UEPI News and Commentary

Dorothy Healey, Los Angeles Advocate for Progressive Change

Few progressive activists under 60 will know the name Dorothy Healey -- who died yesterday at age 91 -- but she was a remarkable organizer and activist. Tiny in stature, she was a charismatic and inspiring speaker, a feisty firebrand with a great sense of humor, who began her activism as a teenager and persisted through her late 80s.  The obituary in today's (Tuesday's) LA Times is reasonably thorough, but doesn't really capture the energy and enthusiasm that was so forceful and contagious.  Even people (like myself) who disagreed with some of her political views -  she was a leader of the LA branch of the Communist Party from the 1940s through the 1960s -- learned a great deal from her organizing skills and her lifetime commitment to social, economic and racial justice. Like her colleague Frank Wilkinson, who died last year, she was a long distance runner for progressive change. I haven't made contact with her son Richard yet, but I assume there will be an LA memorial event for her at some point.

moving slower in the car pool lane

As the number of hybrid cars sold in California reach 75,000 and the stickers available to drive solo in the car pool lane reach their max, angry car poolers in conventional cars may well try to block the program's renewal. They have a point: hybrids are going to continue to be sold at a fast clip regardless of car pool lane sticker availability, and there is a danger that the overall value of the car pool lane could diminish as more solo driver hybrids enter the lane. That would weaken one of the few incentives to reduce the huge number of those single occupied vehicles. But some of the angry car poolers also complain that hybrids go too slow -- 65 or even 70 mph instead of 80 and faster. They do that (I know from personal experience) because they're conscious of stretching their mileage. But that's a good thing, even good policy if we ever took seriously the idea that speed limits have a purpose. Slowing down to the speed limit on the freeway not only stretches gas mileage but could create less congestion with steadier traffic and fewer accidents. Traffic calming on the freeway -- an unintended consequence of the Prius moment?

Designing the Cornfield

Wanted: Experienced and innovative design firm for new 32-acre state park just north of downtown Los Angeles. Must take into consideration previous site studies, multiple community demands, and diverse constituent needs.

In March, the California State Parks Foundation went searching for teams to develop designs for the new state park at the parcel formerly known as the “Cornfield.” With funding from the Annenberg Foundation to provide $25K stipends to 3 teams, a review panel deliberated over 30 applicants and selected:  Field Operations (NY, NY), Hargreaves and Associates (San Francisco, CA), and Mia Lehrer and Associates (Los Angeles, CA).