Fox shows yet again it has a hard time with hard data

by Shauna Theel, cross-posted from Media Matters

In a segment falsely blaming Obama for rising gasoline prices, Fox News’ America’s Newsroom aired the following chart yesterday. It shows three data points — including the vague “last year” — plotted nonsensically on the x-axis:

“Last year” refers to gas prices last February; Fox’s chart omitted what happened in the 13 months between February 2011 and last week. Here’s how Fox’s source, AAA, displays the data (green line):

This piece was originally published at Media Matters for America.

It wouldn’t be the Metro Board of Directors without some drama.  Read the full agenda for tomorrow’s meeting of the Board by clicking here.

It appeared that, despite some grumbling about the exclusion of a station at Fifth and Flower, that the Regional Connector debate was over.  The Final Environmental Documents had completed public comment, the Little Tokyo community was mollified, and the billionaire with the napkin drawings was out of the picture.

Zev's got a pair of motions sure to cause some debate tomorrow. Photo: Deseret News

But last week, a motion by Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky presented at committee caused a stir amongst transit watchers.  The motion overruled a staff recommendation to award another three-quarters of a million dollars for public outreach to the Robert Group, to complete outreach for the plan.  Yaroslavsky wants to see some fiscal numbers on how past monies were spent before the Board awards a new contract.

The motion caused consternation from some Regional Connector supporters.  At last Friday’s mayoral forum, I was approached by a prominent Downtown resident who asked me, “Is the Regional Conenctor in trouble?”  A second person at the same event wondered whether the Supervisor planned to delay Regional Connector in a scheme to speed up the Westside Subway.

Yaroslavsky claims that wasn’t the intent, his motion is just a matter of making sure Metro is spending its consultant dollars well.

“The Regional Connector is an important project, and I want to see it happen,” the Supervisor stated in a phone interview.  ”Three quarters of a million dollars is a lot of money and I just want to make sure we’re spending it properly.  The funding is being held over until next month and the contractor still has funds from us to cover continued outreach needs in that time.”

Meanwhile, the last round of environmental documents are expected to be approved at tomorrow’s Board Meeting.  If all goes smoothly, final design (and the public outreach that goes with it) should commence this Spring.

Yaroslavsky is also at the center of another potential controversy with a motion requiring Metro to lock fare gates in the next “five to six” months.  Backing the Supervisor’s motion is a staff report on the impact of test-locking the gates in November and December of last year.  The report can be read, here and also includes information about allocating staff, sheriffs and other resources to make the gate locking customer friendly.

There’s a lot of things to say about the report and the option of locking all the fare gates, but one of the chief concerns is that the report seems to downplay the importance of solving the Inter-Agency Transfer dilemma that it is difficult for riders of multiple transit agencies to keep their costs low, unify their fare media (i.e. have a universal transit pass) and get where they need to go.  This has been such an ongoing issue, that a separate motion by Los Angeles City Councilman Jose Huizar creates an inter-agency task force to examine just that issue.

The report finds that a statistically insignificant number of riders at Metro stations (17 of over 26,000 transactions) were “inter agency transfers.”  Considering that Metro didn’t complete checks at transit stops and stations known for these typed of commutes, such as like Wilshire/Western (Santa Monica Rapid 7),  7th/Metro Center (Santa Monica Rapid 10) or Pershing Square (Torrance Bus) or any light rail station that has bus stops for buses from another agency; these numbers should be low.

As Metro considers ways to improve the TAP system and ways of making best use of the turnstiles, the Board needs to be armed with the best data available.   Good data on how many people make regular transfers between Metro and other agencies is a good place to start.  As Metro discusses the cost of locking up the fare gates in a new camera system and additional staff, they should also know what the cost would be in ripping the gates out of the ground and mailing them back where they came from.

 (Full disclosure: the Robert Group has purchased advertising on Streetsblog for a handful of projects, including the Regional Connector.)

The Rosa Parks station on the Blue Line. Photo by Sean_Marshall, via Flickr creative commons.

It’s kind of an obvious statement: rail and busway stations are the gateway for the tens of thousands of passengers entering the Metro system each day. And since most people have to spend at least a few of minutes at stations, the quality of time spent there is crucial to the overall transit experience.

