Miriam Pinski @mirijulip Twitter profile

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Miriam Pinski

2 months

I wrote a short history of license plate violations. Tldr; regulating cars and drivers is hard, especially when drivers can safely assume neither police nor the DMV nor the general public will punish them for breaking traffic laws.

Plate Tectonics

Regulating cars has always been a difficult task.

historynewsnetwork.org

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Miriam Pinski

@mirijulip

2 months

An Italian mountain village? A Greek island? Nope! It's America's first car-free village, and I got to stay in it. A 🧵on what it's like. TLDR; remove the parking mandate, enable livable cities.

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Miriam Pinski

@mirijulip

3 months

Dear advice columnist, My truck is so big, I can't see the kids playing on my street. Do I just run them over? -Jerkface

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Miriam Pinski

@mirijulip

4 months

A woman sped -likely at 80+ mph - through a quiet residential street in her Mercedes SUV, killing two brothers on a marked crosswalk. To convict her of murder, and not an accident, the prosecutors have the somehow very challenging task of proving she..knew speeding was dangerous.

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Miriam Pinski

@mirijulip

10 months

New survey results confirm: Most Americans don't want car-oriented suburbs. They want walkable mixed-use neighborhoods and will pay more to live in them. They will choose an attached home over a detached one if it means a shorter commute and walkable community.

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Miriam Pinski

@mirijulip

10 months

Paris is slashing car lanes from 8 to 4 on one of its most congested, polluted thoroughfares. They're turning what was a nasty arterial into a place people will actually want to be.

Bloomberg CityLab

@CityLab

10 months

Paris’ push to replace car lanes with sidewalks, bike paths and greenery steps up a gear with plans to remodel one of the city’s busiest, most polluted thoroughfares

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Miriam Pinski

@mirijulip

10 months

Every year, North American communities spend, on average, per person: $50 on sidewalks and crosswalks $180 on public transit subsidies $1,000 on public roads and traffic services More than $2,000 per capita on government-mandated parking facilities

Planetizen

@planetizen

10 months

A Fair Share for Walking

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Miriam Pinski

@mirijulip

2 months

An investigation into New York City's notorious trash problem discovers the underlying obstacle to putting up dumpsters is... parking. It's easier to let people pile trash bags on sidewalks that feed rats and vermin than to take some of NYC's 3 million curb spots from drivers.

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Miriam Pinski

@mirijulip

21 days

The entire French Quarter should be pedestrianized. These narrow streets are giant parties, in the best way 🥳

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Miriam Pinski

@mirijulip

5 months

An excellent in-depth article on any cyclist's nightmare: getting doored. The Dutch reach should become second nature to every driver. And, of course, we need our bike infrastructure to go from sharrows to actual protection.

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Miriam Pinski

@mirijulip

3 months

Firefighters are spending $$ opposing safer street infrastructure in LA. Nationally, just 4% of fire truck runs are for actual fires. Their main job? Medical emergencies. And traffic collisions are a significant source of emergency medical care. Curious.

Firefighters launch campaign against Measure HLA, saying 'road diets' threaten safety

The union wants voters to reject HLA, which calls for new bus and bike lanes. HLA backers denounced the move, saying the proposal will reduce traffic deaths.

www.latimes.com

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Miriam Pinski

@mirijulip

11 months

Yes, flying is miserable, and this article predicts we're doomed for more of the same. What the op-ed misses is the obvious solution: just let foreign airlines offer domestic US flights.

Opinion | Could Air Travel Get Even More Miserable? Yes, and Here’s Why.

The looming headache of this summer’s travel season only strengthens the argument against the JetBlue/Spirit merger.

www.nytimes.com

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Miriam Pinski

@mirijulip

4 months

Poster sessions are always a good time. This time, I kept having this conversation: Planner: we need to build trust with community studies and meetings if we want to make streets safer for pedestrians. Me: That makes sense. Do you also do that for cars?

