Unlike San Francisco, Los Angeles does not have a strong reputation for being bicycle friendly. The car capital of the world has done very little to accommodate growing legions of cyclists on the road, the end result being daily tension between motorists, frustrated bicyclists and scrambling city leaders. But there are changes on the horizon, starting with the L.A. city bicycle master plan that has undergone months of public input and is being retooling after a less-than-enthusiastic initial reception. In Pasadena, their city master plan goes as far as proposing the elimination of lanes of traffic for construction of diversion barriers for the protection of cyclists. How far should SoCal cities go to make life easier for cyclists, and can bicycles and cars ever peacefully coexist?
The customer is always right, unless you’re at LAX. J.D Power has released its annual survey of large airports in the US, and guess where LAX landed, Number 19… out of 20, barely edging out last-place Newark Liberty International Airport in New Jersey. Among the study's various categories, LAX ranked near the bottom in terms of airport accessibility, checking in, terminal facilities, food and retail options, retrieving checked baggage, the security screening process and overall customer satisfaction. Is this something that we should be worried about? Or should we look at the bright side, it could be worse… you could be living in New Jersey.
A common anti-immigration refrain is that immigrants take jobs away from Americans. What is it like to stoop over lettuce fields in Arizona, work the graveyard shift at a chicken slaughterhouse in rural Alabama, and dodge taxis as a bicycle delivery boy for an upscale restaurant? To find out, Gabriel Thompson spent a year working in these environments alongside Latino immigrants. By combining investigative reporting with his personal narrative, Thompson exposes the underbelly of the American economy and tells the stories of workers, undocumented immigrants, and desperate US citizens alike, forced to live with chronic pain in the pursuit of $8 an hour.
Patt Morrison is known for its innovative discussions of local politics and culture, as well as its presentation of the effects of national and world news on Southern California.
