Jacob Wasserman

Planning Commission to Help Guide Santa Monica's SB 1123 Implementation Planning Commission to Help Guide Santa Monica’s SB 1123 Implementation

Big @cityofsantamonica.bsky.social Planning Commission meeting next Wednesday on reimagining missing middle housing possibilities!: mailchi.mp/smgov/sb1123...

Agenda and public comment instructions: www.smgov.net/departments/...

CICLAVIA WEST LA Sunday, April 26, 2026 domingo 26 de abril 2026 9:00 A.M.-4:00 P.M.

Huge news! After the North Westwood and West Los Angeles Sawtelle Neighborhood Councils called for a CicLAvia to come to these neighborhoods for the first time (cityclerk.lacity.org/onlinedocs/2...), Westwood and Sawtelle are getting one this April!: www.ciclavia.org/ciclavia_wes...

Council Asks for Improvements to Staff Recommendations to Improve Safety on Santa Monica Blvd.

New Plan will come in 60 days based on feedback.

“These are not fluke accidents. We should expect this to happen when speed meets forgiving engineering," CM Dan hall

santamonicanext.org/2026/02/coun...

UCLA Campus Bicycle Advisory Committee February 18, 2026 Gloria Roberts, Director Caltrans District 7 100 S. Main Street Los Angeles, CA 90012 RE: Support for Immediate Implementation of EA 38750 ("Ohio to Ohio" Bike Link) in Coordination with EA 33360 (Santa Monica Blvd Multimodal Project) Dear Director Roberts, I am writing on behalf of the UCLA Campus Bicycle Advisory Committee (CBAC), a body of students, faculty, staff, and administrators convened to advance the university’s goals for active transportation, sustainability, and campus connectivity. We strongly urge Caltrans to integrate the "Ohio to Ohio" protected bike lane project (EA 38750) with the upcoming Santa Monica Boulevard pavement rehabilitation (EA 33360). Delaying this critical gap closure until a future funding cycle—potentially decades away—is a missed opportunity that places thousands of members of the UCLA community at continued risk. Critical Connectivity for Health and Housing The proposed "Ohio to Ohio" link is not merely a local improvement; it is a vital artery for the UCLA Health system and our residential community. As identified in the UCLA Health Bicycle Corridor Plan, this segment is essential for connecting key medical facilities, including the Santa Monica-UCLA Medical Center and Orthopaedic Hospital, the Rape Treatment Center, the Veterans Administration Medical Center and dozens of UCLA Health clinics throughout the corridor. Furthermore, this project would directly serve five major residential buildings along Santa Monica Boulevard that house UCLA students and medical residents. Currently, these residents are stranded on an "island" with no safe, continuous north-south or east-west bikeways to reach campus or essential services.

By failing to include the "Ohio to Ohio" project now, Caltrans would force students, staff, and patients to navigate a high-speed arterial without protection, directly contradicting California’s "Complete Streets" mandate. We echo the concerns of Assemblymember Zbur and Senator Allen: pavement rehabilitation is not a neutral act. It is an obligation to improve safety. To repave Santa Monica Boulevard without this bike link effectively locks in dangerous conditions for another generation. As Assemblymember Zbur notes, advancing a repaving project without a compliant bicycle accommodation represents a serious safety risk to the public. Sharrows are no longer permissible on roadways of this speed (SB 1216), and if Caltrans continues with its planned timeline as described to his staff, the “Ohio to Ohio” bicycle project could realistically be delayed until 2040, if not later. Community and Educational Access The benefits of this connection extend beyond the university. The Ohio Avenue corridor connects to University High School, a key partner in UCLA’s TIE-INS (Together in Education in Neighborhood Schools) program. A protected lane here would provide a safe route to school for local youth and strengthen the connection between the university and our neighborhood public schools. Fiscal Responsibility Finally, we urge you to consider the fiscal prudence of a "dig once" approach. Mobilizing construction crews twice for the same stretch of road is an inefficient use of public funds. Integrating these projects now ensures that the design, traffic control, and construction costs are incurred only once, maximizing the public benefit. The UCLA Campus Bicycle Advisory Committee stands with the City of Santa Monica, the City of Los Angeles, and our state representatives in calling for the immediate delivery of the Ohio to Ohio project. We ask that Caltrans prioritize the safety of our students, healthcare workers, and patients by building this gap closure now.

