It’s a simple technology, but there’s something magical about a funicular, no matter where you are in the world. Emanating from the Latin word for rope, a funicular is simply an inclined railway in which two cars, connected by a cable, move up and down a steep hillside, with the weight of each car counter-balancing [...]
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 [...]
Unless you have been asleep the last 50 years, you probably have heard that Los Angeles has a bit of a traffic problem. The glorification of the “car culture” has taken a toll on Angelinos and its visitors. Road rage is even more on the rampage, parking is a constant hassle, and residents who thought [...]
It’s Sunday afternoon, and after walking up and down Sunset Boulevard taking care of some errands, I’m sitting in our backyard with the view of Century City and the Wilshire Corridor in the far distance. I’ve grown to love that stretch of Wilshire, starting with the former Bullock’s department store (now Southwestern Law School), slicing [...]
Tuesday night, I took the Blue Line to the Long Beach Plug-in 2009 Conference in 2009. At first, I was excited to take the Metro Rail once again; earlier that morning, I had visited Pasadena for a meeting using the Gold Line. I kept wondering, “Why would anyone diss mass transit?” Well, when I finally [...]
Los Angeles has many issues surrounding its transportation woes, but rail is not, well, a total loss here. Folks outside of LA are often surprised when I mention that Los Angeles has a few local rail lines and a pretty extensive commuter train system. The system is not as extensive as we’d like, but as [...]
May I be blunt? We are so darned lucky to live in California. The weather’s great, don’t get me started about culture, food, and scenery, and we have sun. Well, maybe not right now . . . it’s sort of cloudy, and June Gloom is the season right now. But as I was planting my [...]
Every day I check the green tech news feeds and the biggest boldest headline today was titled, “US Lawmakers Formally Unveil Climate Change Bill.” I haven’t read it yet—I’ve been following the debate, and I’m fearful of what the bill will say. Overall, I tend to side with the Democrats on the environmental issues, [...]
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