As a public service, the Mulholland Institute has established a readily accessible online group of web pages to provide up-to-date data for the San Fernando Valley Census County Division—accessed through the nickname ValleyData.org.

More than a decade ago, an effort was launched through our institute to create a San Fernando Valley Statistical District. The need was great, with our thousands of non-profits, government offices, businesses and community organizations seeking more reliable data on this "place" called the San Fernando Valley. These data have important applications in planning, land use, transportation, grant seeking, marketing, and the overall physical, social and economic future of the Valley region.

In the process, we also obtained approval from the City and County of Los Angeles, and the State of California to have breakouts of Valley data at those levels as well. We will be mining the results and adding them to the data trove as time and resources permit.

The San Fernando Valley has been added to the many major geographies  throughout the United States for annual updates through the American Community Survey program.

Our thanks go out to the many organizations and government offices who came to our assistance—seeing the importance of better defining this vibrant region. Congressman Brad Sherman and his professional staff member Michael Tou; Councilmember Wendy Greuel, and the rest of the Los Angeles City Council for their unanimous support; Supervisors Zev Yaroslavsky and Michael Antonovich, and the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors for their unanimous support; the Valley Industry and Commerce Association for sponsoring the original initiative; and the Valley Economic Alliance for helping to see it through, working with our cities and with the Mulholland Institute in the establishment of the San Fernando Valley Council of Governments. 

Metro Considering Ceding More Power to Subregions, COGs and Cities

Emphasis on Land Use Solutions

The Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority (Metro) is considering changing its primary focus from congestion relief to reducing overall Vehicle Miles Traveled (VMT). This to accommodate the legislative intent of Assembly Bill 32 (AB32) and Senate Bill 375 (SB375). The motion (as amended) by Directors O'Connor, Dupont-Walker, Najarian, Dubois and Bonin, would suspend future Calls for Projects past the 2015 Call and incorporate an evaluation of this process into the LRTP-update and ballot exploration process with the stakeholding COG’s and subregions.

It is anticipated that staff would return to the Board in February 2015 with the examination and recommendations on the possibility of converting the Call for Projects Process into a new subregional, multi-modal subvention formula program. Under the plan, Metro staff will be soliciting an assessment of both the strengths and weaknesses of the process from cities, COGs, and other stakeholders, whether or not they apply for funding.

The motion recognizes the fact that Los Angeles County needs to re-balance the Call-for Projects mobility investment portfolio. "Rather than a car for every driver" the new paradigm will focus on local neighborhoods, community connectivity and "complete streets," with less emphasis on increasing the speed of auto trips across the greater region. Sustainable Communities Strategies seek to cluster jobs and housing, emphasizing a desire for subregional congestion mitigation and strategic regional linkages.

Link to Motion: http://mulhollandinstitute.org/Library/Transportation/MetroMotionreLRTP.pdf

MOBILITY MATRICES - A New Approach

At the October 24, 2013 meeting, the Metro Board of Directors approved preparing Mobility Matrices for the San Gabriel Valley, San Fernando Valley and Westside surbregions, allocating a maximum of $500,000 for each study. These COG-driven "Mobility Matrix" processes are currently underway, and involve a "holistic countywide approach" for preparing Subregional Mobility Matrices. These are expected to allow for consistency in developing criteria that can be used to identify and evaluate projects. The COG subregions are also expected to play an important role in local implementation of Sustainable Communities Strategies in real-world situations.

The matrices are expected to evaluate corridors (e.g., highway, arterial, rail, bicycle) that will in turn establish a framework for potential transportation improvements along those corridors. They will identify baseline conditions, and provide other data as needed for work with the subregions to develop the matrix and framework.

With the potential for a sales tax ballot initiative, it is seen as imperative that this exercise be completed so that sufficient countywide input can be obtained for the proposed sales tax.

Link to Motion http://mulhollandinstitute.org/Library/Transportation/MobilityMatrices.pdf

AB32/SB375 California Air Resources Board Information

The Sustainable Communities and Climate Protection Act of 2008 (Sustainable Communities Act, SB 375, Chapter 728, Statutes of 2008) supports the State's climate action goals to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions through coordinated transportation and land use planning with the goal of more sustainable communities.

Link to AB32/SB375 Information: http://www.arb.ca.gov/cc/sb375/sb375.htm

Source: Metro/Mulholland Institute

Take on the Challenge: