That’s why the news that building L.A.’s Subway to the Sea would only relieve traffic congestion by 1 percent doesn’t disappoint me at all. Once that subway gets built, it’s bye-bye to fighting traffic — and hello to hopping on a subway train that’ll get me from Union Station to UCLA — in just 25 minutes.

The 1 percent statistic was announced as part of the Draft Environmental Impact Statement/ Environmental Impact Report for the Westside Subway Extension — or to put it in layperson’s terms, a draft study of how extending the Purple Line down Wilshire (and perhaps the Red Line through West Hollywood and Beverly Hills too) all the way to the beach would affect the city.

Even if you’re a diehard driver, there are good selfish reasons to support the Westside Subway Extension. Think a 1 percent improvement’s too measly an improvement to be worth pursuing? Zach Behrens at LAist points out that without the subway, traffic will get a whole lot worse instead of very slightly better: “Population growth means more vehicles on the road. Metro estimates about a 26% increase in daily vehicle miles traveled within the westside subway extension area.”

Ready to start riding the subway? Well, it’ll be a little while. Steve Hymon at Metro’s The Source blog spells out just how long you may have to wait:

Under the long-range plan adopted by the Board of Directors of Metro last year, the subway would reach Fairfax by 2019, Century City by 2026 and Westwood by 2036 using a combination of Measure R sales tax money and federal funds. Why so long? Because the subway to Westwood is expected to cost about $4 billion and sales tax money flows into local coffers over time — not all at once. Measure R funds also have to fund a plethora of other projects promised to county voters.

However, there is a plan to speed up construction of the subway. The 30/10 Initiative being pursued by Metro — and backed by many other politicians, environmental, business and labor groups — would use federal loans and other financing to try to build 12 Measure R transit projects in the next 10 years. So there’s hope.

Want to help get the subway built sooner rather than later? Then you’ve got to get involved with making the Westside Subway Extension a reality. Read the executive summary of the draft EIR (PDF) — or if that 64-page PDF is just too painful, read Steve’s quick bullet points about the report at The Source.

Then get thee to one of the public meetings about the draft EIR! Those will happen from 6 pm – 8 pm on:

>> Mon., Sep. 20, LACMA West – Terrace Room, 5th Fl., 5905 Wilshire Blvd., Los Angeles.

>> Tue., Sep. 21, Westwood United Methodist Church – Fellowship Hall, 3rd Fl., 10497 Wilshire Blvd., Los Angeles

>> Wed., Sep. 22, Plummer Park – Community Center, 7377 Santa Monica Blvd., West Hollywood.

>> Mon., Sep. 27, Roxbury Park – Auditorium, 471 S Roxbury Dr., Beverly Hills.

>> Wed., Sep. 29, Santa Monica Main Library, 601 Santa Monica Blvd., Santa Monica.

After Metro collects feedback until Oct. 18, Metro officials will select a route for construction on Oct. 28 — after which will come a final environmental impact report, followed by actual action to start building the subway (the process is more complicated than I’ve made it sound; see page 2 of the executive summary for the wonky details).

Earlier: Find out what the Subway to the Sea stations near you will look like

Images via Metro

Thanks to the growing interest in local, organic food, Angelenos can suddenly pick from a wealth of community supported agriculture programs with locations all over the metropolis. CSA programs basically let you invest in a local farm — for which you’re rewarded with weekly boxes of fresh local produce grown from that farm.

Some of the programs below have stretched that definition of the CSA a bit, to pool produce from more than one organic local farm, for example. Still, the general goal — to connect you to local, seasonal produce and the farms and farmers around you — remains the same. Your options:

CSA California
Cost: $25 for about 15 lbs of produce
Pick-up locations: Downtown Los Angeles, Mar Vista, North Hollywood, Santa Monica, Topanga, Valley Village, West LA (at Fairfax High), Westchester.

I tried out CSA California — and loved the delicious strawberries. This new, quickly-expanding CSA program gets most of its produce from Tutti Frutti, a certified organic farm in Carpinteria.

