Story-telling the CAEJ campaign progress

To kick-off the meeting Esperanza Martinez and Rosa Miranda presented a slide show and a recap of our continuing struggle to get Mayor Villaraigosa, Supervisor Ridley-Thomas and Councilmember Huizar to take leadership in pushing for the adoption of the BRU Clean Air and Economic Justice plan. Positive energy filled the meeting as the stories and the photo presentation showed BRU members on-the-ground results of the campaign work and how real results, such as gaining an appointment with Supervisor Ridley-Thomas to discuss his championing of the plan, were being achieved through active agitation. Members joyfully laughed as Rosa reported her encounter with the Mayor, and how the Mayor expected to receive only a handful of post cards but instead received over a thousand postcards!  Esperanza closed the presentation with the importance of continued pressure to make sure that the BRU Clean Air and Economic Justice plan becomes a reality that will brign LA a step closer to having a world-class bus system.

BRU member Stella Ngigi reports on the progress of the Wilshire bus-only-lane

Then BRU member Reggie Streeter and Clean Air Clean Lungs Clean Buses Campaign Organizer Sunyoung Yang gave a presentation to update the membership on the progression of the Wilshire bus-only lane. What pulled my interest as well as surprised me was the news that Condo Canyon, a predominantly White West Side community, are opposing the project. With the EIR process moving forward, the BOL implementation will be delayed for another year. This delay is personally upsetting because I see the implementation of this bus-only lane as a major steppingstone for an all around better transportation infrastructure in Los Angeles. This delay will affect me in two ways: as a cyclist it delays road improvement and the addition of bike lanes and as a Bus Rider it puts me and other riders at a disadvantage as single-passenger-autos overwhelm the already congested LA streets.