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Miriam Pinski

@mirijulip

2 months

Let's dig a bit into the LA Firefighters' ad campaign against bike/ped/transit improvements. "In an emergency, every second counts. Don't slow us down." Convincing? 🤔

LA City Local 112

@UFLAC

2 months

In an emergency, every second counts. Don't slow us down. Join your LA City Firefighters and vote No on HLA. #UFLAC #IAFF #LAFD #CPF #NoOnHLA 🔗:

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Miriam Pinski

@mirijulip

3 months

@maxdubler It’s a pretty niche advice column, so I think this person is just out in the wild. Terrifying.

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Miriam Pinski

@mirijulip

2 months

Now to the main event: Cul-de-sac. I was first struck by how beautiful the development is - colorful, clean, and all the landscaping and proximity between buildings added much-needed shade.

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Miriam Pinski

@mirijulip

1 year

It seems that LA won't install concrete bollards because they're worried about getting sued by drivers that damage their cars. But for that to happen, a driver would need to break the law to collide into a bollard to begin with.

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Miriam Pinski

@mirijulip

6 months

When you build a city to store cars rather than house people, you end up storing people in cars. The solutions are simple: remove parking mandates and regressive zoning laws. They make our cities both ugly and inhumane.

Jess Scarane

@JessforDelaware

6 months

I don’t think it’s ever been clearer just how much work we have to do to rebuild an actual society.

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Miriam Pinski

@mirijulip

2 months

To wrap up: Cul-de-sac is great. People should move here. And I wish cities would make it easier to build more of them. Looking at you, West coast cities..

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Miriam Pinski

@mirijulip

2 months

Bike. Parking. Everywhere.🤩

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Miriam Pinski

@mirijulip

11 months

Love to see parking research hitting the NYT headlines, where they cite Shoup's latest work on pricing the curb. If all of Manhattan's Upper West Side curbs were metered at market rate, every household would get $1,025 a year in improved public services.

Opinion | The Case for Ending Free Parking

Cities around the world are coming around to the idea that street parking is theft.

www.nytimes.com

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Miriam Pinski

@mirijulip

2 months

It's my first time exploring Phoenix, and I was really pleasantly surprised. It's a bit of shock to the system to see so many developments popping up. There are NIMBYs here too, but the city seems to prioritize accommodating demand. Nice to see.

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Miriam Pinski

@mirijulip

2 months

There's a restaurant and even a grocery store! It's a nice local independent grocery store, though I'd personally prefer to do my daily shopping at a more affordable chain store like Trader Joe's. It does, however, carry bike-themed wine. So there's that.

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Miriam Pinski

@mirijulip

2 months

Something I love about the Southwest is all the artwork, and this development is no exception. Love and care in every detail. An ugly transformer transformed with a mural.

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Miriam Pinski

@mirijulip

3 months

CA banned plastic bags 10 years ago. But thanks to a section in the law that allowed stores to sell heavier-weight plastic bags for a dime, plastic bag waste is at an all time high. A reminder that seemingly small loopholes in bills can create large unintended consequences.

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Miriam Pinski

@mirijulip

7 months

The next local housing battle to watch: Park La Brea. The biggest apartment community on the West Coast is considering adding ADUs on top of existing surface parking lots. The residents - all renters! - are losing their minds ("what about the parking??").

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Miriam Pinski

@mirijulip

1 month

This was not an April Fool's joke - it is, in fact, easier to build homes for cars than homes for people. Pretty soon we're going to give cars the legal status of persons. It's important the Lexus gets a nice oceanside view!

Patrick Siegman

@PatrickSiegman

1 month

“Historically, California’s coastline has been sacrosanct, with most kinds of development along beaches off-limits.” What’s the exception? Parking lots. @TheCACoast , an auto oriented agency, often demands they be supersized.

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Miriam Pinski

@mirijulip

1 year

A woman died walking her kid to school; her kid - as far as I know - remains in critical condition. And plastic bollards is the best we can do? The city couldn't bring themselves to install even concrete ones?

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Miriam Pinski

@mirijulip

2 months

Even the bollards add beauty.

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Miriam Pinski

@mirijulip

4 months

@gspeng You could probably write a book about how speeding kills and still be acquitted.

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Miriam Pinski

@mirijulip

2 months

A light rail station is right at the complex, though it stops at every stop light, making for a plodding ride. All the e-bikes make sense here, as does the carshare option.