The @ucla.edu Campus Bike Advisory Committee is asking Caltrans to close a critical gap in the bike network where the Ohio Avenue bike route crosses Santa Monica Boulevard and to do so in coordination with their other planned work there.

@streetsforall.org

"'If you built your life…there because you couldn't…afford to live in downtown…but you bought close to a @bart.gov stop,' said Jacob Wasserman, a researcher at @uclaits.bsky.social, 'now, it might lead people to change jobs,…to change where they live and certainly…to change how people get around.'"

Graphic promoting “The Road to Repair: Transforming Infrastructure to Advance Environmental Justice,” a UCLA Institute of Transportation Studies mini-symposium, held Monday, March 2 on Zoom at 10:00 AM Pacific Time, shown on a blue patterned background with yellow and white text.

We are one week away from our virtual mini-symposium on justice-focused approaches to freeway removal and reconnecting communities long impacted by these systems. Check out the full speaker lineup and register here www.its.ucla.edu/tri...

See you there!

In the 1950s & '60s, a new route of the Foothill Freeway (I-210) displaced nearly 3,000 predominantly Black residents in Pasadena’s northwest neighborhoods — while an alternate route that would have impacted far fewer people was rejected.

Storymap here storymaps.arcgis.com/stories/c72e...

Opinion: UCLA community should embrace Metro despite imperfections - Daily Bruin Los Angeles is a city known for everything fake. It filters every part of life through kept appearances, canning what works for what looks good, even if it kills us – like our car culture.

"'[Car crashes are] one of the leading causes of premature death in this country,' said Jacob Wasserman, research program manager for @uclaits.bsky.social.

…The danger of the car is not put in the same caliber.…They just become traffic. Incidents on the train…become a clickbait worthy spectacle."

Redlining across Los Angeles predicts bird segregation half a century later! Racial segregation is for the birds.

The birds in the graphic are even HOLC-color-coded!

Redlining continues to be related to avifaunal community patterns, their habitat, and the people who experience them.

Very interesting study shared by @jessica-meaney.bsky.social at her @uclaits.bsky.social talk today: bird species today vary by HOLC redlining zones a century, as @travislongcore.bsky.social @uclaioes.bsky.social and co-authors find: doi.org/10.1093/orni...

Event flyer featuring a blue patterned background with circular motifs and yellow text reading ‘The Road to Repair: Panel 2—Solutions and Opportunities in Freeway Removal,’ featuring headshots of Dr. Ben Crowther, Randolph Belle, and Yesenia Perez with their organizational affiliations.

A freeway-free future is not only possible, it's already happening.
Join us March 2 to explore freeway removal and redesign in CA, with case studies and strategies to reconnect communities, reduce environmental harm, and advance transportation equity. ucla.zoom.us/meeting...

YouTube video by Los Angeles Housing Production Institute Divasunglasses Affordable Housing

The project was never actually downsized.

Padilla was either lying or had no idea what was actually going on.

Here's UCLA PhD student and TikTok influencer @cnbecker14.bsky.social (aka divasunglasses) explaining what actually happened:

youtu.be/4aEf3kaw2nU

100 Lecture Series: L.A. From the Viewpoint of A Walker - YouTube Alissa Walker is a writer based in Los Angeles where she has covered transportation, housing, urban design, public space, and environmental policy for two de...

Don't miss Alissa Walker live! The LA Podcast co-host will share a journalist's perspective on the investments & policy decisions shaping L.A. as it enters its mega-event hosting era. We’ll get started shortly after 10:30 am PT to wrap up classroom logistics

Mobility 10X: Accelerating Transportation Innovation in California Author(s): University of California Institute of Transportation Studies | Editor(s): Shaheen, Susan | Abstract: The magazine features 10 stories that highlight the breadth and impact of RIMI’s work ac...

Restoring public transit ridership will require rethinking sprawling land use patterns and managing private vehicle travel, as research from @uclaits.bsky.social, @berkeleyits.bsky.social, UC Davis ITS, & UC Irvine ITS, edited by @susanshaheen.bsky.social: describes: escholarship.org/uc/item/91b2...

Mobility 10X: Accelerating Transportation Innovation in California Author(s): University of California Institute of Transportation Studies | Editor(s): Shaheen, Susan | Abstract: The magazine features 10 stories that highlight the breadth and impact of RIMI’s work ac...

