poor Neighborhoods?

By Stephen Miller | Apr 27, 2017 | 7 Comments

Police and city planners in Sacramento have come under scrutiny in the weeks since police were caught on tape assaulting Nandi Cain, Jr., a black man, during a jaywalking stop. Cain, who was legally using an unmarked crosswalk, has since filed a civil rights lawsuit against the city. Now, reporters are looking into why there are so few marked crosswalks in one of Sacramento's poorest areas.

Why Cities Are Starting to Decriminalize Fare Evasion

By Angie Schmitt | Mar 8, 2017 | 35 Comments

With renewed public attention on the excessive criminalization of poor people and people of color, some transit agencies and law enforcement officials are reevaluating their fare evasion policies.

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