In that vein, a motion by Metro Board Chair and L.A. Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa seeks to improve rail and bus stations across the Metro system with  specific mention of Blue Line stations. The motion would also put aside $10 million in the Metro budget to pay for upgrades.

The Metro Board of Directors will consider the motion at tomorrow’s Board meeting at 9 a.m. at Metro headquarters.

I think there’s a lot of interesting things in this motion and I encourage you to read it. Among the issues tackled in the motion are wayfinding and signage, network connections to stations, noise at Green Line stations (most are in the middle of the 105 freeway) and expanding a Metro grant program to help cities zone and plan transit-oriented developments.

We’ll have more tomorrow after the Board considers the motion.

Station Motion

EIA figures show the massive boom in China's coal consumption through 2010. Coal use increased another 9.7% in 2011

Energy consumption figures just released by the Chinese government underscore how quickly coal use is booming in China, a country that is already the world’s largest emitter of greenhouse gases.

In 2011, China’s coal consumption increased by 9.7%, the most year-over-year growth seen since 2005. The country also saw a substantial increase in natural gas consumption, which climbed by 12% in 2011. The figures, released this week by the National Bureau of Statistics, show just how much work needs to be done in order to de-carbonize China’s rapidly growing energy system.

There are a few positive trends to report, however. Overall energy consumption per unit of GDP declined another 2% — continuing the 19.1% decline in energy intensity since 2005. In addition, solar installations increased by an astonishing 547% and wind installations grew by 48% last year.

Non-fossil fuels — solar PV, solar thermal, wind, and hydro — now account for 9.4% of China’s primary energy consumption. Officials expect renewables to make up roughly 11.4% of consumption by 2015 and energy intensity to decrease another 16% by 2015. China is also in the process of rolling out provincial greenhouse gas trading programs in an attempt to decrease emissions 45% by 2020 compared to 2005 levels.

These developments are promising, but they still don’t stop China’s rapid growth in emissions. Assuming a business-as-usual approach to energy development, the International Energy Agency projects that by the mid-2020s, China’s emissions will double those in the United States.

Related stories:

• The Deniers’ Fantasy World: EIA Projects 40% Rise in CO2 Emissions by 2035
• Interactive Graphic: China’s Explosive Consumption of Coal

Here is a look at some of the transportation headlines gathered by us and the Metro Library. The full list of headlines is posted on the Library’s Headlines blog, which you can also access via email subscription or RSS feed.

Southland gas prices reach highest amount since late May (CBS Los Angeles)

The average price of a gallon of self-serve regular gasoline in Los Angeles County has increased 15 consecutive days and 27 times in 28 days and is 19.4 cents more than one week ago, 34.3 cents higher than a month ago and 51.6 cents greater than a year ago, according to figures from AAA and Oil Price Information Service. The average price of a gallon of self-serve regular gasoline in Los Angeles County rose Tuesday, increasing 1.2 cents to $4.08. With gas up to its highest amount since May 27, does it make sense to look for options? Find the nearest Metro station or stop and hop aboard. Here’s the Metro Trip Planner to help or call 323-GOMETRO (323-466-3876) and tell them where you need to go.

Villaraigosa for transportation secretary (NBC Los Angeles)

If President Obama wins re-election, Mayor Villaraigosa would be a natural for the cabinet — particularly the transportation secretary post — suggests NBC Los Angeles. They point out that this could be great for L.A., since the mayor’s transportation plans — particularly his 30/10 plan to accelerate the building of Measure R projects –  make sense and could “help him deliver a full rail system for LA — on an accelerated time schedule.” What they don’t mention is that 30/10 would also be a template for transportation funding that could be used by other U.S. cities, which, of course, could positively affect the quality of our precious air.

Private sector reinventing our expressways, one lane at a time (Reason)

Why does congestion keep getting worse? While there is no single answer, a principal reason for ever worsening congestion is that the demand for road space — particularly on urban freeways — greatly exceeds the supply. What can be done about it? Here are a few thoughts on what could work from Reason.

Saving money the old-fashioned way, by not spending it (Grist)

And a final thought on economics: We work 3.84 minutes per day to pay for our bicycles and 2 hours a day to pay for a car, according to James D. Schwartz of The Urban Country. And he’s being conservative, assuming we’re dropping $1,500 on a new commuter bike every five years. My bike didn’t cost that much. Did yours?

