A Los Angeles Public Press article about the delayed installation of thousands of bus shelters and hundreds of shade structures throughout Los Angeles cited Jacob Wasserman of the Institute of Transportation Studies (ITS) at UCLA Luskin. Although approved by the Los Angeles City Council in 2022, the 3,000 bus shelters and 450 shade structures have been held up while a number of California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) lawsuits are pending resolution. This type of delay is not unusual, according to Wasserman, a research program manager at ITS, noting that transportation projects such as new rail lines are often delayed by CEQA lawsuits. “It is often done by the vocal minority of people who don’t want a project — a housing development or a transit line. And I think it’s complicated,” he said. CEQA lawsuits are also a way for residents to challenge gentrification and displacement in their neighborhoods or force negotiation with developers, Wasserman pointed out.