What I thought might be a tough pitch turned into a meeting of the minds.

Streetsblog has been featured at the bottom of our sight for a number of months now, providing us with the latest news and updates for our area regarding the Expoline. They have provided about 40 posts since January 2008 that mention expo line. When you do the archive search for these dates with "expo line", the LA Times has had 26. WOW. How is that possible?

So Streetsblog has provided information our community needs - even if it comes with some opinion. They have a vibrant audience, lots of smart arguments back and forth. Usually they are good about GIVE and TAKE. On the webosphere in general (I could not locate the specific site) there were a number of overly personal and judgmental attacks of Damien Goodmon. Goodmon is from this area, and a member of Leimert Park Beat and he even attended attended a Sutro Avenue Block Club meeting. He does seem now to have a good back and forth with their readership and agrees with them on lots of issues - but he is almost alone on the Leimert Park-Expo Line Light Rail issue. So someone is really looking out for us. Goodmon wants the Expoline to be safer than many people think it needs to be.

I want the Expo Line ASAP. But I got to tell you, you can't LOSE by going the safe route. In the end, how much is it worth to have a safe route now and for the next 100 years. Well people of authority are agreeing with Damien Goodmon.

So yesterday a call went out to join the streetsblog network: I nominated Leimert Park Beat and it was accepted. I don't quite know that means yet. But I think this is something we should know about and on the topic of the Expo Line they are our hometown newspaper.

Friday they featured the Leimert Park Beat and the letter I sent them when I "applied."

"We've been getting e-mails from all over the country, and the message we're hearing is that people are craving connection with others who are thinking about the ways in which smart planning and improved transportation networks can change their lives," blogged Sarah Goodyear on Streetsblog.

A little about Streetsblog: Damien Newton (I know two Damiens interested in mass transit in Los Angeles), formerly the NJ Coordinator for the Tri-State Transportation Campaign, is the LA blogger and he's been here for less than two years. Streetsblog is produced by the Open Planning Project. And that is:"a non-profit incubator for projects and technology to catalyze large scale social change." Whatever.