CITY CITES DROUGHT, SINKS LA WATER SLIDE PROPOSAL: LOS ANGELES (AP) — Los Angeles city officials have pulled the plug on plans to temporarily transform a downtown street into a giant water slide because of drought.
The Bureau of Street Services killed the plan Friday after complaints that the event would waste precious water. It also frowned on a proposal to use the leftover water to irrigate Griffith Park.
An organizer of the Sept. 28 event apologized to the thousands who signed up.
The padded slide would have used 15,000 to 20,000 gallons to send participants slipping several blocks between courthouses and past City Hall.
A Public Works spokesman says the water department thought the event was a bad idea at a time when conservation is being promoted. The parks department objected to using chlorinated water on plants and grass.
DUMP TRUCK DRIVERS DISCIPLINED FOR NOISY PROTEST: LOS ANGELES (AP) — More than 100 sanitation workers have been reprimanded for circling trucks at a noisy Los Angeles protest.
The head of the city’s Bureau of Sanitation said that 102 workers received warnings they could face stiffer consequences if it happens again.
Dozens of dump trucks honked their horns as they drove around downtown July 1 to protest “predatory” bank fees paid by the city. The protest was sponsored by Fix L.A., an advocacy group with labor connections.
A group spokesman said drivers wanted city leaders to “hold Wall Street accountable to taxpayers and fund neighborhood needs.”
Councilman Bernard Parks, who demanded an investigation of city vehicle use during the protest, said the workers should have received stiffer penalties for abandoning their jobs.
WOMAN KILLED BY SUV IN SAN FRANCISCO’S CHINATOWN: SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — San Francisco police say a driver is in custody after a pedestrian was struck and killed by a sport utility vehicle in the city’s popular Chinatown district.
Officer Albie Esparza, a San Francisco police spokesman, says the driver was arrested Saturday on suspicion of vehicular manslaughter after an elderly woman was hit by an SUV near the well-traveled Stockton Tunnel shortly before 10 a.m.
Police shut down the tunnel and surrounding streets for several hours following the accident. The cause of the incident remains under investigation.
BROWN SIGNS BILL ON CAR SURCHARGE FOR BIKE LANES: SACRAMENTO (AP) — Gov. Jerry Brown has signed a bill allowing local governments to impose a vehicle registration surcharge to pay for bike lanes and trails.
The governor’s office said in a statement that Brown signed the bill in Sacramento on Saturday.
It lets cities, counties or regional park districts to impose an annual vehicle registration surcharge of up to $5 to pay for local bike lanes and trails.
The surcharge can be imposed until Jan. 1, 2025.
Opponents argued that drivers should not have to pay for trails and lanes for cyclists.
GOV. BROWN SIGNS CLEAN-AIR VEHICLE LEGISLATION: SACRAMENTO (AP) — Gov. Jerry Brown signed into law several bills designed to boost use of clean-air vehicles in California.
One bill signed Sunday allows 15,000 additional electric and partial zero-emissions vehicles, or 70,000 total vehicles, to get green stickers that allow driving in carpool lanes even when solo.
Another requires freeway high-occupancy toll lane operators to allow clean air vehicles to drive for free or reduced rates. Such roads exist in Orange and Riverside counties, and the San Francisco area.
Another bill requires a property owner, rather than the person leasing it, to install an electric vehicle charging station and its infrastructure in most cases.
California makes up 40 percent of the nation’s electric vehicle sales and the governor’s press office says it surpassed more than 100,000 sold earlier this month.
SMOKE FROM WILDFIRE CANCELS IRONMAN TAHOE EVENTS: SOUTH LAKE TAHOE (AP) — Ironman races in Lake Tahoe were canceled on Sunday due to smoke and unhealthy air quality from a northern California wildfire.
Ironman Lake Tahoe and Ironman 70.3 Lake Tahoe operations manager Keats McGonigal said the mood was “somber” when the decision was announced.
McGonigal says it was made for the safety of 3,000 entrants, as well as spectators and volunteers.
There were no plans to reschedule.
World Triathlon Corp. says the cancellation followed recommendations from California and Placer County health officials.
Placer County air pollution officer Tom Christofk says in a statement that sensors in Squaw Valley, Tahoe City, Kings Beach and Truckee recorded high levels of particulate matter.
He says the source was the King Fire, covering more than 128 square miles some 60 miles east of Sacramento.
