MANY PEOPLE THINK THAT MASS transit is the answer to future traffic woes. Maybe and maybe not.
The best way to get people out of private vehicles is to offer public transit that’s timely, cost efficient, safe and clean. Such a transit system should have its own dedicated right of way such as light rail and/or underground subways — not impacted by surface street traffic — and that runs frequently, consistently and on time.
If public transit is going to work, cheap commuter parking must be available. Commuters who live many blocks away from transit stations must be able to park before they can ride.
A couple of years ago when serving on jury duty in downtown Los Angeles, I rode the Big Blue Bus’s Freeway Express which picked me up on Santa Monica Boulevard. Because the area near the bus stop has restricted parking for blocks around and there’s no long-term municipal lots, I had to walk six blocks from home to the bus stop.
It was “OK” for the week I was on jury duty, however a six-block walk would not be OK if I were working in Downtown L.A. and had to wear a business suit and carry a briefcase each day. Yet, the #10 Freeway Express is a clean, safe, timely and highly cost-effective means of getting from here to the heart of Los Angeles and a welcome alternative to the car — only if one lives close to a bus stop.
Cost of transit is also an issue. Tuesday night, City Council doubled the price of student fares and eliminated free local transfers. (Does that mean if I get on the LAX #3 Lincoln bus in Venice and have to transfer to the Montana Avenue/UCLA #3 bus, it’s going to cost me another 75-cents?) I don’t think Tuesday’s modest fare increases will have any impact on Big Blue’s ridership. But, on other municipal bus lines, when more substantial fare increases are implemented, declines in ridership result. This leads to cuts in schedules and even less riders. It’s a vicious circle the politicians need to stop if they expect a large percentage of us to give up our cars and clamber onto a bus regularly.
Riding a bicycle to work might be “OK” if work is a few blocks from home, but somehow I can’t see bicycling in a suit even from here to Westwood, let alone bicycling home from the local Ralph’s while juggling three bags of groceries and a twelve-pack of Mountain Dew.
Streets and boulevards are not “people places.” They’re for vehicular traffic. Public streets must be available to get us to work, school and shopping safely and in reasonable time. They’re not conveyances for social interaction. Only in Fantasyland does cutting street vehicle capacity speed up and improve traffic flow.
Suggestions by “Utopian” transit planners that city streets be narrower, bikeways be implemented and “traffic calming” obstacles be installed are fine only when there is a cheap, reliable, on-time transit system in place — maybe thirty years from now.
If you think Community Corporation of Santa Monica’s new public housing project on the 1400 block of Broadway is an eyesore, you’ll be pleased to know that its architects, Pugh + Scarpa, were just awarded a $115,500 contract by City Council to provide graphic and design improvements for three downtown parking garages.
Pugh + Scarpa will provide technical specifications for artwork, ceiling painting, signage, facade improvements and interior lighting and landscaping upgrades. I wonder if their designs will include recyclable beer and soda cans?
Pugh + Scarpa is also a member of the “Village at the Civic Center” design team. "The Village” is a proposed 325 unit housing complex which will contain 160 units of affordable housing and 20,000 square feet of commercial space being developed by The Related Companies of California on the former Rand property.
In addition to Pugh + Scarpa, another local architectural firm, Koning- Eisenberg Architects, is also on the Civic Center design team. K-E was the architectural firm for the refurbished Virginia Park and partner, Hank Koning, is on the City Planning Commission. Pugh + Scarpa principal, Gwynne Pugh is the Chair of the City’s Planning Commission. It’s nice to have friends in high places, ehhh?
Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on April 16, 2007. Read the original PDF.