The current "Measure R" map.

Is Los Angeles on the “verge of a transit breakthrough” as Move L.A. states in the promotions for Friday’s all day conference featuring Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa and other political leaders, labor organizers and environmental groups? Or, is Los Angeles decades away from fulfilling the dream of a workable rail system promised by Measure R?

For more on Friday's conference, click on the image.

If you talk to Denny Zane, the executive director of Move L.A., the county is on the verge of something big, but if politicians and voters don’t act quickly we might be years away from real change.

“Now is not a time to get shy. We are at a transformational moment, and votes have shown they are ready to make a transformational investment in the economy,” Zane states.

He’s talking about what transportation watchers are calling “Measure R+,” a possible extension of the Measure R sales tax passed by voters in 2008 that helps fund Metro operations, a slew of highway projects, 12 transit expansion projects, and “local return” to help municipalities with their own transit projects. Before such a plan could go to the voters, it would need the blessing of the legislator, Governor, Metro Board of Directors and L.A. County Supervisors. Even then it would take a 2/3 vote of the electorate to pass the measure.

Seem like a long shot? The odds of passing Measure R were even longer in 2008. After all, an extension of the 30 year tax doesn’t add an additional burden to today’s taxpayer, but to people paying taxes thirty one years from now. If it seems unfair to dedicate decades of taxes to people not even born, it seems doubly unfair to leave the next generation with a transportation system in shambles.

So how does extending a tax make projects happen faster? How does it move L.A. from a long-term expansion plan to “on the verge?” By being able to tax farther out, L.A. can secure more bond funding now meaning projects that wouldn’t open for decades can open in years.

But Zane and Move L.A. aren’t just talking about speeding up the existing program, but seeking funds to enhance the program. “Put another way, is this an opportunity for the 30/10 plan to be the 50/15 plan,” Zane says, referencing the stalled plan to change federal law to allow L.A. to receive low interest loans from the federal government to put more shovels in the ground more quickly.

But if politicians succeed in getting a new ballot measure extending the sales tax on the ballot, for it to succeed it’s going to need a project list and vision to attract new voters. In other words, a new project list is going to be drawn up and a new spending plan is going to be devised. If there’s a dream project you want to see moved, now is the time to speak up. Here’s a sample of how I would devise a “Measure R+” funding program.

My Fantasy Project List for Measure R+

Transit Expansion – 25%
Expand Crenshaw Line all the Way to Santa Monica and through West Hollywood
Westside Subway Moved Closer to the Sea
Gold Line Eastside Extension Moves Farther East
Extend Metrolink all the way to Ontario Airport
Leimert Park Station for Crenshaw, Flower Street Station for Regional Connector
Sure, let’s throw in the Park-Mesa tunnel as well
Metrolink Max? Rail Line Connecting Valley to Westside? Anything to make the Transit Coalition Happy

Highway Projects – 20%
Instead of proposing highway expansion, Measure R+ becomes the “Fix-It-First” bill for highways. A massive repaving effort so that every L.A. County Highway is as pothole free and efficient as possible.

Transit Operations – 25%
You might note the list of projects above is smaller than the Measure R project list. That leaves money to increase the operations set aside.

Local Return – 15%
The broad local return fund remains set at the current amount.

Active Transportation – 10%
Similar to the “Call for Projects,” billions of dollars are set aside for capital improvement projects for bicycle and pedestrian projects that exist in city’s master plans.

Project Management/Staff – 5%
The staff needed to make projects happen and keep people writing at The Source.

Of course, all of this will be discussed in greater detail on Friday. To join the fun at Move L.A.’s “L.A. on the Verge” click here for details. In the meantime, leave your ideas for “Measure R+” in the comments section.

Congress is in recess, and the House’s atrocious transportation bill has been dismembered and delayed, but if you want to preserve funding for transit and active transportation, don’t let your guard down yet. There’s still plenty to watch out for as the House and Senate attempt to reauthorize federal transportation programs. As we’ve reported, there are some stark differences between the House and Senate bills. But what is scariest may be their similarities.