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Miriam Pinski

@mirijulip

2 months

Conversation starters at the communal tables. And lots of ground floor retail for all your window shopping needs.

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Miriam Pinski

@mirijulip

6 months

Malibu City Council held a meeting about the PCH crash that killed four young women. People were enraged. This crash was one of more than 4,000 along the PCH in the past 10 years. CalTrans cannot be let off the hook for this.

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Miriam Pinski

@mirijulip

2 months

What prompts fire truck trips? Spoiler: it's not fires. It's medical emergencies like... checks notes... car crashes.

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Miriam Pinski

@mirijulip

8 months

I explored Cape Cod’s rail trail this week and it’s probably the best maintained, most scenic bike path I’ve been on. Bike tunnels, bike bridges, even a bike rotary! Rails-to-trails, where have you been all my life?

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Miriam Pinski

@mirijulip

2 months

What primarily slows down emergency vehicles? Traffic congestion. And on LA's 4-6 lane streets, that bike lane isn't the space hog you think it is. If your fire truck can't fit in a single traffic lane, the problem isn't the street...

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Miriam Pinski

@mirijulip

2 months

And, of course, I had to a Waymo ride. You get used to it pretty quickly! And it's so much cheaper than a taxi or ridehail.

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Miriam Pinski

@mirijulip

3 months

@boyonabike62 Seems like an appropriate issue for the HOA to deal with.

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Miriam Pinski

@mirijulip

2 months

It even has furnished apartment options, which I wish was more common. It seems to offer valet trash pick up rather than trash chutes, but perhaps I missed them (trash chutes are great).

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Miriam Pinski

@mirijulip

3 months

LA will pour money into underground transit, but draws the line at designing streets that would make walking to a subway stop at all pleasant.

E/Expo Line Ledger

@expolineledger

3 months

At DTLA Regional Connector stations “Metro widened streets that were supposed to be narrowed or left the same width. On Wilshire, city plans mandate the street should be narrowed and the sidewalks widened. But…Metro is restoring prior roadway widths.”

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Miriam Pinski

@mirijulip

1 month

Munich’s beer gardens deserve all the hype. These are the English Gardens - central, accessible on foot, by bike and transit. There’s a playground and ice cream for kids, and tasty beer for the adults. Dogs welcome. People flock here.

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Miriam Pinski

@mirijulip

11 months

When the state forces insurance companies to subsidize home ownership for people that choose to live in wildfire zones, we shouldn't be surprised when they take their business elsewhere.

San Francisco Chronicle

@sfchronicle

11 months

California’s largest property and casualty insurer stopped issuing home, business and casualty insurance policies in the state Saturday, citing wildfire risks and rising construction costs.

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Miriam Pinski

@mirijulip

2 months

It should never "take a village" to put a stop sign in.

Councilmember Eunisses Hernandez

@cd1losangeles

2 months

Earlier this week, we joined LADOT and community members from Lincoln Heights to celebrate the installation of an All Way Stop at the intersection of E Ave 31 & Griffin Ave.

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Miriam Pinski

@mirijulip

1 year

Some people seem annoyed by it, but I'm finding the La Sombrita Twitter discourse refreshing -it's not devolving into a lofty debate over capitalism. It's a policy discussion about how best to help bus riders, and the in-the-weeds regulatory obstacles involved.

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Miriam Pinski

@mirijulip

11 months

If you don't want to enforce traffic laws with speed cameras because of equity issues, the alternatives are to... 1) let individual officers choose when to cite people 2) just not enforce the rules I wrote more about this here

Op-Ed: Here's how to prevent pedestrian traffic deaths in Los Angeles

We put too much trust in drivers to follow traffic laws. We can't have police at every dangerous intersection but we can use cameras.

www.latimes.com

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Miriam Pinski

@mirijulip

11 months

Taking a rideshare might make people want to buy their own cars, but renting a shared bike makes people buy their own bike! The mere-exposure effect is real!

Turns Out, Bike Shares Do Create New Regular Bike Riders

The biggest impact the study found was that 66 percent of users rode bikes more frequently after joining a bike share program.

www.bicycling.com

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Miriam Pinski

@mirijulip

10 months

Remember these "safety" bollards in front of Hancock Park elementary, @LADOT ? They lasted all of two months. Close the street.

