Metro Scales Back Fareless Initiative to Initial Phase for Students Only "Per Metro staff’s assessment [page 11], there is 'Not enough capacity in the current Metro Transit Operations budget for Phase 2 launch of the pilot for low-income riders' so 'Future implementation is contingent on new sustainable federal, state, local, or other funding sources.'" (Streetsblog LA)
Before Amazon: Land, Labor, and Logistics in the Inland Empire of WWII "What all parties seem to agree upon, however, is a shared narrative of warehouse development and logistics in the Inland Empire as a relatively recent phenomenon, one dating back to the early 2000s. While the rapid rise of warehousing as a regional economic development phenomenon is certainly a post-2000 story, I argue that warehousing and logistics in themselves are not new to the inland region. Over the remainder of this essay, I extend Juan De Lara’s conceptualization of the 'territorialization of race' even farther back in time to trace the production of the Inland Empire’s logistics industry to the development of military installations, differentially incarcerated Italian prisoners of war and Japanese American internees, and racialized warehouse work during World War II. In so doing, my aim is to understand the production of the inland region through various flows, both material and metaphoric, and how particular racialized groups have been partly sedimented in particular places and occupations." (Boom California)
LA Builds Bioscience Hub to Challenge Biotech Scene in San Diego, Boston "Next month, the 20,000 square foot BioScienceLA office opens in Culver City (on the site of an old county courthouse), to act as a 'headquarters' for the many bioscience startups, entrepreneurs, and researchers scattered across L.A. County. The county invested more than $10 million into the project....In the neighboring area of Baldwin Hills, L.A. City Councilmember Mark Ridley-Thomas spearheaded a project to dust off a handful of decades-old abandoned parcels for a project known as Marlton Square. Though the project has yet to break ground, it's expected to include lab space and a collaboration space for venture capital firms, bioscience startups and entrepreneurs." (dot LA)
Metro Requiring All Employees to Be Vaccinated by November 1 "The city of L.A., which operates its own DASH and Commuter Express buses, already requires all employees to be vaccinated by early October, though a small number of police and fire employees have sued to prevent the city from enforcing the rule." (Streetsblog LA)
More open space for Wrigley is on the way: Construction on greenbelt project set to resume this fall "The Wrigley Greenbelt Project, which stretches along DeForest Avenue from 26th Way to 34th Street on the eastern side of the 710 Freeway, launched in 2007 with the intention of restoring and preserving open space in the Wrigley neighborhood. Upgrades to this strip of land include replacing and planting more trees along with adding a walking path, dry stream beds, benches, picnic areas and water fountains." (Long Beach Post)
How Los Angeles Became the City of Dingbats "Subdivided into as many units as the lots could accommodate — usually between 6 and 12 — most of these stucco boxes left little room outdoors, except for an exposed carport slung beneath the second floor. This new format for affordable multifamily living became nearly as ubiquitous as the single-family tract housing that iconified the much-mythologized Southern California suburban lifestyle." (CityLab)
Appeals court strikes down sweeping order to house L.A.’s skid row homeless population "A three-judge panel of the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that U.S. District Judge David O. Carter, who issued the homelessness order in the spring, failed to follow basic legal requirements. It was a sharp rebuke of Carter, who has focused intently on homelessness, regularly venturing into encampments at all hours of the day, engaging with a wide array of officials responding to the crisis and issuing rulings on the subject in both Los Angeles and in Orange County, where he lives." (LA Times)