The conference committee: last hope for bike-ped? Photo: Politico

When two companion pieces of legislation pass their respective chambers, they are combined by a conference committee. The committee is made up of members of both the House and the Senate, and it is their job to resolve differences between the two bills. (Most recently, a conference committee forged a compromise on extending payroll tax cuts and unemployment insurance.)

Committee members are limited in that for each provision, they must choose either one chamber’s version or the other’s — they generally do not have the power to come up with something new on the spot. Furthermore, if the two bills agree on something, that provision can’t be altered by the conference committee.

There are already good chunks of the House and Senate bill that are the same — eliminating dedicated bike-ped funding, for instance. The House bill admittedly goes much further than the Senate’s, but if the two bills were to be conferenced right now, Safe Routes to School, Transportation Enhancements and Recreational Trails would all be history. The committee would then have to choose how to weaken those programs: eliminate them altogether, like the House bill, or keep them eligible under Congestion Mitigation and Air Quality program but let states opt out of them. Another critical choice: fund CMAQ from the Highway Trust Fund, as in the Senate bill, or fund it from the the smoke-and-mirrors “alternative transportation account” envisioned in the House bill.

“We have to keep the bike-ped programs alive in the Senate to be able to fight for them in conference,” David Burwell, director of the Energy and Climate Program at the Carnegie Endowment, told Streetsblog. “That’s why Senate Amendments 1549 [Cardin/Cochran, making CMAQ city-friendly] and 1661 [Klobuchar, protecting Rec. Trails] are so important to the bicycling community. If they don’t get added to the bill, the fight is over in conference.”

There are other amendments pending in the Senate that would add some language already adopted by the House. The House’s Keystone XL pipeline proposal has already passed as part of H.R. 3408, the “drill” part of “drill and drive.” If a Keystone XL pipeline amendment succeeds in the Senate, it cannot be removed by the conference committee.

Both chambers have to vote on the committee’s end product, the conference report, before they send it to the president. If the committee doesn’t think it can reach a compromise that will pass both chambers, we’re headed for an extension. If it passes both but President Obama vetoes it, as he has promised to do with the House bill, we’re headed for an extension.

Global Ice Loss from 2003-2010 Could “Cover the Entire United States in One and Half Feet of Water”

Changes in ice thickness (in centimeters per year) during 2003-2010 as measured by NASA’s Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment (GRACE) satellites, averaged over each of the world’s ice caps and glacier systems outside of Greenland and Antarctica. Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/University of Colorado

This piece was reposted from the NASA website

In the first comprehensive satellite study of its kind, a University of Colorado at Boulder-led team used NASA data to calculate how much Earth’s melting land ice is adding to global sea level rise.

Using satellite measurements from the NASA/German Aerospace Center Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment (GRACE), the researchers measured ice loss in all of Earth’s land ice between 2003 and 2010, with particular emphasis on glaciers and ice caps outside of Greenland and Antarctica.

The total global ice mass lost from Greenland, Antarctica and Earth’s glaciers and ice caps during the study period was about 4.3 trillion tons (1,000 cubic miles), adding about 0.5 inches (12 millimeters) to global sea level. That’s enough ice to cover the United States 1.5 feet (0.5 meters) deep.

“Earth is losing a huge amount of ice to the ocean annually, and these new results will help us answer important questions in terms of both sea rise and how the planet’s cold regions are responding to global change,” said University of Colorado Boulder physics professor John Wahr, who helped lead the study. “The strength of GRACE is it sees all the mass in the system, even though its resolution is not high enough to allow us to determine separate contributions from each individual glacier.”

About a quarter of the average annual ice loss came from glaciers and ice caps outside of Greenland and Antarctica (roughly 148 billion tons, or 39 cubic miles). Ice loss from Greenland and Antarctica and their peripheral ice caps and glaciers averaged 385 billion tons (100 cubic miles) a year. Results of the study will be published online Feb. 8 in the journal Nature.

Traditional estimates of Earth’s ice caps and glaciers have been made using ground measurements from relatively few glaciers to infer what all the world’s unmonitored glaciers were doing. Only a few hundred of the roughly 200,000 glaciers worldwide have been monitored for longer than a decade.