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Miriam Pinski

@mirijulip

6 months

Cities are willing to regulate e-scooters in all the ways they won't - but should! - regulate cars. They'll limit where users can ride them with geofencing, how fast they can go with speed governors, and now at least one operator will price users by distance traveled.

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Miriam Pinski

@mirijulip

2 months

The visuals they picked - dirty bike lanes, homeless encampments on sidewalks - seem to imply that wider sidewalks and protected bike lanes aren't for you.

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Miriam Pinski

@mirijulip

22 days

Did the state really think insurance companies would eat any and every cost? Now the chickens are coming to roost, so to speak. State caps on insurance rates are leading to shortages.

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Miriam Pinski

@mirijulip

2 months

My first trip in Paris and the bike lanes - and the bread - did not disappoint.

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Miriam Pinski

@mirijulip

10 months

"Americans die in rising numbers even when they drive less. They die in rising numbers even as roads around the world grow safer. American foreign service officers leave war zones, only to die on roads around the nation’s capital."

Chris Hayes

@chrislhayes

10 months

Life is cheap in America, part of an ongoing series

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Miriam Pinski

@mirijulip

11 months

This past year I evaluated some of California's transportation community studies/engagement. I've spent a lot of time reading and writing about needs assessments. And I've come to the conclusion that they are, for the most part, needless.

numble

@numble

1 year

In podcast on accelerating infrastructure for Olympics, LA Metro Chief Innovation Officer Seleta Reynolds says building bus/bike lanes without extensive community engagement and consent would make them no better than planners that bulldozed homes for freeways, would be arrogant.

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Miriam Pinski

@mirijulip

4 months

Car brain has to start somewhere..

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Miriam Pinski

@mirijulip

2 months

All to say: support safer streets for pedestrians and cyclists. Other places have figured out how to have narrow streets and maintain fire access. See, for example, my new favorite development - Cul-de-sac:

Culdesac | In Case of Emergency: EMS Access in a Car-Free Neighborhood

Overview of how the innovative design of Culdesac Tempe enables fast and efficient EMS access, while still prioritizing space for people.

culdesac.com

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Miriam Pinski

@mirijulip

2 months

And, of course, street improvements will drain the city of money. The figure they cite has already been debunked. I will briefly note that even apart from their hyperbolic cost claim, the status quo is also expensive. Dangerous streets cost lives and limbs (and lawsuits).

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Miriam Pinski

@mirijulip

11 months

My neighborhood just got these adorable fire trucks and I'm 😍 The complex was built in the 1940s; many units aren't street facing and would be tough for a modern fire truck to access. But instead of tearing everything down and covering the area in concrete, they got creative:

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Miriam Pinski

@mirijulip

8 months

Sen. Portantino’s evolution on safe street policies is one of those rare uplifting stories. Once he started biking around LA, he was radicalized. It’s a common trajectory for a lot of cyclists. More electeds should try to get around by bike and transit more of the time.

Streetsblog CA

@StreetsblogCal

8 months

Senator Portantino’s Bike Conversion Is Paying Off for All: The legislation Portantino has written and championed since his recent conversion reflect what he's learned about safety and priorities on the streets.

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Miriam Pinski

@mirijulip

4 months

@nilocobau "Should we also engage people on sewage policy?" is another question I probably should have kept to myself.

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Miriam Pinski

@mirijulip

4 months

@99_ Yes, though ten years ago she was stopped for speeding and apparently officers told her she could kill someone that way.

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Miriam Pinski

@mirijulip

11 months

This industry isn't vulnerable to outsiders because of isolationist policies that only hurt us.

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Miriam Pinski

@mirijulip

30 days

In LA's historic downtown - one of the densest parts of the region - nearly a quarter of land is dedicated to storing cars (generally for free).

Parking Reform Network

@Parking_Reform

30 days

How much of your downtown is taken up by parking? 🧵/5

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Miriam Pinski

@mirijulip

2 months

The gondola fight is a perfect mix of crazy LA politics, old Dodger beefs, and random nonprofit NIMBYism (California Endowment for the Arts - what are you doing?).

