LA Podcast - Subway, Someday

Alissa, Rachel, and Godfrey remember Keith Porter Jr., who was killed by an off-duty ICE agent on New Year’s Eve in Northridge. A new UCLA report shows how Metro’s unarmed ambassadors are helping Metro’s riders. A subway concept advances for the Sepulveda Corridor and Fred Rosen’s monorail might finally be dead. And LA City’s charter reform commission has begun the purge.

Listen below, on Apple Podcasts, or almost anywhere you get your podcasts.

SHOW NOTES

“Letter from a Birmingham Jail,” by Martin Luther King, Jr.

On New Year’s Eve, Keith Porter Jr. was killed by off-duty ICE agent Brian Palacios in Northridge, and vigils were held across the city this past week

There’s just so much to protest! An anti-ICE protester was blinded by a DHS agent in Santa Ana

Meanwhile a new LA City Council motion that advanced would require LAPD to adopt tactics like a “graded response” model

ICE raids seem to be intensifying: 10 people were taken across 8 Echo Park locations in 3 hours. Read Blood in the Machine and 404 Mediaon how tech companies like Palantir are finding neighborhoods to raid

Sign up for the Community Self Defense Coalition patrols training and share the information on Instagram

Read the Metro ambassador report from UCLA’s Institute of Transportation Studies

Streetsblog LA: “UCLA Study Finds Metro Transit Ambassador Program Is Benefitting Metro Riders”

And the monorail option for the Sepulveda Pass project MIGHT ACTUALLY BE DEAD but keep your calls coming — Modified Alternative 5 is up for a full Metro board vote this week

Nick Andert’s video shows how they picked a hybrid option that’s pretty cool actually

LA’s city charter reform process held “the purge” last weekend, where certain reforms are starting to be taken off the table. Here’s the Charter Reform Commission website and a way to join the conversation at Rethink LA

Here’s a great policy document with proposed reforms for LA’s Capital Infrastructure Program — a 5 year outlook and 2 year budget, to start!

Stay involved with LA Forward’s governance reform and CIP working groups

Finally: we’re out of drought after 25 years! Check our progress with Cal Matters’ 2026 California Water Tracker 

This week’s episode was produced by Kristen Torres

The reporting and analysis you hear in the show is put together by our rotating cast of producers and co-hosts every week. All opinions expressed on the show are solely those of co-hosts and may not represent the views of LA Forward

Our first subscriber-only event will be held in 2026! Become a paid subscriber at thinkforward.la and you’ll be the first to know the details