Subject: Public Transportation

• Alternative Answers

  Please forgive the over-generalization, but to over-generalize the Democrats are the party of expensive mass transit boondoggles, the Republicans are the party of lung cancer, freeways to nowhere and terror-enabling dependence on foreign oil, and in Orange County members of both parties are against commercial airports unless the flight paths shadow the opposition's neighborhoods. But, believe it or not, there are other political parties operating in Orange County, birthplace of the Libertarians

  April 28, 2006

• OCTA wants to party with you

  Been riding those darn buses since 1972? Then you might be one of 35 special people who gets to party with OCTA - which is celebrating 35 years of hauling fat OC ass across the county at the end of the month. Party place: The Fullerton Transportation Center, 120 E. Santa Fe Ave, where the bus system was born. Theme: The 70's (surprise, surprise). Details: Here.

  August 15, 2007

• Santa Ana's Grand Choo Choo Conspiracy: The Carlos Bustamante Connection

  Final post in our Carlos Bustamante conflict-of-influenza series--for now... All this week we've focused on Carlos Bustamante, the SanTana councilmember who gladly takes money from people seeking something from the city, then votes favorably for his donors. Some readers have wondered about my focus, claiming he hasn't technically broken any conflict-of-interest laws, and that donations are part of the politics game. As I told OC Blog's skeptical Jubal, I think Bustamante is in blatant violation

  January 10, 2008

• The Fix is In (Santa Ana Edition)

  Remember my post yesterday, where I theorized out loud about how SanTana councilmember Carlos Bustamante could greatly benefit if Cordoba Corporation (headed by major contributor and fellow Santa Ana Business Bank director George Pla) ever got a contract with the city to develop a mass transit system? It's already happened--and what's more, they're actively trying to influence SanTana's transit strategy. On October 15 last year, the SanTana City Council held a special work study regarding the c

  January 11, 2008

• Santa Ana's Grand Choo-Choo Conspiracy Continues

  Back in January, I theorized out loud about a SanTana scandal of Chinatown-esque proportions: the introduction of a light-rail system most likely involving the Cordoba Corporation, whose CEO sits alongside SanTana conflict-of-influenza-afflicted councilmember Carlos Bustamante on the board of the Santa Ana Business Bank. Last month, SanTana announced they would join Garden Grove in asking the Orange County Transportation Authority for about $300 million to make their choo-choo dreams a reality.

  April 15, 2008

• Letters

  January 14, 1999

• Train Trash

  June 17, 1999

• Art Leahy Leaves OCTA for LA Metro: Good Riddance

  News item: Art Leahy, who has led the Orange County Transportation Authority for eight years, accepted an offer to head Los Angeles County's Metro - a transit agency with a $3.4 billion budget. (Courtesy of the Orange County Register) Be careful what you wish for, LA ... *The NOAA, which has jurisdiction because the project falls within a state-federal partnership known as the Coastal Zone Management Act, also said the TCA would be limited to one representative. But besides TCA Chief Execut

  March 6, 2009

• [Aural Reports] Nightlife Maven Sean Francis' Need for Speed Led Him to Create Spare the Air Fest

  August 28, 2008

• Controversial Philanthropist Michael Scott Kerr's New Career as a Wrapper

  August 21, 2008

• Moonnites

  July 12, 2007

• Lite Rail

  July 31, 2003

• Why Weyrich?

  August 26, 1999

• The Atlantic Divide

  WEB EXCLUSIVE!: Ten bands that werent singing Yankee Doodle Dandy in '06

  December 28, 2006

• A Measure of Titanic Proportions

  Green groups weigh Measure M support

  November 2, 2006

• A Clockwork Orange

  October 13, 2005

• Pedestrian Encounter

  September 22, 2005

• Hooray for OCTA?

  July 28, 2005

• Next Stop: Immobility

  An A to Z Guide to Surviving the Death/Pause/Sunshine of the CenterLine

  February 17, 2005

• Battle of the Boondoggles!

  January 27, 2005

• Center Bind

  December 9, 2004

• Good Choo-Choo, Bad Choo-Choo

  September 9, 2004

• Railroad Schemes

  Two train projects, two cheerleaders, two results

  February 5, 2004

• Fear Factor

  August 21, 2003

• Track Record

  August 7, 2003

• Letters

  July 24, 2003

• They Have A Dream

  July 10, 2003

• Course Of Empire

  May 22, 2003

• Diary of a Mad County

  April 24, 2003

• Lost Highway

  July 18, 2002

• Train in Vein

  May 30, 2002

• Diary of a Mad County

  May 9, 2002

• Letters

  April 5, 2001

• Just Build More Roads

  March 15, 2001

• Waiting

  October 12, 2000

• Highway Robbery - Toll Roads

  January 20, 2000

• Derailed

  September 9, 1999

• Letters

  September 9, 1999

• Letters

  February 18, 1999

• Santa Ana City Council to Put Fix in on Trolley Project Tonight

  If only this saga came with Faye Dunaway--instead, we have to settle for Michelle Martinez...It's been almost to the year since I last wrote about how the SanTana City Council would most likely award a light-rail contract to Cordoba Corporation, a company whose president George Pla sits on the SanTana Business Bank alongside councilmember Busty Bustamante. I theorized a scam of Chinatown-esque proportions, in which Busty and Don Papi Pulido would maneuver to get Cordoba the contract instead of m