Editorial: Let the Dodger gondola take flight. L.A. needs more transit options

But Metro leaders are smart to attach conditions to ensure the project benefits the community and doesn’t suck up public money for private gain.

www.latimes.com

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Miriam Pinski

@mirijulip

10 months

The majority of metro residents drive *because they don't have other options.* The lucky few who live in walkable places are more satisfied with their quality of life.

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Miriam Pinski

@mirijulip

1 year

So can drivers actually sue for damages if they drive into a bollard? Seems like a weak case. I think the bigger issue isn’t legal but political.

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Miriam Pinski

@mirijulip

10 months

"We can all just drive less" doesn't have to mean not driving ever. What might driving less look like? Results from an e-bike pilot show: <1 mi: people prefer to walk 1-4 mi: people prefer e-bikes 4+ mi: they hop in the car And the energy savings follow:

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Miriam Pinski

@mirijulip

7 months

Tell me again how outdoor dining and bike lanes will ruin local businesses.

Ya-Ting Liu

@yating_liu

7 months

We partnered with Mastercard to look at how pedestrianizing 11 blocks of 5th Avenue last holiday season impacted the local economy. Guess what? It drove an estimated $3M in additional spending with merchants seeing a 6.6% increase in sales.

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Miriam Pinski

@mirijulip

6 months

Update on my request for a red light camera at a school intersection where drivers routinely blow past the light with no regard for kids crossing: @LADOTofficial rejected it. Their response, in full:

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Miriam Pinski

@mirijulip

4 months

Linking it here, if you want to read the entire tragic and infuriating article..

'Nobody stopped': Who struck two brothers in a crosswalk? Murder trial begins for L.A. socialite

Rebecca Grossman is charged with two counts of second-degree murder, among other charges, in connection with the fatal Sept. 29, 2020 collision.

www.latimes.com

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Miriam Pinski

@mirijulip

7 months

Gov. Newsom, please try biking on your state's streets some time. You would understand why when Google Maps directs a cyclist onto Pico, she might shift to the sidewalk. You wouldn't brag about that state's active transportation budget. You'd quadruple it.

Warren J. Wells, AICP 🚴🏙️🦀

@WarrenJWells

7 months

Gov. Newsom vetoes AB 825, which would have decriminalized riding on the sidewalk where no bike lane was present.

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Miriam Pinski

@mirijulip

7 months

Red light cameras are legal in Los Angeles. Yet, when I requested one for this intersection, my city council staffer informed me that @LADOTofficial no longer installs them. What gives?

Miriam Pinski

@mirijulip

7 months

This intersection by the elementary school is just a few feet from where a mom was killed by a driver walking her kid to school. Drivers ignore the light nearly every cycle. We needed cameras here years ago. Gov. Newsom, please sign AB 645

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Miriam Pinski

@mirijulip

11 months

It's the end of an era for block parties. What was once an American tradition, a way to get to know your neighbors over a burger without worrying that your kid will get run over, is now a nightmare of red tape and fees.

Wanna throw a block party in L.A. County this summer? Start here

Reconnect with your neighbors by throwing a block party. Here's how to do it in every city and unincorporated community in L.A. County. Sadly, there will probably be fees.

www.latimes.com

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Miriam Pinski

@mirijulip

7 months

This intersection by the elementary school is just a few feet from where a mom was killed by a driver walking her kid to school. Drivers ignore the light nearly every cycle. We needed cameras here years ago. Gov. Newsom, please sign AB 645

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Miriam Pinski

@mirijulip

19 days

Most Americans live in cities, and, according to this Washington Post ranking, many of us live in places "deficient in nature." Density doesn't necessarily predict limited nature access - e.g. NYC. Los Angeles, we can do so much better. What if we lined our highways with trees?

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Miriam Pinski

@mirijulip

3 months

Auto insurance rate hikes confirm: people really are driving more recklessly. Increased medical and car repair claims, plus higher car costs, are all making car ownership that much more expensive.

A major auto insurer returns to California — with a 30% price hike

Allstate, one of the largest insurers in the country, has resumed writing new policies through its website. But the costs are going up.

www.latimes.com

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Miriam Pinski

@mirijulip

1 year

Also a strange argument, since if the city really cared about cars not getting damaged, they would also repair LA's horrendously potholed streets. I guess one policy requires resources to improve streets and the other requires nothing except complacency and risk-aversion.