Take your own reusable bag — or else you’ll get your produce in a paper Trader Joe’s bag. The service requires an initial commitment of at least four weeks — though after pre-paying for the first four weeks, you can then pay for each week on site. Delivery service is available — but it sounds like you have to get 9 other neighbors to also sign up for delivery in order to make this happen.

South Central Farmers.
Cost: $15 a box — for a lot of produce (see Dave Bullock’s photo of the loot)
Pick-up locations: Culver City, Downtown L.A., Hollywood, Lawndale, Leimert Park, Long Beach, Pasadena, Santa Monica, Sherman Oaks, Silver Lake, South Pasadena, Watts, Westwood

The now-famous South Central Farmers travel to a farm in Bakersfield to grow produce — then bring it back to sell it to Angelenos. The user-friendly website lets you buy by the week, month, or season — and even pay by Paypal.

Tierra Miguel Foundation
Cost: Roughly $45 per 15 – 20 lb box per week.
Pick-up locations: Altadena, Burbank, Cheviot Hills, Claremont, Costa Mesa, Downtown L.A., Echo Park, Glendale, Granada Hills, Highland Park, Long Beach, Manhattan Beach, Mar Vista, Newport Beach, Pasadena, Torrance, Valley Village, Van Nuys, and more.

Biodynamic farming fans can get all their produce from an organic, biodynamic farm in Pauma Valley, Calif., run by the nonprofit Tierra Miguel Foundation. See Jill Doughtie’s post at Eye Level Pasadena for a closer look at what the Tierra Miguel deliveries look like.

Perhaps the best-known CSA program in the area, the downsides to this program include the lack of exact pickup location info on the website, cumbersome sign-up process (you have to mail in a form) and the higher up front cost that requires to pay $700 in advance for each season. However, you can join mid-season at a prorated cost or get a two box trial for $90.

Abundant Harvest Organics
Cost: $19.80 for a box “that will feed one to two people” for a week; $33.80 for a box that’ll feed a family of 4 for a week.
Pick-up locations: Downtown L.A., Hollywood, Malibu, Pacific Palisades, Topanga, Valencia, Woodland Hills

Abundant Harvest Organics gets its produce from local family farms — profiled in detail on the AHO website — though some produce comes from the Coachella Valley region, depending on the season. You can easily add on to your box extras like raw milk, eggs, and chicken at whole sale prices.

Silver Lake Farms CSA.
Cost: $20 for a box of produce
Pick-up locations: Silver Lake and Beachwood Canyon

Launched late last year, Silver Lake Farms CSA gets all its vegetables very locally, from one Farmer John in Echo Park and Tara, veggie grower at Silver Lake Farms. Become a member by contacting Tara at info@silverlakefarms.com or 323-644-3700. One downside: These CSA boxes are fruitless, at least until L.A. laws are changed to allow for sale of locally-grown fruit. Upside: Tara posts recipes for current CSA box ingredients on her blog!

Napa Valley Grille (PDF)
Cost: Roughly $35 a week for a box enough to feed two for a week.
Pick-up location: Westwood

This brand new CSA program’s run by Chef Joseph Gillard of eco-minded restaurant Napa Valley Grille in Westwood, where CSA members will need to pick up their boxes every Wednesday. The produce, grown by organic standards, comes from Country Fresh Herbs’s two farms in Tarzana and Somis. You will need to pay up front: $520 per thirteen-week season ($455 for winter) — or $1900 for the whole year. An extra bonus for this CSA’s members: A seasonal farm dinner will be held for all participants at the farm and Napa Valley Grille!

J.R. Organics Farm
Cost: Roughly $24 per box of produce — each enough to feed a family of 4 — plus a $20 one-time fee.
Pick-up locations: Mar Vista, Santa Monica

Get all your produce from an organic farm in Escondido. Because J.R. Organics also sells at booths at local farmers’ markets, customers who pick up from those locations can trade in items for other fruits or veggies they like better. 98%+ of the produce in the CSA boxes are grown at the J.R. Organics Farm, but some of the fruits come from other local, organic farmers.

