Is The Mayor Serious on Public Transit?
Allen Mittelstaedt writing at CityBeat de-constructs Mayor V's press conference (the one where he accused the LA Times' Steve Hymon of raining on his parade) about extending the Purple Line Subway to Santa Monica.Mittelstaedt takes Villaraigosa to task for not staging the photo op at least at the terminus of the Purple Line at Wilshire and Western, for not working simultaneously with Zev Yarovslasky to end his subway funding ban (while getting Henry Waxman to remove his construction ban) and for not collaborating with the leaders of other cities on the line's route, such as former Santa Monica Mayor Denny Zane (no relation to Dennis Zine).
What was Allen thinking? That the Mayor actually had a plan and wasn't looking to get his picture taken?
Labels: Allen Mittelstaedt, denny zane, henry waxman, los angeles politics, mayor antonio villaraigosa, Purple Line, zev yarovslasky
Posted by Mayor Sam @ 12/27/2007 12:59:00 AM
30 Comments:
The region (particularly Los Angeles and Orange counties) continued to experience the highest level of congestion among the largest metropolitan areas in the nation.
The report card is a companion piece of The State of the Region 2007 report published by Southern California Association of Government (SCAG).
Mobility Report Card:
2002
D-
2003
D-
2004
F
2005
F
2006
D-
SCAG - The State of the Region 2007 - Report Card.
http://www.scag.ca.gov/publications/pdf/2007/SOTR07/SOTR07_ReportCard.pdf
SCAG - The State of the Region 2007 - Full Report.
http://www.scag.ca.gov/publications/pdf/2007/SOTR07/SOTR07_FullReport_lores.pdf
SCAG - The State of the Region 2007 Report Card.
http://www.scag.ca.gov/
publications/pdf/2007/
SOTR07/SOTR07_ReportCard.pdf
SCAG - The State of the Region 2007 Full Report.
http://www.scag.ca.gov/
publications/pdf/2007/SOTR07/
SOTR07_FullReport_lores.pdf
I heard Villaraigosa political operative Michael Trujillo has a mama who works for Zev Yaraslovsky?
Is that true? What does she so?
Seems odd given Zev's combative relationship with Meat's mama.
D D D F F F D D
And the solution is more trains???
You people are delusional.
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6:32, so far the free market solution has been more cars on ever bigger highways at taxpayer expense.
And look what it's got us.
I'll take my delusion over yours any day.
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8:46 am/8:47 am (same person),
For the record, does anyone ever remember ZD calling Antonio Viagraosa anything like that?
But:
Loserosa
Viagraosa
Douchearosa
Onetermarosa...
maybe!
(Doesn't this guy work for the City? Thanks for demonstrating the quality of personnel at City Hall. Oh no...this is going to reflect badly on your boss. I hope he knows what you are up to today.
I'll send you a little message. YOU'LL KNOW!
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The mayoral spinners are doing a good job of making this about Jim Alger, Zuma Dogg and Mitch Englander when only one of those guys actually is on the blog. Great way to take the focus off the Mayor!
9:38 am, astute observation. i thought Jack Hoff was only two people. who's the third? the two guys i'm thinking of don't actually work for city hall. is the third guy that politically weak loser who spins for Villar on the third floor, who is about to become a "free agent" any minute?
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Foolish me, and here I was actually commenting on a post about mass transit...
That damn midget mayor should build a brown line to tijuana, mexico. We need ot ship all the mexicans across the border and that will eliminate major traffic congestion.
Let's build a rapid transit train to mexico, that would solve many problems.
Go get a life, you tragic clown.
Canio!
Alright kids - time to stay on topic! I've deleted a ton of messages that didn't at least mention one thing that had to do with this post.
That's the first time in over two years I've had a comment deleted. I take no offense.
As for 6:32, I guess if you were around in the 1880's, we would still have livery stables downtown rather than other less olfactorily offensive businesses. The point I'm trying to make is that 6:32 doesn't seem to want trains, but rather more "global warming" buses.
There's a saying that goes something like "car owners support public transportation only if it will get others out of their cars and make it easier to get around for those who continue to drive."
Could it perhaps be that the source of most of our traffic congestion can be seen every day by looking in the mirror?
