The Bus Bench

LA Times message for victims of tragedies: Can we have your money?

A heart felt message from LA Times Homicide Blog.

I’ve noticed Jill Levoy’s name is no longer on the Homicide Blog and I also noticed some interestingly

Bus Bench Service Alerts. Sept 11. Red Line 'till 3am during the winter holidays!!!

Man and woman on bicycles in 1874.
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The parking lot at the Metro stations are jammed.
Contra Costa Times/ September 11

The high speed rail will be a huge project, but we need it. We being San Francisco.
San Francisco Chronicles/ September 11

The Red Line will run until 3am during the holiday seasons on some days.
Daily News/ September 9

Park(ing) day it’s not being a smart ass, seriously, it’s not.
Citywatch LA/ September 9

You know that got who got 47 rounds pumped in him by the Inglewood Police Department? He was cycling on the sidewalk.
LA Times/ September 6

Compiled and edited by Browne Molyneux

Bus Bench Service Alerts. Sept 8.

Helmets aren't just for kiddies anymore.

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Stories from the future: If you still read print like me. I was looking for an a an article in the LA Weekly about MTA’s old busses. It was in the table of contents, but not in the paper. It had obviously gotten bumped by a reward update on the pedestrian nightmare of the Grim Reaper by the awesome Christine Pelisek
LA Weekly/ Sept 11

Boxer wants to whip the Fed Highway Bill (expires in September 2009) into shape. It’s even got a cool new name: Moving Ahead for Progress.
Trafficworld/ September, 4

The Bruins newspaper is talking about the plans to fix public transit on the Westside. I’ll tell you on the Westside it’s a pain in the tooshie to get around. Santa Monica and Weho being the glaring exceptions.
UCLA Bruins/ September 8

A little paper up north doesn’t like Prop 1A. He claims it will kill people. I guess it would all depend on what your definition of kill is.
Tracy Press/ September 5

Dash Central E is open. And The Bus Bench will relive our experience for you later today. The wonders of technology.
Blogdowntown/ September 4

Subway to the Sea. Look a big hole. Maybe a certain Westsider here will go to the hole and tell us what she sees? Oh wait that’s just a random picture, because we’re just talking about this.
LA Now Times/ September 3

Compiled and edit  editted edited by Browne Molyneux

Bus Bench Service Alerts. Sept 4. Clean coal & dead ped walking

Picture borrowed from Make Magazine's blog.

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Even the cyclist community is pro-public transportation. Living Without a Car in LA pleads public transits case.
LilaWac/ September 1

Additions to the NY Subway are being built by scabs.
Gangbox/ September 3

The Autoclub supports Measure R. And in case you didn’t get the memo Measure R is AB 2321 the half cent measure.
Bottleneck Blog/ September 3

Pedestrian killed in Lincoln Heights
LA Eastside/  September 3

A reward of $500,000 to be offered of the serial killer of pedestrians in South LA.
AP/  September 4

Canada is rethinking public transit, because it’s getting kind of crowded up there.
Ottawa Citizen/ September 4

Even more people in San Fran are using public transit. I thought everyone in San Fran took the Bart. I guess in comparison to LA.
Biz Journal/ September 1

Clean coal? Our possible future VP Palin cares about the environment.
Gristmill/ September 3

compiled and edited by Browne Molyneux

Cocktail Economics. Inflation makes you ugly.

"With financial markets buffeted by renewed fears about the credit drought and a deepening housing slump, Mr Bernanke could hardly boast of the economy’s soundness. To make matters worse, figures released on Wednesday July 16th showed that year-on-year inflation rose in June to 5.0% (see chart), the highest rate since 1991. Paltry pay rises, as well as job losses, mean employment income is probably growing by less than 3%, well below the inflation rate. Falling real income, slumping share and house prices and tighter credit all cast a cloud over consumer spending. Firms worried about future demand will be more cautious too about shelling out for costly capital projects, even if they could raise the finance." Economist July 17., Boxed-in Ben

Inflation just for reference means things will cost more and that is bad.

"In other words, if the inflation rate is 5 percent a year that means you’ve got to get a 5 percent pay raise just to keep pace with rising costs.” Dr. Walden, a professor in the Department of Agricultural and Resource Economics.

I could have said that, but I only barely have a undergrad in Philosophy. I wouldn’t want you think I was bullshitting about the costing more thing and it being bad and things. I know there are people out there who view me as “negative”.

So anyone out there getting a 5 percent raise?