You do need to sign up for a longer-term membership and pay up front, but trial 4-box memberships start at just $94 — plus a $10 non-refundable administrative fee and a $10 refundable box deposit. J.R. Organics also offers flower shares at $10 per bouquet, if you’d like seasonal, fresh, locally-grown flowers delivered with your CSA box.

Old Chimney Farm.
Cost: Roughly $30 for about a dozen servings of produce
Pick-up locations: Delivered to your doorstep in Malibu!

If you live in Malibu, this is about as local and convenient as you can get. Get your weekly box of produce direct from a local 8-acre permaculture farm — delivered to your doorstep every Tuesday between 4-6pm. This brand new CSA requires a seasonal commitment ($360 for a 12 week season). Sign up now — Only 7 spaces are left, and deliveries begin June 22!

CSU Farm Fresh Produce Bag Subscription Program .
Cost: $10 to $12 for a bag of produce for 1 – 2 people
Pick-up locations: Thursday Farm Stand at EXPO, 3980 Menlo Ave., Los Angeles

For low income or bargain seekers who live near USC, this CSA program sounds the most affordable, though I haven’t actually seen a $10 bag to see how much Community Services Unlimited — a nonprofit community organization based in South L.A. — deems is enough produce for 1 – 2 people. If the produce isn’t enough, you can opt for the larger $20 bag — still a great deal, considering the fact that the very local produce comes from CSU’s urban mini-farms and local farmers.

Subscribe for a minimum of four weeks. And if you’re a well-heeled locavore, consider paying the “supporter rate” — $12 for a small bag, $24 for a large — to help out your local farmers.

Amy’s Farm CSA
Cost: $20 for 6 – 9 varieties of produce.
Location: Claremont, South Ontario

This cute CSA program gets its produce from Amy’s Farm, a program of the nonprofit Southern California Agricultural Land Foundation that seeks “equitable access to healthy food” and “preservation of local space to grow this food.” According to the website, “A large percentage of Amy’s Farm produce is donated to local food banks and shelters.”

Farm Box LA
Cost: $50 for enough fruits, veggies, and herbs to feed 1-2 people a week
Delivery area: Most parts of Los Angeles County.

I’ve tried this service — and love it — but find it too expensive. That said, here’s one very local company that provides very personalized service. Farm Box L.A. is run by an L.A. woman called Reysha Fryzer, who personally picks up produce from local farms at the Hollywood Farmers Market — and delivers them to your doorstep in a big reusable plastic box.

Expect top notch service — from box contents and unique recipes on the Farm Box LA blog, to details on the exact farms your produce is coming from, to a veggie pickling service for $10 a jar if you can’t finish the entire box’s contents. If you can pay for it and could use the tips and help, the service is a uniquely handy one.

Auntie Em’s Delivery
Cost: $42 for 13 -15 types of produce, enough to feed 2 for a week.
Delivery area: Eagle Rock, Silver Lake, Glendale, Pasadena, Santa Monica, Hollywood, West L.A., Downtown L.A.

Can’t be bothered to pick-up local organic produce yourself? Get it delivered via Auntie Em’s Delivery, which buys local, organic produce from Santa Monica, Pasadena, Hollywood, and South Pasadena farmers’ markets as well as some local farms. Delivery doesn’t come cheap though, since in addition to the higher-than-average produce prices, you’ll need to fork up a refundable $60 deposit — and be ready to pay a $10 fee every time you forget to leave out the reusable delivery boxes by 6 am in the morning.

Still, you can’t beat Auntie Em’s on convenience. In addition to the produce, you can add on prepared meals, desserts, cheeses, and other grocery items — like Truffled Mac and Cheese with Spring Peas or frozen pie dough — for an extra charge.

Farm Fresh to You
Cost: $31.50 for a box enough for “4 people or a couple that enjoys cooking.”
Pick-up location: Delivered to doorsteps all over the L.A. area!