  April 20, 2009

• What Happened to the Long Beach Loop?

  Started in September of 2008, the Long Beach Loop was a monthly event that sounded genuinely fun: the first Thursday of each month, a double-decker bus took folks back-and-forth between beloved LB spots Alex's Bar, The Pike and The Prospector, each of which had concerts going on that night (with sets timed to correspond to bus stops). Long Beach acts like Greater California, the Valley Arena and Free Moral Agents all participated. Music AND a bus, get of town. Sounds rad. And all for $10!I wasn'

  May 5, 2009

• Mega-Connected Firm Wins Anaheim Design Contract

  Whoa! They're moving the Sydney Opera House to Anaheim!Oh wait, no. That's the newly approved design for the Anaheim Regional Transportation Intermodal Center, a.k.a. ARTIC.On Tuesday, the Anaheim City Council awarded architecture firm Parsons Brinckerhoff/HOK with the contract to design and lay the groundwork for ARTIC, a regional transportation hub that's been more than 15 years in the making. The dollar total for the job could reach $24.3 million. According to the Register, Parsons Brinckerho

  May 27, 2009

• Follow the Bouncing High-Speed Trains

  Rendering of new Anaheim transportation hub, awaiting whatever comes its way.Harry Reid (D-Nevada), who had earlier seemed to be the biggest supporter in the U.S. Senate for a magnetic-levitation (Maglev) train from Las Vegas to Anaheim, is now pooh-poohing such a system, favoring instead a high-speed, diesel-electric line from Sin City to Victorville.Besides the "yuck" factor--I mean, come on: have you been to Victorville?--what's most interesting about Reid choosing the proposed $5 million bil

  June 11, 2009

• Is OCTA Sacrificing Transit Service for Executive Pay?

  Courtesy of OCTAWill Kempton moves to OCTA from Caltrans, where he has served for five years.The hiring of Caltrans director Will Kempton for the Orange County Transportation Authority's vacant executive director position would seem like a step down. After all, the Schwarzenegger appointee oversees 50,000 lane miles of state highways, an annual budget of $14 billion and $10 billion in current transportation projects under way. He is expected to begin Aug. 3 at a regional agency with a $1.2 annua

  June 22, 2009

• In This Subway Series, the 1974 'The Taking of Pelham One Two Three' Wins

  June 11, 2009

• Friday Film Funnies Fun: The OCTA, and John Moorlach the Bus-Hater

  Supervisor John Moorlach wants to get rid of our bus system? What a buffoon! This video is too earnest, but what are you gonna do...

  August 14, 2009

• More U2 Info

  ​We all know U2 sucks. The songs are boring, Bono's a pompous ass and the rhythm section might be the worst in the history of rock 'n' roll. They've sold a bazillion records, yet no one I know has ever bought one of them, probably because my friends and I have good taste. But lame-os who own four CDs think the boys from Ireland are the second coming of God.If you're one of the many thousands of people who are getting suckered into seeing U2 at the Rose Bowl Sunday because your boss bought 17 t

  October 21, 2009

• Transit Activists to Pitch Ways to Save OCTA Bus Routes

  ​More than 60 people got up and spoke at Monday's board meeting for the Orange County Transit Authority. Pacific Progressive has the run-down: It was a diverse group of people telling OCTA how detrimental further cuts to the OC bus system would be.It's a sticky issue. Facing a steep decline in sales tax revenues and budget cuts from the state legislature, some form of public transportation cutbacks would seem inevitable. OCTA already slashed 233,000 hours of bus service, and is now considering

  October 27, 2009

• OCTA Committee Recommends Slightly Less Painful Bus Cuts--For Now

  WikicommonsBye bye buses.​County Supervisor Patricia Bates may have said it best today: "You can't send these people off a cliff, in a bus."The remark came amidst some low-heat sparring between her and Tustin Mayor Pro Tem Jerry Amante at this morning's meeting of the OCTA Finance and Administration committee. They were talking, of course, about how much they should recommend that the OCTA board of directors cut bus service in response to a budget shortfall.The recommendation that came out of

  October 28, 2009