Environmental Justice

LA Metro's rail expansion plan under Measure J and R can lead to less transit ridership with continued hikes in fares and bus service cuts. As voters are asked once again tomorrow to extend a regressive sales tax measure funneling another $90 billion, will LA Metro's rail expansion plan deliver skyrocketing transit ridership for the region and reduce greenhouse gases and air pollution as touted by it's proponents? Our answer is "no" based on history and experience of the last 20 years of rail experiment.

Transit Riders for Public Transportation national campaign (Labor/Community Strategy Center) is calling on our allies in the EJ Movement to join us as we mobilize to stop this assault on the communities of color, the poor and the planet

Word has raced out that House Republicans are moving to eviscerate transit in the federal transportation bill. But there's also a series of provisions in the bill that are aimed at our grassroots communities of color who make up the backbone of transit ridership across the country. They include the elimination of environmental requirements and planning tools that project our rights.

Indigenous leaders returning from Durban, South Africa condemn the fiasco of the United Nations climate change talks and demand a moratorium on a forest carbon offset scheme called REDD+ which they say threatens the future of humanity and Indigenous Peoples' very survival. During the UN climate negotiations, a Global Alliance of Indigenous Peoples and Local Communities against REDD+ and for Life was formed to bring attention to the lack of full recognition of Indigenous rights being problematic in the texts of the UN climate negotiations.

The BRU, Communities for a Better Environment, East Yard Communities for Environmental Justice, and Physicians for Social Responsibility-Los Angeles have sent this letter to Mayor Villaraigosa and the Board of Directors of MTA calling for swift action on climate change. We demand restoration and expansion of bus service and a halt to the multi-billion dollar expansion of the I-710 freeway as two immediate actions that would benefit the health and well-being of LA's low income communities of color while reducing LA's carbon footprint.

Joining forces with Communities for a Better Environment, East Yard Communities for Environmental Justice, and Physicians for Social Responsibility-LA, the BRU marched to demand the Mayor and the MTA "Expanding the bus system, not the 710 freeway. Meanwhile, BRU organizer Francisca Porchas is representing Grassroots Global Justice Alliance and Transit Riders for Public Transportation in Durban, building our connections with the international climate justice movement.  

With the MTA subject of a civil rights compliance review by the Federal Transit Administrations, a new pamphlet report from the Bus Riders Union exposes the policy and human sides of the crisis created by MTA slashing bus service and raising fares. 

Planners from UCLA, USC and across the city weigh in on Bus-Only Lanes debate with a clear message: the complete 8.7 mile project is clearly the best choice.