LaBonge Wants Smart Meters

April 20, 2005 by Eric Richardson

In my March wrap-up of the DLANC Transportation & Public Works committee meeting over on blogdowntown I mentioned that the CRA's Downtown Parking Study's Best Practices document included talk of smart meters and multi-spot pay station technologies. The City may be soon looking to get serious about that sort of thing, as Councilmember Tom LaBonge has made a motion that

the City Council direct the Deparment of Transportation to report on the feasibility of implementing a pilot project that would involve installing and evaluating smar meters within the City.

I know, any kind of thing like this takes forever to work its way through the system, but Tom LaBonge has been on a roll with cool transportation related motions lately. Eric Garcetti seconded, and this motion now makes its way to the Council's Transportation committee.

FishBowlLA Bored with Media, Picks on Me

April 18, 2005 by Eric Richardson

I just noticed in the referer logs that the site FishBowlLA had done a bit on my coverage of the April Art Walk. I assume that I'm supposed to take it to be making fun of my lack of art jargon describing the walk. Of course they start by just getting the site url wrong (blogdowntown.com, thank you), so maybe I'm reading more into it than there really is. I'm perfectly fine with the fact that I know nothing about art. Pre-LA, none of the places in which I've lived have ever have anything more than a Thomas Kinkade shop.

But if you're going to do the "gossip blog" take on LA media, pick on bad writing in something a little more prestigious than a little blog.

At least do what I do, and pick on one that's about trying to make money.

Flexcar: Rate Changes

April 16, 2005 by Eric Richardson

I got my March Flexcar bill in the mail a few days ago, and noticed that it came with a sheet titled "Important Notice to Flexcar Members." The annual membership fee is going up $5, mileage charges are going away, and the Advantage plan rates are changing. The flyer doesn't specify, but I would assume these changes are specific to the Los Angeles market (at least the plans... the annual fee might be system-wide). Taken together, the changes make me wonder if Flexcar is altering its focus away from short mid-day trips. — Continue Reading...

flickr pro

April 15, 2005 by Eric Richardson

I signed up for flickr pro today. That got me thinking that even though I've loved flickr, I've never really explored it all. There's some cool stuff there. I'd never used the organizer, and I'd also never seen the calendar of photos by date taken. I also set up my first set, with the seven pictures I took at Art Walk last night.

A Question

April 14, 2005 by Eric Richardson

Question: Is it possible to write ten pages off of this thesis?

The characterization of societal power structures in the film The Muppets Take Manhattan serves to underline the importance of equity and diversity.

We'll find out soon. The paper's due in three hours. I'm halfway into page four.

Update (Saturday): The answer, I guess, is that you can at least write nine. The resultis now up in verbal intercourse: "Being Green in the Big City" (PDF Version).