McCain in California

John McCain is campaigning in California with 6 events scheduled in the next few days. I just checked out his website to see what events are open to the public, and unless I am willing to spend $2300 on a preferred ticket, or $1000 just plain unpreferred, to see the "presumptive"(anyone else sick of that word?) republican candidate speak, I'm out of luck. It looks like all of the advertised events are either private ones or fundraisers.

Let's hope that changes and that he will campaign in a democratic way to inform all voters, not just the rich or party-connected ones, about his platform. This is what I so appreciated about Hillary Clinton. She had three appearances in three weeks all at venues open to the public. John Edwards also had one. As well as Mitt Romney. I hope that trend will continue, since it is the only opportunity for some of us to really learn about the candidates.

Here's McCain's California schedule:

http://www.johnmccain.com/Informing/Calendar/

03/24/2008
La Jolla Finance Luncheon
La Jolla, California

03/24/2008
California Finance Reception, Palm Desert
Palm Desert, CA

03/25/2008
Orange County Fundraising Luncheon
Newport Beach, California

03/25/2008
Los Angeles Finance Reception
Los Angeles, California

03/26/2008
Speech before the Los Angeles World Affairs Council
Los Angeles, California

03/26/2008
Pebble Beach Finance Luncheon
Pebble Beach, CA, Finance Lunch

03/26/2008
San Francisco Finance Reception
San Francisco, CA

Debates, California, and Occidental's most famous absent alumni

In her speech today from New York headquarters, Hillary Clinton congratulated Obama on his delegate gains and expressed excitement to continue their debates now as the election season moves forward. According to CNN.com, Clinton Communications Director Howard Wolfson said the campaign has already accepted 4 invitations for this month on such forums as CNN and FOX (non-cable TV would also be appreciated by people like me who are holding on to their rabbit ears until the last moment).

I hope the Obama campaign makes a decision soon to participate in these debates. These are the best venues for voters to gather insight and information about those running. I also urge voters to attend rallies in their areas. I am registered on most of the major candidate websites for both parties, and get frequent updates on So Cal events. Although, I must admit, the Clinton crowd - both Hillary herself and her supporters - are much more organized in getting rallies and groups together locally. I was surprised to find out that Obama wasn't even at the recent UCLA event where Oprah Winfrey and Maria Shriver stumped for him. It's no wonder that California is voting overwhelmingly for Clinton (although less than half of the precints are reported thus far). In the past 3 weeks, I had at least 3 opportunities to see Hillary in person. I'm guessing that Obama knew his efforts would be better spent on TV ads, which were a-plenty round the clock yesterday. So goes political campaigning.

Now that our primary is over, I guess we won't see him anymore at all. All I can think of is...poor Occidental College! Obama attended the Eagle Rock school for 2 years (not 1, as I previously thought) and they bank on him as one their most notable Alumni. Couldn't he have made a trip out there? If he gets the nomination, I hope he doesn't forget them in his campaign.

Transportation Officials Discuss Traffic Fixes for L.A.

Published today in all three Sun Community Newspapers. Encino Sun comes out tomorrow.

www.suncommunitynewspapers.com Please leave specific comments regarding the article on the Sun site so the discussion reaches a greater net of interested parties.

Transportation officials discuss traffic fixes for L.A.
BY NAZBANOO PAHLAVI

The Economic Alliance of the San Fernando Valley held an INFO Summit November 1 to discuss the roles of public transportation, cargo movement and traffic in the economic development of the Valley and its 1.84 million residents.

Held at the Holiday Inn in Burbank, the Summit featured talks between city officials, planners and stakeholders. David Fleming, Los Angeles Area Chamber of Commerce Chair and Metro Board Member, moderated three panels.

“The public basically is opposed to change and yet they hate gridlock,” Fleming said. Proposed solutions have included one-way streets, congestion pricing, and the restriction of left-turn lanes during peak hours.

Wendy Greuel, Chair of the City Council’s Transportation Committee and 2nd district representative, remarked that such solutions had a noticeable impact when implemented temporarily during the 1984 Olympic Games. Fleming added that by staggering business hours for companies during that time, “we were able to drive 65 miles per hour during rush hour.”

Burbank Mayor Marsha Ramos said one area of concern for officials is duplication in public transportation services on the local and citywide level. “One thing we need to do better is to bring all those players at the table so that we’re using every dollar that is given to public transportation in the most efficient manner.”

Despite the $20 billion earmarked by the California Transportation Commission (CTC) for the state, CTC Commissioner Larry Zarian said California is still 20 to 30 years behind. For him – like Ramos – the problem is a lack of synergy.

“We are not coordinated,” Zarian said. “Who should be in this room today are the 53 members of congress that represent us.”

The success story of the day was the Orange Line, which runs from Warner Center in Woodland Hills to North Hollywood and provides West Valley residents with a more seamless connection to downtown.

County Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky, who worked on the project, said that riders are “voting with their feet” – during one day last month, 25,800 passengers boarded the Orange Line.

“You got to have the local leaders who are willing to stick their neck out a little bit and spend the political capital that they accumulate,” he noted.

The MTA board has directed the next segment of the Orange Line to extend from the Warner Center to Chatsworth.

Despite its success, however, bus lines have not been as attractive to policy makers as light rail, which costs $65 million per mile, or subway, which costs $300 million per mile and takes years to complete.

The Orange Line costs $15 million per mile and takes a fraction of the time to complete.

The Summit also featured report findings from the Mulholland Institute on economic development opportunities along the I-5 Corridor – the 30-mile stretch of freeway from route 126 in the north, through Santa Clarita, Burbank, and into the northern downtown area.

Officials also discussed urban revitalization plans for the neglected Sun Valley region, with hopes of reforming it into the Silicon Valley of the south by housing biotech companies.