One unexpected study result from GRACE was that the estimated ice loss from high Asian mountain ranges like the Himalaya, the Pamir and the Tien Shan was only about 4 billion tons of ice annually. Some previous ground-based estimates of ice loss in these high Asian mountains have ranged up to 50 billion tons annually.

“The GRACE results in this region really were a surprise,” said Wahr, who is also a fellow at the University of Colorado-headquartered Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences. “One possible explanation is that previous estimates were based on measurements taken primarily from some of the lower, more accessible glaciers in Asia and extrapolated to infer the behavior of higher glaciers. But unlike the lower glaciers, most of the high glaciers are located in very cold environments and require greater amounts of atmospheric warming before local temperatures rise enough to cause significant melting. This makes it difficult to use low-elevation, ground-based measurements to estimate results from the entire system.”

“This study finds that the world’s small glaciers and ice caps in places like Alaska, South America and the Himalayas contribute about 0.02 inches per year to sea level rise,” said Tom Wagner, cryosphere program scientist at NASA Headquarters in Washington. “While this is lower than previous estimates, it confirms that ice is being lost from around the globe, with just a few areas in precarious balance. The results sharpen our view of land-ice melting, which poses the biggest, most threatening factor in future sea level rise.”

The twin GRACE satellites track changes in Earth’s gravity field by noting minute changes in gravitational pull caused by regional variations in Earth’s mass, which for periods of months to years is typically because of movements of water on Earth’s surface. It does this by measuring changes in the distance between its two identical spacecraft to one-hundredth the width of a human hair.

– a NASA repost

Joe Romm:  As I noted earlier, I checked with JPL’s Eric Rignot, who called the study “a solid confirmation” of his 2011 paper:  “JPL bombshell: Polar ice sheet mass loss is speeding up, on pace for 1 foot sea level rise by 2050.”

Over the past year or so, I’ve gotten to know Joe Linton as an advocate for biking, walking and transit in L.A. through our work together on the board of the Southern California Streets Initiative, the non-profit publisher of LA Streetsblog. But there’s another side to Joe beyond advocate — that of writer and graphic artist.

Joe recently offered — and I gladly accepted — to share with The Source some of his drawings of life in transit, as well as his thoughts about the process and the meaning behind his work. Below is a selection of Joe’s extensive sketches along with a brief interview we conducted over email.

Northbound 266 from Long Beach to Pasadena. July 2, 1994. All sketches by Joe Linton.

Carter Rubin: What is it about people riding transit that you find particularly interesting as a subject?

Joe Linton: I tend to enjoy drawing people. When I ride transit, I have time on my hands (both on-board and when waiting) and the person across from me is generally holding relatively still, so it’s an opportunity to draw from a live model.

Generally I think that green transportation stuff — whether bus, bike, rail, pedestrian, CicLAvia, etc. — is more about bringing people together than it is about the infrastructure itself. Transit makes common public space where people come together, where we look each other in the eyes, and acknowledge each other’s humanity.

Woman on Blue Line Northbound, 8:20 a.m. April 24, 1996.

CR: How does transit — and the people riding it — differ as a subject from other subjects you’ve captured, i.e. the natural environment, architecture, etc.?

JL: I tend to do most of my drawings of stuff just made up out of my head — inventions (though none of these are posted here — you can find them at my art blog). Drawing folks on transit allows me to observe real people. When I am just drawing from my imagination, I tend to make up crazy-looking distorted grotesque people. Drawing folks on transit grounds my drawings a bit more in reality. I do enjoy drawing cityscapes and landscapes, too. But I’d guess that something around 90 percent of my drawings are of people.

Man Sleeping on Metrolink Southbound, LA to Santa Ana. 6:40 p.m.

CR: Do you notice anything different about travelers when they’re on local buses, trains or long distance Amtrak lines — what they’re doing, who they appear to be?

JL: I do notice some general class and race differences – i.e. Metrolink tends to carry a somewhat whiter and more white-collar worker — compared to most bus lines that carry more Latinos and African-Americans and more working class, but you never know.

There are some differences in how long the average rider stays in one place. I used to ride the Metro Blue Line all the way from Long Beach into L.A. during commuting hours, and folks getting on at the outer end of the line almost always traveled all the way to downtown. This long commute gives a sketcher time to do a relatively-finished image. Lately I work out of my home, and take transit to meetings and events. I travel weekends and during the day — hours not strictly for business commuters — so there’s less predictability. All kinds of people get on and off all the time. I have to sketch quicker, because the person I am sketching could get off at any stop.