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Miriam Pinski

@mirijulip

5 months

LA City wants to make it *even harder* to operate Airbnbs or build hotels. Because why would we want to encourage something as terrible as tourism?

L.A. City Council approves law requiring Airbnb hosts to get police permits

Several Airbnb hosts expressed alarm about the proposal at a council committee hearing last week, calling the requirement of a police permit excessive.

www.latimes.com

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Miriam Pinski

@mirijulip

25 days

This reader has the correct take: no, we don’t need to wait around for a people mover to make the LAX horseshoe less of a traffic hell pit. We can just price it.

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Miriam Pinski

@mirijulip

6 months

Hot take: what if Carrillo beats Kevin De Leon (who shouldn't even be in office), is forced to get around LA without driving herself, gets radicalized, and advocates for safe streets and better transit?

Column: You said you were the anti-De León, Wendy. You're more like a disappointment

Considered one of Kevin de León's main challengers for the City Council, Wendy Carrillo's DUI arrest will inevitably launch a sea of 'Wino Wendy' opposition mailers.

www.latimes.com

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Miriam Pinski

@mirijulip

5 months

I see drivers run red lights nearly every time I leave the house. Cameras can fix that, and cities should use them (even if they burn all the revenue). Read about my quest to get a camera installed at a dangerous intersection. Spoiler: it didn't work.

Op-Ed: Why It's So Hard to Get a Simple Red Light Camera — Streetsblog USA

A Los Angeles advocate requested automated enforcement on a street near her home. It wasn't easy.

usa.streetsblog.org

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Miriam Pinski

@mirijulip

8 months

"Speed traps" are easier and easier to evade thanks to a world of apps that notify drivers about nearby traffic enforcement. Waze, for example, can point out where speed cameras are. That's not necessarily a bad thing - drivers slow down to avoid the ticket. Which is the point.

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Miriam Pinski

@mirijulip

1 month

The hellscape that is the Hollywood Bowl parking lot will, finally, improve, at least a bit. Very impressed that the LA Phil bit the bullet and is now going to both transform 350 parking spots into a drop off zone for rideshare and transit, *and* raise parking rates.

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Miriam Pinski

@mirijulip

7 months

A traffic expert from London visits Los Angeles in 1917. "In London, they actually regulate traffic, instead of allowing traffic to regulate everything else." He recommends banning parking.

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Miriam Pinski

@mirijulip

2 months

Waymo got the green light to operate in LA! 🥳 I say this as a former AV skeptic: it is a radicalizing experience riding in a car that follows every traffic law. You immediately notice how accustomed we are to ignoring and bending traffic rules.

Waymo is cleared to launch robotaxi service in Los Angeles, sparking new protests

The California Public Utilities Commission on Friday gave the green light for Waymo to expand its driverless taxi service into Los Angeles and San Mateo counties.

www.latimes.com

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Miriam Pinski

@mirijulip

3 months

Downtown LA has all sorts of walkable, bike-friendly pockets. But they’re segmented by enormous, noisy arterials that make walking between them unpleasant.

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Miriam Pinski

@mirijulip

6 months

Hypercongestion. More (bike) lane, please.

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Miriam Pinski

@mirijulip

11 months

(All this to say, flying is far too cheap. We are ruining the planet with all this flying. But flying could do with some innovation and better service.)

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Miriam Pinski

@mirijulip

3 months

LA has to pass a law to make sure we actually follow through with a safe streets plan the City *already approved.* These are all improvements outlined in the City's mobility plan. No new taxes/fees needed. You would think this would be a totally unobjectionable bill..

Yes on Measure HLA

@healthystreetla

3 months

Did you know Measure HLA would require the city to make safety improvements for pedestrians to 560 miles of city streets?

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Miriam Pinski

@mirijulip

10 months

Survey on community/transportation preferences linked here. But TLDR: we want denser, mixed use neighborhoods. It's just illegal to build them.