I tried this CSA delivery service — and am still using it today. Don’t have the time — or don’t want to drive — to pick you your CSA box? Farm Fresh to You will deliver to your door local produce picked within less than 48 hours — if you’re willing to expand your definition of local produce to include those grown 90 miles northeast of San Francisco in Capay Valley. The produce comes from such various and far away farms that this program toes the line between a CSA program and a less farm-specific organic produce delivery service.

Still, customers can select the “Capay Valley Organic Service,” and all your produce will come from farms in Capay Organic Valley. You also have the option of going for the “Regular Organic Service” for more variety — but then some of your produce will be sourced from even farther away — including from farms outside California. The flexible program lets you opt for veggies only, fruits only, or bigger boxes.

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Tried any of these CSAs? Share your experience in the comments. Still can’t find a CSA with a pick-up location you can walk or bike to? Almost all of the above options are open to adding on new pick-up locations. You’ll just need to do the work of getting neighbors interested, finding an appropriate pick-up spot, and coordinating with the CSA.

Earlier:
>> Organic produce delivery in L.A.
>> Organic fruits and veggies, simplified
>> Organic meals, delivered in Los Angeles
>> Spud: Organic food delivery with a food mile calculator
>> Hacks for Locavores

Top photo of CSA California’s box contents by Siel; bottom photo of Tierra Miguel CSA box by Jill Doughtie

>> Hear from a panel of eco-conscious restaurant entrepreneurs at Sustainable Business Council L.A.’s Fiscally Green Cuisine event. There’ll be live demos and yummy appetizers made by the chefs at Border Grill, Grace, Real Food Daily, Juliano’s RAW, Cinnamon Vegetarian Restaurant, and Euphoria Loves Rawvolution. It all happens Thurs., April 1 from 7 pm – 10 pm at the Valcucine DOM, 9030 Wilshire Blvd., Beverly Hills. Cost: $25. Online RSVP required.

>> Catch a free screening of What’s On Your Plate?, a documentary about kids and food politics. Post-screening will be a Q&A panel featuring filmmaker Catherine Gund, film star Sadie Hope-Gund, and actors/activists Ed Begley, Jr. and Esai Morales. The screening happens Thurs., April 1 at 7 pm at The Hammer Museum. Tickets are free and available 1 hour before the screening begins.

>> Love peanut butter and jelly sandwiches?  National Peanut Butter and Jelly Day happens Friday, April 2. The PB&J Campaign people celebrate this day as one when people are encouraged to ditch their more carbon intensive, conventional meat sandwiches to opt instead for a tasty vegetarian lunch sandwich that’s simple to prepare too!

>> Honor SoCal women bicyclists and watch the L.A. premier of Women of Dirt at an event that’ll raise funds for cycling advocacy groups. There’ll be cycling celebs, raffles, two cash bars — and a VIP cocktail party with a fashion show if you go for the $100 VIP deal. Regular tickets cost just $10. It all happens on Sat., April 3 from 7 – 9 pm at Cinespace Hollywood, 6356 Hollywood Blvd., Los Angeles.

>> Hear Anna Lappé discuss Diet for a Hot Planet, her new book, along with Border Grill owner Mary Sue Milliken. The free event happens Thurs., April 8, with a book signing at 6:30 and the main event happening from 7 pm – 9 pm at the Santa Monica Main Public Library, 601 Santa Monica Blvd., Santa Monica.

>> Bike Night at the Hammer means a free vegan food, free museum admission, live music from Dobrega and Fusion, a screenings of Pee Wee’s Big Adventure and a series of bike-related short films, and a mysterious surprise guest! It’s all free — including the bike valet — so I strongly suggest you get there early to ensure you get in. Bike Night begins Thurs., April 8 at 7 pm at the Hammer Museum,

Image via hotrichandgreen.com

Napa Valley Grille (PDF)
Cost: Roughly $35 a week for a box enough to feed two for a week.
Pick-up location: Westwood

This brand new CSA program’s run by Chef Joseph Gillard of eco-minded restaurant Napa Valley Grille in Westwood, where CSA members will need to pick up their boxes every Wednesday. The produce, grown by organic standards, comes from Country Fresh Herbs’s two farms in Tarzana and Somis. You will need to pay up front: $520 per thirteen-week season ($455 for winter) — or $1900 for the whole year. An extra bonus for this CSA’s members: A seasonal farm dinner will be held for all participants at the farm and Napa Valley Grille! (via Vital Juice)

Farm Fresh to You
Cost: $31.50 for a box enough for “4 people or a couple that enjoys cooking.”
Pick-up location: Delivered to doorsteps all over the L.A. area!

