State Agencies

Many months after its Deputy Director for Sustainability, Steven Cliff, went back to work for the Air Resources Board, Caltrans has hired a replacement for this key post. New hire Ellen Greenberg comes with impeccable credentials, having worked as a planner in both public sector and private sector jobs. She worked most recently at Arup, a design, planning, and engineering firm, where she worked on jobs in the Bay Area, throughout the state, and internationally. She worked as director of policy and research at the Congress for New Urbanism, and served for a short while as its interim executive director.

Caltrans' Pedestrian and Bicycle Safety Branch has been working with SafeTREC, UC Berkeley's Safe Transportation Research and Education Center, on a couple of projects to increase safety. The researchers are asking for locally collected data on the number of pedestrians and bicycles using state highways and local arterials roads.

Long-time Caltrans planning chief Katie Benouar is retiring, so there's a job opening up at the top of the transportation planning division.

Caltrans is making some progress on its first-ever statewide bicycle and pedestrian plan. The progress is happening at a Caltrans pace, but it is coming along. Two workshops were held this week to discuss what's been done so far: the draft vision, goals, and objectives. An online survey seeks input on what needs to be added or adjusted.

The USC Schwarzenegger Institute held a small congratulatory celebration of the tenth anniversary of A.B. 32, the California Global Warming Solutions Act, at the California Museum in Sacramento today.

At last week's California Air Resources Board hearing to discuss its plan for meeting climate change goals, the cap-and-trade system that has underpinned much of the state's efforts got raked over the coals. But not by the industries subject to the emissions cap.

The California Bicycle Coalition launched an unusual campaign this week to inform local leaders that building protected bikeways is not only allowed, but encouraged.

In a signing ceremony at Vista Hermosa Park in Los Angeles today, Governor Jerry Brown signed legislation extending state climate change targets through at least 2030. The governor was joined by key legislators who shepherded the legislation's approval. These included Senate President Pro Tempore Kevin De Leon, Assembly Speaker Anthony Rendon, Senator Fran Pavley, Assemblymember Eduardo Garcia, Senator Ricardo Lara, and assemblymembers Reggie Jones-Sawyer, Jimmy Gomez, Richard Bloom, and Matt Dababneh.

The California Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment (OEHHA) is updating CalEnviroScreen, holding a series of workshops and webinars starting this week and continuing throughout September—see the end of this post for locations and details. The first one takes place in Los Angeles this evening.