By John McColgan Santa Monica
The March 31,2008 article “Grow Smart and Avoid State Parks” by Bill Bauer has me confused. He criticizes the grow smart proposal to make streets smaller in order to accommodate mass transit, bikes and pedestrians as Utopian nonsense. He states that we need to make things more accommodating for cars, not less, in order to relieve traffic grid lock. An opinion I agree with. Save us from the Utopians. They have a unique talent for taking a bad situation and turning it into a complete disaster. Hey, but what the hell? They mean well.
Getting back to Bauer’s article. In the second half he derides Gov. Schwarzenegger for proposing to build a toll highway through San Onofre State Beach to “accommodate more cars.” He even characterizes the governor as quote “another cheap politician doing political favors for big money developers and special interests instead of caring about the people and the environment.” This the same type of rhetoric that the grow smart types use. I’m not crazy about intruding into state parks but is there a better alternative for relieving the intolerable traffic congestion? I’d love to hear about it …. So which is it? I’m confused. Will the real Bill Bauer please stand up.
Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on April 2, 2008. Read the original PDF.