Don’t have the time — or don’t want to drive — to pick you your CSA box? Farm Fresh to You will deliver to your door local produce picked within less than 48 hours — if you’re willing to expand your definition of local produce to include those grown 90 miles northeast of San Francisco in Capay Valley. The produce comes from such various and far away farms that this program toes the line between a CSA program and a less farm-specific organic produce delivery service.

Still, customers can select the “Capay Valley Organic Service,” and all your produce will come from farms in Capay Organic Valley. You also have the option of going for the “Regular Organic Service” for more variety — but then some of your produce will be sourced from even farther away — including from farms outside California. The flexible program lets you opt for veggies only, fruits only, or bigger boxes.
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I’ll soon update my original post about CSA programs in Los Angeles so you can have all the current CSA info in one place! Know one I missed? Let me know now –

Update, 2/25/10: As promised, Locavoring in a box: Organic CSAs in Los Angeles has now been updated with the new CSAs, latest prices, and added locations.

Photo of South Central Farmers CSA box contents by Dave Bullock (eecue)

The mood at the west coast premier of The Yes Men Fix the World in Los Angeles last night was jubilant! Angelenos who turned out for the free screening enjoyed happy hour at the Hammer museum while dancing with two Survivaballs bouncing around the courtyard — before heading in to see the film about performance-activists playing high-profile pranks for socially progressive causes.

And the film didn’t disappoint. The Yes Men Fix the World kicks off with the pranksters impersonating a Dow Chemical spokesperson — on the 20th anniversary of the Bhopal disaster, when thousands died from a chemical leak created by the now-Dow-owned Union Carbide. The “spokesperson” announced to millions of viewers that Dow would liquidate Union Carbide’s assets and pay out $12 billion to compensate the victims and clean up the environmental mess still in Bhopal:

Thanks to that hijinks, Dow’s stock took a $2 billion hit. And while many environmentalists must have been happy to see Dow’s stock price go down, The Yes Men decided that the reason Dow doesn’t do right by the people Bhopal is because the company gets punished for doing good. The rules of the game had to change — so The Yes Men started going after the government.

You’ve probably seen some of The Yes Men’s recent tricks towards that end, since the pranksters have both successfully impersonated the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and chased down Senator Arlen Specter in the last week or so. The Yes Men Fix the World covers some similar pranks — including impersonating of a U.S. Housing and Urban Development official at the Gulf Coast Reconstruction Conference, distributing fake, more hopeful copies of The New York Times, and more.

While the film’s hilarious, The Yes Men’s message is serious. During the post-screening Q&A, Yes Man Andy Bichlbaum urged that we, as concerned citizens, need to start taking to the streets, Earth Days style. Obama’s getting a lot of industry pressure to do the wrong thing, Andy pointed out, and he needs pressure from us to support better decisions, whether it’s for health care reform or climate change legislation.

Towards that end, The Yes Men are behind BeyondTalk.net, a website that lets you sign up to take direct, nonviolent action — even risking arrest — during the Copenhagen Climate Talks this December.

Are you ready to go beyond talk? The Yes Men Fix the World will start playing in L.A. at two Laemmle theaters on Nov. 6.

BikingInLA calls this abhorrence “the world’s first crosswalk where no pedestrians are allowed — despite the presence of a working pedestrian signal.” How do Bruins deal with these confusing messages?

Earlier: DOT Wants to Remove Crosswalks to Protect Pedestrians.

Update: Thanks to the work of Damien at Streetsblog LA, the offending no pedestrian sign has now been removed.