Eastbound LB 101. March 25, 1992.

CR: Do you notice anything about how people interact when they’re on transit versus in other shared public places?

JL: There’s a little interaction — people observe who’s around them — but I think that most of the time most people stick to themselves [even though] we are sharing space, seeing each other. Lots of folks are tuned out to electronic devices. Sometimes folks will spot me drawing and ask to see the sketches in book, which I enjoy showing off. But most of the time, I prefer to sketch without my subject knowing that she/he is being sketched.

Man on the A-Train towards Brooklyn. March 4, 2008. 8:50 p.m.

CR: What’s the greatest challenge artistically about drawing/composing on transit? How does this differ from other subjects — i.e. the constant movement of the vehicle and people? And how does it affect your compositions?

JL: I think, for me, sketching on transit is really good practice. When I work on artwork at home, my drawings can get really detailed and precious and tight. When I am on the bus, it’s shaking a bit and the person I am sketching could get up at any moment, so I have to let the drawing flow fairly quickly fairly decisively, and to not be heavily invested in perfection. Any single line can be a bit off, but overall the drawing can come together. I generally sketch directly in pen, with no pencil underneath. It all goes quickly, and gets me to be fairly loose and spontaneous, which tends to result in better artwork than when I get excessively tight and detailed.

Amtrak Pacific Surfliner Southbound 12:30 p.m. November 23, 2006.

Joe Linton is an artist, author and urban environmental activist, living at Los Angeles Eco-Village in Koreatown. Linton currently works as an organizer for the non-profit CicLAvia. He has worked at various non-profit organizations including Friends of the L.A. River, the Los Angeles County Bicycle Coalition, C.I.C.L.E., Livable Places, and others. Linton wrote and illustrated Down by the Los Angeles River: Friends of the Los Angeles River’s Official Guide, published by Wilderness Press in 2005. Linton blogs at L.A. Creek Freak, L.A. Eco-Village, CicLAvia and posts his artwork at Handmade Ransom Notes.

Here’s the news release from Metro:

Academy Awards countdown: Metro Bus service along Hollywood Blvd. on detour schedule; Metro Rail trains to bypass Metro Red Line station at Hollywood/Highland on Sunday, Feb. 26

Five Metro Bus Lines (212/312, 217, 222 and 780) are on detour schedules due to street closures that started Sunday, Feb. 19, in the Hollywood area due to preparations for the Academy Awards show that will be held in the Kodak Theatre at the Hollywood & Highland complex on Sunday, Feb. 26.

Metro Red Line trains will operate on a regular schedule with no delays in service but will pass through the Hollywood/Highland station without stopping on Sunday, Feb. 26. With the start of regular service on Monday, Feb. 27, all Metro Red Line trains will resume stops at the Hollywood/Highland Station.

The Hollywood/Highland station will close after the last train departs in the early morning hours of Sunday, Feb. 26 and reopen for regular service on Monday, Feb. 27. During that time, there will be no public access to the Hollywood/Highland Metro Red Line station. Metro Red Line patrons are advised to to use the Hollywood/Vine station as an alternate and transfer to nearby bus service or walk.

Metro Bus lines 212/312, 217, 222 and 780 are detoured along Hollywood Boulevard between Highland Avenue and La Brea Avenue through 6 a.m. on Tuesday, February 28, or until barricades are removed. Normal service should resume by 6 a.m. on Thursday, March 1. (Note: Line 780 has no weekend service on Saturday or Sunday.)

On the day of the event, Sunday, Feb. 26, Bus lines 156, 212, 222 and 217 will be detoured along Hollywood Boulevard between La Brea Avenue and Cahuenga Boulevard and on Highland Ave between Franklin Avenue and Sunset Boulevard through 6 a.m. on Monday, Feb. 27 or until barricades are removed.

Specific routes of the detours are listed online on the service advisory pages of metro.net. For real-time service alerts, go to metro.net home page or follow #metroLAalerts on Twitter.

For specific route and schedule information patrons can go to metro.net or call GO.METRO (323.466.3876).