The pandemic flipped transit finance, with fare-dependent systems now in trouble. @uclaits.bsky.social, @berkeleyits.bsky.social, UC Davis & Irvine ITS research, ed. by @susanshaheen.bsky.social, explores options like leveraging land use changes & pricing roads: escholarship.org/uc/item/91b2...

Mobility 10X: Accelerating Transportation Innovation in California Author(s): University of California Institute of Transportation Studies | Editor(s): Shaheen, Susan | Abstract: The magazine features 10 stories that highlight the breadth and impact of RIMI’s work ac...

What are the transportation big challenges in California, and how can we address them? We have a magazine of key findings of five years of work on this, from researchers at @uclaits.bsky.social, @berkeleyits.bsky.social, UC Davis ITS, and UC Irvine ITS, coordinated by @susanshaheen.bsky.social:

Santa Monica/West LA Leaders Urge Caltrans to Build “Ohio to Ohio” Bike Link With Santa Monica Boulevard Rehab.

Support for critical link sounds very different than L.A.'s excuses to not implement Measure HLA.

santamonicanext.org/2026/02/sant...

Santa Monica/West L.A. Leaders Urge Caltrans to Build “Ohio to Ohio” Bike Link With Santa Monica Boulevard Rehab - Streetsblog Los Angeles While Westside officials are pushing Caltrans to add some needed bike infrastructure, their logic contradicts the City of L.A.'s efforts to dodge implementing Measure HLA.

West LA/SaMo Pols Want Bike Lanes with Resurfacing/Bus Lanes Project.

la.streetsblog.org/2026/02/06/s...

Santa Monica/West L.A. Leaders Urge Caltrans to Build “Ohio to Ohio” Bike Link With Santa Monica Boulevard Rehab - Streetsblog Los Angeles While Westside officials are pushing Caltrans to add some needed bike infrastructure, their logic contradicts the City of L.A.'s efforts to dodge implementing Measure HLA.

State electeds call on Caltrans to do their short part in connecting together Ohio Ave bikeways in L.A. and Santa Monica. Will Caltrans respond? la.streetsblog.org/2026/02/06/s...

Standing in front of a map that doesn't include the North Westwood Neighborhood Council, almost a decade after its creation and almost three years since I alerted the department their maps were outdated. Emblematic...

Standing in front of a map that doesn't include the North Westwood Neighborhood Council, almost a decade after its creation and almost three years since I alerted the department their maps were outdated. Emblematic...

Santa Monica is about to begin construction on its Colorado Avenue Protected Bikeway project, installing a new protected bikeway running next to the Metro E Line.

santamonicanext.org/2026/02/west...

Thank you @benallenca.bsky.social for joining Asm Rick Chavez Zbur in demanding that Caltrans do the Ohio-to-Ohio connector NOW, when they’re already working on the street, and not in 20 years.

Bike Project Round-Up: Culver City Better Overland, WeHo Green, and More - Streetsblog Los Angeles WeHo green bike lane color doesn't quite "pop," and protected bikeways coming soon to Santa Monica, Glendale, and Culver City, and more

Bike News! WeHo bike lane green color disappoints Councilmember Erickson. New protected bike lanes coming to Glendale, Santa Monica, and Culver City. Another LADOT survey. la.streetsblog.org/2026/02/03/b...

A family completely wrecked by our politicians' lack of a backbone to stand up for real safety and protect human lives.

Transportation improvements are often matters of life and death. When the City of LA reversed these improvements, they collectively decided it was OK for people to die.

Homelessness in Transit Environments More than half a million individuals experience homelessness every night in the U.S. With the scale of the crisis often surpassing the capacities of existing safety nets — all the more so since the on...

And read the @uclaits.bsky.social study on responding to homelessness in transit environments here: www.its.ucla.edu/project/home...

Exploring Los Angeles' Transit Ambassador Program A growing number of U.S. transit agencies are adding transit ambassadors to their systems to improve the customer service and safety experience for passengers. These personnel can play a variety of di...

Read the full @uclaits.bsky.social and @uclalewiscenter.bsky.social research and policy brief on
@metrolosangeles.bsky.social's ambassador program: www.its.ucla.edu/project/expl... @mbrozen.bsky.social