Eric Bruins
ejfbruins.bsky.social
Eric Bruins
@ejfbruins.bsky.social
LA City govt, politics, transportation, infrastructure. Thoughts are my own. Reposts ≠ endorsement. Happy to spend more time in these greener pastures.
Reposted by Eric Bruins
Holy moly! To all my 311-heads out there, rejoice — a new 311 app for LA launches tomorrow 🎉

Please download it tomorrow and file allllll your bulky item pickups to help me test how this new app works — I'll be reviewing it next week
March 28, 2025 at 2:40 AM
California’s local government’s haven’t raised enough revenue to maintain basic services and infrastructure since Prop 13. For a long time, growth filled the gap, but that too has declined. Cities now face a gloomy future of ever deeper cuts to core services.
www.latimes.com/opinion/stor...
Opinion: California relied on growing to pay for its needs. What happens now that it's not?
The state grew modestly last year, but the boom years are over. That's a problem for communities that have relied on development to pay for public works.
www.latimes.com
February 27, 2025 at 3:51 PM
USDOT is providing a very thin pretext for reversing Justice40 and reinforcing existing racial and economic segregation. Those aren’t just consequences of the new policy, it’s the goal.
USDOT is proposing to prioritize areas with high marriage & birth rates for funding.

Our new analysis @urbaninstitute.bsky.social shows this approach would produce a massive redistribution of transportation funding to rich, car-dependent, high white population areas.

www.urban.org/urban-wire/d...
February 7, 2025 at 8:03 PM
Reposted by Eric Bruins
On this day, 100 yrs ago, cars were given priority over pedestrians in the streets of the US.

It began Jan. 24, 1925, when the 1st "jaywalker" was arrested in Los Angeles.

Until then, it had been a city of walkers, with an extensive street railway network.

Victim shaming started right away...
🚶‍♂️🧵
January 24, 2025 at 3:02 PM
Reposted by Eric Bruins
“We have plumbed and electrified the wilderness of Los Angeles. But we haven’t tamed it. How could we? To live here, we don’t make a pact with nature as much as we reach an uneasy standoff with it.”
Commentary: Wildfires come with the wildness that draws us to Los Angeles
The mix of urban settings and nature is what we love about this region. This past week we're reminded just how untamed the wilderness is.
www.latimes.com
January 12, 2025 at 7:44 PM
After the fires are out, we need to have a real conversation about what is reasonable to expect from a fire department during this kind of wildfire event. Urban fire departments and water infrastructure are designed for a structure fire, not raining embers blowing over an entire neighborhood.
“The National Fire Prevention Assn. … calls for a minimum of 3 engines or 15 firefighters for a single-residence fire, a number that is impossible to attain when fighting a fire on the scale of the Palisades or Eaton fires.”

www.latimes.com/california/s...
Inconvenient truths about the fires burning in Los Angeles from two fire experts
For years, renowned fire experts Jack Cohen and Stephen Pyne have tried to shift the conversation on fire prevention strategies. This week’s destruction, they say, could have been minimized.
www.latimes.com
January 12, 2025 at 12:33 AM
Reposted by Eric Bruins
PSA: At Los Angeles' current air quality, spending time outdoors is the equivalent of smoking a cigarette.

If you're in LA:
1. Close your windows, stay inside.
2. If you have an air filter, replace the filter and keep it on full blast.
3. If you must go out, wear the best mask you've got.
January 9, 2025 at 5:18 PM
I’m no stranger to big fires, but the scale of what just happened here is hard to wrap my mind around. It went faster and deeper into fully urban communities than previously imaginable. My heart breaks for those affected.
Photos from ABC7 helicopter operator from the other place:
January 9, 2025 at 8:07 PM