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Reflections on Why We Walktober
Posted by Candace S on Wednesday, October 23, 2019
I had a brilliant friend during graduate school who worked on a constantly shifting schedule - frequent 18-hour math benders followed by 10 hours of sleep. What I found most striking about this schedule was his habit of taking long, meandering, solitary walks during those late nights of work. He said those helped him to figure things out.
My friend’s walks are the polar opposite of the ones we planned for Walktober 2019: each with a carefully planned route and destination. And yet – perhaps because we’re all volunteers who were improvising along the way – Walktober as a whole felt like my friend’s journeys through the night.
We’d originally envisioned Pasadena’s Walktober to be a celebration of walking. We simply wanted to build a sense of pride around walking as a deeply human...
Tags: Walktober, why we work
In memory of our friend, Alan Deane
Posted by Colin Bogart on Tuesday, September 3, 2019
Alan Deane was a passionate environmentalist and activist. He lived his beliefs, and preferred to ride his bike rather than drive. In September of 2011, Alan was intentionally living houseless - sleeping in his car at night - a choice he had made to save money and live more simply. A talented musician, inquisitive mind, and friend to many, he was an active supporter of and volunteer for numerous advocacy groups, including CICLE, LACBC, BikeSGV (now ActiveSGV), and Walk Bike Glendale.
While riding his bike to KPCC to attend a live event (as he often did), Alan’s life was cut short by a driver who turned left immediately in front of him at Colorado Blvd. and Terrace Drive. It was Alan’s 61st birthday: September 22, 2011.
It was initially reported that Alan might have been riding on the sidewalk, surprising the driver when he rode into...
Tags: memorials, why we work
Thoughts on a Future BRT: An open letter to Tom Wait
Posted by Talia on Sunday, July 28, 2019
Metro is proposing a new 18-mile bus rapid transit (BRT) line from North Hollywood to Pasadena, with 10 minute frequencies between Pasadena, Eagle Rock, Glendale, Burbank, and North Hollywood. With dedicated lanes to facilitate better bus service, Metro expects the BRT to travel at speeds 30 percent faster and attract 30,000 daily boardings. Metro staff hosted a series of community engagement meetings in each of the affected communities this past month, evoking impassioned responses from residents.
When we think about community engagement, however, we need to ask ourselves whose voices are missing because of the way input is collected. Often underrepresented in Pasadena’s transportation-related community meetings are English-language learners, people of color, people with disabilities, working-class and lower-income people, and those younger than 18.
Similarly, when media outlets report on the...
Tags: BRT, Eagle Rock, media, Pasadena, transit
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