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Miriam Pinski

@mirijulip

11 months

A follow-up on LA’s response to the woman killed by a driver walking her kid to school: The city had a zoom meeting, and congratulated themselves for adding some paint and some human and plastic bollards. Turns out the school has been asking for “major changes” for *years.*

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Miriam Pinski

@mirijulip

4 months

Since LADOT denied my request for a red light camera at this dangerous school intersection, I asked for a speed camera, which recently became legal across the state. Another flat-out rejection. I'm not optimistic about this speed camera pilot program getting implemented..

Miriam Pinski

@mirijulip

6 months

Update on my request for a red light camera at a school intersection where drivers routinely blow past the light with no regard for kids crossing: @LADOTofficial rejected it. Their response, in full:

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Miriam Pinski

@mirijulip

10 months

Cities sanctify the "gold standard" of concrete bollards so long as it's to support commercially-viable reckless driving.

NASCAR’s gold standard for protecting Chicago Street Race spectators

The temporary 2.2-mile course around Grant Park is lined with concrete barriers built in south suburban Lynwood.

chicago.suntimes.com

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Miriam Pinski

@mirijulip

18 days

New Orleans, you're my latest favorite city. It's just a pleasure to walk here. The architecture is a wonderful mix of Spanish, Caribbean, French, and Victorian influences. But it's the narrow streets and sidewalk-abutting fronts that make them so pleasant to walk around.

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Miriam Pinski

@mirijulip

2 months

Sigh. City Council approved a residential parking permit district near a very popular hike in the middle of LA, Runyon Canyon. If parking is an issue, don't prevent people who aren't residents from driving there. Meter the street. It's that simple.

New parking restrictions could make it harder to hike at this popular L.A. spot

The Los Angeles City Council voted to create new parking restrictions west of Runyon Canyon after residents complained about limited street space.

www.latimes.com

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Miriam Pinski

@mirijulip

11 months

It's pretty clear that all our parking is killing the economy. At this point we should be paying people to build mixed-use housing on empty downtown lots.

Bruce Schaller

@Bruce_Schaller

11 months

What metro areas have the highest economic output, productivity and wages? A. The ones with the least downtown surface parking. My new rpt: "America's Urban Future, Post-Pandemic" Phone friendly pdf: @Parking_Reform @DonaldShoup

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Miriam Pinski

@mirijulip

11 months

Seems to me that car projects are under the control of technocrats and get green lit, but safe streets require public participation and additional studies and pilots.

Skanda Amarnath

@IrvingSwisher

11 months

A lot of attn justifiably flowing to how oil & gas gets favorable treatment under current NEPA regime vs all other electrification efforts I’d be curious what relative procedural burdens looks like among federal highway projects, state highways & roads, vs mass transit

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Miriam Pinski

@mirijulip

29 days

People don't trust transit in LA for time-sensitive trips, and I get it. For the most part, I get by fine with transit. But when I tried to take a Dash bus to the dentist, it didn't show. The hotline couldn't tell me where it was. The next one was in half an hour. 😒

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Miriam Pinski

@mirijulip

27 days

Blocking out vacation time for 20 years from now, when the country's longest rail-to-trail biking and hiking path through the redwoods is set to open. Just picture biking through these NorCal forests 🤩

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Miriam Pinski

@mirijulip

6 months

The time for speed cameras, lower speed limits, and more enforcement is now. “We will not let the boundaries of government bureaucracy be the reason we do not take action.”

'Enraged': PCH crash is focus of emotional Malibu council meeting, where speakers demand change

Nearly 30 people spoke at Monday’s emotional Malibu City Council meeting, expressing grief and anger about the deadly danger posed by a stretch of PCH.

www.latimes.com

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Miriam Pinski

@mirijulip

3 months

In response to tragic speeding deaths on the PCH, Malibu and Caltrans cut the speed limit in half, plastered the highway in speed cameras, and added a protected bike lane. JK. They added some paint, signage, and 3 police officers, and aligned the traffic lights. That'll fix it.

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Miriam Pinski

@mirijulip

11 months

We underprice driving, and as a result, our roads are clogged, our air polluted, and our streets dangerous. Thanks @CityObs for letting me plug congestion pricing; read my latest on getting transportation prices right:

Getting prices right to improve urban transportation

The City Observatory is a study of modern-day cities and urban development practices.

cityobservatory.org

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