Public transit difficulties a major barrier to youth education

What we really want now is for @metrolosangeles to do a better job of serving our young people too. Our students have had enough obstacles in their lives keeping them from graduating high school; we don't need public transit to be another one. 16/16 [End Thread]

— YouthBuild Charter (@YBCharter) September 18, 2019

Streetsblog, after long last, promotes #freetransit advocacy

Compared to public transportation, a single car throws vastly more carbon into the atmosphere, fits fewer people, and isolates us from our communities. Like any other essential program, say healthcare or college, we need free public transportation. Until transit is free, every city without it will be plagued by the dominance of cars – and car companies – which destroy an environment already under siege. 

As a young person, and a lifelong Los Angeles resident, it’s not just a choice between free and priced, it’s a choice between growing up in a city that is accessible to all and a city where one of our biggest infrastructure projects is more of a luxury than a basic entitlement. No matter how low the cost, someone always gets left on the margins, as with any means-tested policy or other anti-poverty measure that isn’t universal. 

So let’s make public transit fare-free. It’s a public good, and all of us who constitute the public should be able to use it.

https://la.streetsblog.org/2019/09/13/youth-perspectives-on-transportation-free-public-transit-for-a-more-just-equitable-and-sustainable-urban-l-a/ 

#freetransit in LA?

It's 55 degrees outside, rain's been falling for hours, and the head of our transportation agency just recommended charging drivers to pay for countywide free transit within a decade AM I REALLY IN LA???? https://t.co/ZDdcd1feTO

— Alissa Walker (@awalkerinLA) December 6, 2018

Poor workers are trapped by car culture

calmatters.org

A 2015 study by Harvard University found access to transportation is the single biggest factor in the odds of escaping poverty and avoiding homelessness.

“There are so many people that just cannot make ends meet before you even get to the concept of transportation,” said Veronica Lewis, a director at Homeless Outreach Programs Integrated Care System, or HOPICS, one of the largest homeless service providers in Los Angeles. “Honestly, it’s one of the biggest barriers for some of our clients.”

Mother nature sending powerful heat message

latimes.com Temperatures remained around 100 degrees as the fire fight moved into the night. Powerful evening winds were pushing the blaze, which authorities said began as a structure fire, in different directions.

#Autosprawl Meltdown

#autosprawl meltdown as SANDAG faces shortfall

The San Diego Union-Tribune: "Asked why the cost of building new highways and roads was spiking, Caltrans District 11 acting Director Cory Bims blamed the fluctuating cost of raw materials.

“It can be very volatile,” he said. “Major construction items for projects, steel and concrete and asphalt, there’s lot of things that influences those costs. It can come back down again as quickly as it went up.”"