🚀 go-pugleaf

tlw@Eng.Sun.COM (Tom Wetzel) wrote:
>
>
>---
>Michael Higby writes:
>[..]
>>And yes, it should run the entire length of the line from Burbank Metrolink to 
>>Chatsworth Metrolink.  
>
>The most recent plan doesn't follow this idea; it swings off at Canoga Ave.
>to serve Warner Center and Woodland Hills. This is probably a better generator
>of traffic than running up the SP r-o-w to Chatsworth, given the concentration
>of offices in Warner Center.
>
>>And it should be planned by planners who worked back 
>>east and know how to do it the right way.  East Coast planners think 
>>about neighborhood features, attractions, etc. when planning stops, as opposed 
>>to LA planners who only think about what local politicians want (see 
>>yesterday's LA Times). 
>
>The problem is not the particular people employed by planning agencies.
>Planners everywhere lack the ultimate say. The particular configuration
>of political forces in a given area will determine this. Real estate
>developers have been the dominant economic and political force in Southern
>California since the late 19th century. Unless you have strong popular
>organization, and a developed sense of community (historically weak in
>Southern California due to the high proportion of people in a given
>area who are new there at any given time), the ongoing and well-heeled
>organization of the major businesses and property interests will tend
>to get what they want.
>
>Tom Wetzel
>:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
>thomas.wetzel@eng.sun.com
>
>


They may get what they want in the short term but they got a lot of 
congestion and a big mess in L.A. long term and that doesn't help the 
value of anybody's development.

I think the locals need higher standards and a better understanding of 
what investments will work and which don't.  They've been sold freeways 
in Southern California for the last 20 years on the premise that they 
will relieve congestion.  I don't think that it worked too well.

On the east coast I think it is the citizens who try to assure that 
things are planned properly.  L.A. is so transient that I guess nobody 
cares.  It appears that they haven't cared themselves into gridlock with 
no viable options and a damn ugly city.  The planners seem pretty spacey 
down there also.