Slowly to the Sea
Feb 07, 2010
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I'm so thrilled. After years of NIMBYism, supported by the hypocritical likes of Henry Waxman, the Metropolitan Transit Authority approved the subway to the sea. Well, it's more rail to the sea as we are talking about a light-rail line. Although one neighborhood, Cheviot Hills, fought tooth and nail against the project (even though the line wouldn't run through their neighborhood), it looks like expanded mass transit in LA is going to happen.This Phase Two will run from Culver City to Santa Monica, just short of the pier. It is not the favored leg for which many were hoping; going under Wilshire would have been ideal, but there is a chance that leg still has a chance.
Many dismiss the necessity of rail, saying that LA's buses work fine. That screams elitism to me. Buses are not fine if you have to take them from East LA to the West Side. One attitude in LA I find disturbing is the belief many spout about public transportation: "it's okay to take, as long as I don't have to take it." There will still be a need for buses, but rail will make LA easier to navigate around, and may even encourage Angelinos to explore outside their home neighborhoods!
The beauty of living in high density cities like New York, Chicago, London, Seoul, and Tokyo--and to an extent, San Francisco and Washington, is that it is easy to hop the subway and enjoy the evenings with friends, family, or colleagues in a completely different part of town. That lifestyle in Los Angeles is impossible. Most folks here, after a day of commuting, hardly want to leave their homes and drive from Santa Monica to downtown for a play--or vice versa for a night at the beach.
It's a shame. More mass transit will reduce pollution, decrease our thirst for oil, and let's just face it--make us healthier. I don't care whether this makes Mayor Antonio more or less popular; it just needs to be done.
But it'll take time. When I lived in the Bay Area, I remember the BART extension opening to the SFO airport, which took about 30 years. Ridership was agonizingly slow for months to the point that some fretted the project was a boondoggle. Now Bay Area folks are thankful for the service and cannot imagine getting to the airport without it.
Now they just need rail to LAX. Check back in 2030.