If you are on a fixed income are you going to get a 5 percent increase on your cost of living to keep up with inflation, well most people are going to answer no. If you keep doing what you’re doing right now as far as finances, you’re going to be in the hole. If you lose your job, you are really going to be in the hole. If you don’t currently have a job right now, skidrow is shaping up to be a nice little section of town.

Now inflation isn’t always bad, if your wages are keeping up with inflation, well then it could point to something other than a failing economy. Now I could use my own or other readers personal anecdotal stories of their friendly boss who gave them 25% wages just for being fabulous, but lets look at some facts.

Let’s take a look at the Real Wage earning report for the average  American worker released July 16 for June 2008 by the Department of Labor’s Bureau of Statistics.

Oh look at that it’s down $0.07. So I guess this would be the bad inflation.

Here are the two types of inflations:

Demand-Pull Inflation - This theory can be summarized as "too much money chasing too few goods". In other words, if demand is growing faster than supply, prices will increase. This usually occurs in growing economies.

Cost-Push Inflation - When companies' costs go up, they need to increase prices to maintain their profit margins. Increased costs can include things such as wages (browne’s entertaining commentary, yeah right, during my life I have never seen this phenomenon) taxes, or increased costs of imports.

I think we’re suffering from costs-push inflation, owing to bad choices that were rooted in greedy bastardness.

"Despite these unsettling prospects, the Fed’s rate-setters bumped up their forecasts for GDP growth in 2008, to 1.0-1.6%..." Economist, July 17,, Boxed-in Ben

Well I guess everything is going to be ok then. The GDP is the end
all and be all of what’s actually going on. There is never any
manipulation in its presentation or on emphasis on items that would benefit corporate businesses and make good campaign sound bites.

I’ll keep an eye out for you.

Let’s see what the lead story is at the LA Times today: Jobless rates up by 6.9%

That’s a little better than the tagger lead story, but why is it up 6.9%?

Because the economy is shit. I wonder are the politician going to morality talk their way out of this one.

“If you went to church more often and had family values and went to college, you’d have a job. Yeah that job won’t pay for shit, because the wages of the American worker are not even kind of keeping in step with inflation, but that’s the taggers fault and we’re putting all of them in jail,” random politician.

Browne Molyneux

L.A. Times Fireworks. Burning down the fourth estate.

4th of July, 2008—Walking east along East 6th, I happened upon a man on his back. He was grinding at the undercarriage of a newspaper stand. He appeared to be adamant about getting the damn job done.

 

Sparks flew, buses passed and the heat was hot. I waited only until he took a quick break. He answered questions like a barely-paid laborer (one of the few left at the LA Times)  wishing to get out of the heat of the sun.

-BusTard

Emerald City on the LA Times is dead.

The blog editor Tony Pierce says, but this is a good thing....

My irritation in regards to this on various levels will make this post brief, but that's some total bullshit.

A blog about the LA green movement from the ground floor. At times it was a little too Sex in the City meets Green Peace, but god damnit it we need all types. And I thought Siel was doing an excellent job as well as Damian and the others talking about taking the bus, riding your bike and at least thinking before you open your wallet.

I'm not of the party of buy your way green, but newbies need someone and she was really good for that and had a nice wide reaching appeal.

Love you Siel.  You Rock.

Ok well that's the only link I had from the LA Times good that I can unlink that now...

So now I will only be linking Siel's main site. GREEN LA GIRL.

Browne

Roger's Rogering May Get The Shaft After Having "screwed [that] thing up."

After years of buggering the bus riders and strap hangers of L.A., Roger Snoble's end may be in sight. More on that anticipated comeuppance here and here.

-BusTard

So long, and thanks for all the fishwrap.

The Bus Bench has de-linked the L.A. Times. Here is why.

Is Chicago's Public Transit Fiasco Portentous for L.A.?

Late last week, Chicago lawmakers voted in such a fashion to narrowly avoid yet another looming disaster for Chicago's public transit system. Had there been no resolution to the in-fighting that has plagued the body under review, more than half the bus routes would have been eliminated, some 2,400 employees sacked and fares raised. This in the middle of a Chicago winter.

What drives the Windy City's transit woes is remarkably similar to what straphangers in Los Angeles endure: the incompetence and insincerity of the MTA board and city council members. Read this bit from the 5 January 2008 Economist to get the gist, and then read here the stopgap reported by the Chicago Tribune. (Yes, the same Tribune that owns The Los Angeles Times.)

And get ready to walk, even if it ain't winter this summer when the big troubles break.

-BusTard