Branch Meetings this Saturday!
 

Frustrated with LA's transit system?

DSA-LA's membership overwhelmingly approved the Power Mass Transit campaign as a priority for DSA-LA at this year's convention. We're launching the campaign with a series of strategy sessions at our upcoming Branch Meetings. We're gathering together to identify where LA's mobility systems are failing the working class, analyze where we have the power to change it, and choose our priorities.

 

We're meeting tomorrow, and we need you there! Meetings are being held in branches across the city, and there's one near you. Not sure which branch you're in? Check here: https://dsa-la.org/branches/

 

Eastside/San Gabriel Valley: Branch Meeting and Social

June 10 @ 10:00 am - 12:00 pm

Join Eastside & SGV Branch leaders, organizers, and new members for light snacks and a social gathering of comrades.

 

Central Branch Meeting & Mass Transit Strategy Session

June 10 @ 10:30 am - 12:00 pm

This month, we’ll be kicking off our involvement in the Mass Transit priority campaign. We’ll do some power mapping and strategy development as we lay the groundwork for transforming public transportation in the central branch and across Los Angeles. We’ll also discuss our ongoing support for the WGA strike, and other local campaigns.

 

San Fernando Valley Branch Meeting

June 10 @ 11:00 am - 12:30 pm

If you live within the San Fernando Valley and are interested in getting involved, then this event is for you. These branch meetings give DSA-LA members within the San Fernando Valley the opportunity to meet with other members and provide a space to become better activists/organizers. 

 

Westside & South Central/Inglewood Branch Meeting & Social

June 10 @ 11:00 am - 2:00 pm

Join Westside Branch leaders, organizers, and new members for food and and a social gathering of comrades.

What's new in LA transit?

Pedestrian Deaths Climbing

  • Vision zero claimed it had a plan to end pedestrian traffic deaths by 2025

  • Pedestrian deaths are up 78% since the program launched in 2015

  • Car collisions are the leading cause of death for children in Los Angeles

Fare free transit?

  • LA Metro doesn't need to collect fares: fares only represent 5% of its operations budget

  • And it did go fare-free on all buses during COVID!

  • 63% of riders earn household incomes of less than $25,000 annually, and collecting fares from these riders is a regressive way to fund a public good

  • SAJE's new fare-free report finds that 74% of every dollar received in fares is spent on fare recovery itself (buying/maintaining fare gates, administering fare collection, and enforcing fares)

  • Karen Bass ran for mayor supporting fare-free transit, and activists now want to hold her to it

Grassroots Street Safety (the City Hates This One Weird Trick)

  • A group of activists called Crosswalk Collective LA has started secretly painting crosswalks at dangerous residential intersections

  • Often, these are sites that LADOT has ignored/refused to install a crosswalk

  • But LADOT has sent crews to grind CCLA's crosswalks off the street

  • LAPD has fined CCLA activists when found in-progress, but they're still going

 

Healthy Streets Ballot Measure (March 2024)

  • LA published a fantastic "Mobility Plan 2035" eight years ago, laying out a citywide network of transit, pedestrian, and bike infrastructure improvements

  • ...but they've only implemented 3% of it (it would take them 200 years to finish, at this rate)

  • Healthy Streets proposition would force LA City to implement the plan every time they re-pave a street

  • The Healthy Streets organization raised 100K signatures and got it on the ballot for the 2024 primary

  • The proposition has received criticism from some left-leaning transit orgs, and DSA-LA does not have a stance towards it currently

 

Metro's New Budget

  • LA Metro is a county-level organization responsible for both public transit and highway planning

  • They're undertaking a huge amount of rail development (hello K line, hello Regional Connector, soon Purple Line extension)

  • ...but also a ton of highway expansion (which locks in future greenhouse emissions from increased automobile traffic)

  • This year vs 2022: highway spending is up 5%, and transit spending is down 5%

 

Metro's Workers

  • Metro's workers are heavily unionized

  • Represented by SMART-TD (bus and train operators), ATU (mechanics and service attendants), TCU (communications operators and clerks), among others

  • The biggest agreement (SMART-TD) was signed in 2022 (5 year term), but others might be bargaining soon

 

Cops on Metro

  • LA Metro board approved a 3-year contract extension with LAPD+LASD in March by a vote of 11-1

  • An LCSC study found that cops on Metro criminalizes Black riders wildly disproportionate to their ridership rate (60% of arrests, to 19% of riders)

  • LAPD and LASD also regularly exceed their budget and are granted extra funds after the fact (by 17% in 2021)

  • LA Metro has started an unarmed Ambassador program (sweet), but is also considering re-starting an in-house transit police force

 

Parks and Green Spaces

  • More than half of Los Angeles County is ranked “park poor” in the County’s Recreation Assessment

  • LA’s green space inequity is shaped by the city’s long history of redlining, segregation, and racialized exploitation overlapping

  • 82% of “park poor” areas are in communities of color

  • Lack of green spaces and tree cover heightens climate vulnerability in historically underinvested neighborhoods
 

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