Just like Tom Bradley was critized for wanting the subway so is Tony V. But now it costs are way way too much. Make more bike lanes which is cheaper. Stop the billions of dollars being wasted for more subways or least stop the one going to the ocean.
Put that money instead into moving traffic better.
The last time I tried to bike to and from the kids' schools, grocery shopping, gymboree and then home with all those bags (darn, forgot the insulated bag and the ice cream melted), the two kids cried a lot and begged me to use the car, just like the other moms, but I told them to just shut up and think about how they were helping the environment.
Damn, those 2 year olds can be dense, let alone the 4-month old baby. I did get some looks as he was clenched to my breast nursing, but I glared at those busybodies, superior in my knowledge that I was not only helping the environment but my baby, too, by nursing him.
When it started to rain, the little buggers really started to howl, and couldn't grasp the fun of it, and I have to admit, I started not having so much fun, either, when it got really cold and dark. Not fair, it's dark by five these days, what are we, farmers who get up at dawn?
By then, quite a few people started looking at me all mean-like, and one even said she'd report me to child services for child abuse since those little buggers were bawling their heads off and looked cold and likely to catch pneumonia.
"F-k you, bitch," I screamed at her. "Can't you see I'm doing this for you?"
But if we had an extensive subway system, I'd take it.
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7:54 -- point well taken.
This is where the "family car" comes in for us.
A few weeks back, I took the Orange Line to the Red Line to the Gold Line and then caught a bus into El Monte. I made good time for a meeting (during morning rush hour), but I wouldn't put my kids through that. Ever. At any age.
Just an observation, long subway routes are preferable to a bunch of short connector trips -- too much can go wrong.
I got hung out to dry in Burbank on a Sunday trying to catch a bus back into NoHo. Not one of the mta bus drivers had any info about the bus that, even tho it was scheduled on the mta website and in my itinerary for the day, never showed up. Los Angeles: World Class city, Third World transportation system...
Jack Hoff, know what you mean about the kids. I live in the hills around Benedict Canyon, where there's no bus service down to Sunset Blvd. or if there is, I've never seen it. Even the maids drive uphill or demand to be driven down to the bus stop near the Beverly Hills Hotel.
There's so much traffic along Sunset that if there were a way to get to Brentwood and the flats of Beverly Hills for my kids' turoring and karate and all that stuff, I'd do it. But the buses are just not extensive enough, and as it is, the line is called "the Maid's line" and the kids would die being seen on the bus. Plus am I supposed to carry karate and gym and snack and book bags? Nothing like parking near where you are and using the car as a suitcase, getting what you need as you need it.
These people telling us to ride bikes and leave the second/ mom car at home (which includes Mike Woo, Ed Reyes and the Planning dept. who want to cut out parking from new residences) -- should be forced to be Moms for a Month and then think again.
But in New York or Paris or London or Prague etc., subways are so much more convenient and faster than stalled traffic that everyone does it sometime. And if the proposed LA route gets built, it would make sense to park the car along the route somewhere and jump on -- maybe not with a baby and toddler, but with any kids who can walk, or can fall asleep in a stroller.
I had great trips with babies to Tokyo and Singapore, where they can fall asleep in the stroller and stay there on the subway and wherever you go.
Worst thing: Tokyo and lots of old cities have NO escalators so you'll have to carry the kid and stroller down the huge staircases sometimes. Same for handicapped in wheelchairs.
Let's see...if we don't spend money on subways or rail or buses and instead use it to "get the traffic moving," what can we actually do?
We can synchronize all the lights on the major arteries...oh, wait, the City's already working on that.
We can find other ways to make those arteries flow more smoothly during peak hours, like removing impediments...oh, wait, the City's been doing that for years and has already proposed some more ideas (that some people don't like).
So, what can we REALLY do with all that money (assuming anyone will give it to us if we're not doing something demonstrably constructive with it)? Well, we can keep widening streets at great expense, knocking down or paving over homes, businesses, sidewalks and yards in the process, arguably destroying the very communities we profess to treasure so much.
It's easy to keep saying "put that money into moving traffic better" without having a clue as to what it means. It's quite another thing to actually come up with some good ideas that might actually work and do the whole city, not just some pigheaded drivers, some good.
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