Photo via BikingInLA

More specifically, this lane’s on Gayley in Westwood — and runs just 275 feet long!

Yes, this bike lane’s stupid, but surely there are stupider ones even in L.A. alone?

My main beef with bike routes, however, have to do with bike paths, not lanes. Just putting a lil sign that says “share the road” does not make make the crazy freeway-bound traffic on Lincoln safe to ride in!

Answer: I’m happy to recommend restaurants you might possibly patronize. But first, as a native, I feel duty-bound to inform you that west L.A.’s not the same area as West Hollywood. The latter is its own city, perhaps best known for its friendly gay population and the home of the recent protests against Prop 8. West Hollywood has its own cops, its own recycling system, and its own gigantic Whole Foods.

West L.A., on the other hand, is a rather amorphous area of the city of Los Angeles that I generally think of as the area right around Beverly Hills (also its own city), but also serves as a catch-all descriptor for any in-between ‘hoods section of L.A. west of Fairfax (for ex, the section between Westwood and Santa Monica).

That 2-paragraph layout of the west side will make sense to you once you move here, unless you’re my friend Summer, who’s lived in Santa Monica for 3 years but still isn’t quite sure where Westwood is (why leave the beach when you don’t have to?).

Anyway, lemme move on to your actual question about good eats. Here are my recommendations:

For fast food, try Native Foods, a yummy vegan joint in Westwood or O! Burger, an all-organic burger place in West Hollywood (left).

For an order at the counter, stake out a table kind of place, try Urth Caffe in Beverly Hills or West Hollywood, or the newer Greenleaf Gourmet Chopshop (right) in Beverly Hills if you’d like wine or beer.

For a casual sit down meal, go to The Abbey in West Hollywood or Le Pain Quotidien in Beverly Hills, Westwood, or West Hollywood.

Readers — Have other recommendations for Eric? Leave them in the comments —

>> The Natural History Museum of LA County apparently has a new green series, dubbed Sustainable Sundays. The next event — though the website hasn’t been updated with the info yet — is a talk titled “The Power to Sustain: The Scientific Challenges in Sustainable Energy,” featuring CalTech’s Dr. Nathan Lewis along with reps from LA DWP and American Chemical Society. That’s happening Sunday, Oct. 12, 2008, 12:30 pm at NHM, 900 Exposition Blvd., Los Angeles. (Thanks for the tip, Siobhan!)

>> Santa Monica nonprofit Sustainable Works — known for its inexpensive Residential Greening Program and Green Business Certification — is having its first ever fundraiser with beer and wine, organic and local eatas, KCRW DJ Anthony Valadez, an eco-auction, and an awards ceremony. That happens Thursday, Oct. 16, 2008, from 6 pm – 11 pm at Bergamot Station Arts Center: Writers Boot Camp, 2525 Michigan Ave., Bldg. I. Cost: A tax-deductible $75, which includes a Sustainable Works Annual Membership — the benefits of which are unclear. Buy them in advance by emailing harrison_lisa@smc.edu.

>> Bike Town Beta happens Saturday, October 25 from 6 pm – 10 pm in Westwood Village, Los Angeles!

>> Green Speed Dating in Culver City happens Sunday, Oct. 26!

>> The Disney Go Green! National Day of Action, organized by Center for Health, Environment & Justice, will urge Disney parks, hotels, and restaurants to use green cleaning products — by encouraging people to throw “parties” during which people make green products. I seriously question whether this tactic will be popular or effective, but in any case, the action day’s Oct. 29.

Bike Town Beta is a unique bike ride and social gathering. We will be transforming a small urban area into a mini bike town for a night. Simply ride your bike around the area meandering up and down every street. Make stops to patronize businesses, enjoy parks, and chat with other riders.

When: Saturday, October 25, 2008 from 6 pm – 10 pm
Where: In the area bound by Wilshire, Galey, Westwood, and Le Conte in Westwood Village, Los Angeles

I’m trying to get more details from Alec Schwartz, the organizer, about how this first — and hopefully not last — Bike Town Beta is coming together. In the meantime, put the event in your calendar!