MasterPlanning! The Long Range Transportation Plan

by Tony Chavira

Thursday, March 27, at 6:30 pm, I cleared out of the office and drove over to One Gateway Plaza to check out the Los Angeles Metro's Long Range Transportation Plan (LRTP) Central Los Angeles community meeting. Now that they've put the time and research into the LRTP for the future of mobility throughout Los Angeles County, L.A. Metro is holding these sessions to get some worthwhile feedback and ideas from the community. They were handing out copies of their DVD presentation (which, of course, I gladly took plenty of) and they then opened up to questions, comments, and plenty of gripes from concerned citizens who enjoy participating in the democratic process (or just enjoy having a captive audience). In fact, at one point one of the speakers accusingly stared out into the crowd and said, "Anyone who drove here, raise your hand now." In a crowd of fifty, two or three other people might've timidly peeked their fingertips over the heads of those in front of them but I rose mine proudly ... there is no way I'm going to ride a bike trail from one of my jobs in Glendale at 10 am down to Newport Beach to sit in a meeting with the FourStory staff at 11:30am. Unless there was maybe a light rail or monorail that accommodated that trip. That being said, time to go right into the LRTP ...

First, I'd download the draft if I were you. (Heads up, it's a PDF.)

Second, here's the video we saw at the community meeting.

After the video presentation, speakers of all shapes, sizes, and agendas stepped up to the podium. For example, a string of individuals challenged the LRTP to direct more cash toward bike routes, even if this meant taking all money away from freeway congestion, metro rail line plans, and additional buses. Personally, I agreed with advocates who wanted to focus the LRTP's financial efforts toward the more populated east-west lines and alleviate rush hour all along the 10 Freeway, namely with the Exposition Line (which will run along Exposition Boulevard from Culver City to downtown Los Angeles), and with proponents of the Silver Line (which would run from La Puente through Silverlake one day in the far future). All light rail idealism aside, the LRTP allocates the largest chunk of cash toward getting cars through the county as quickly as possible, and (needless to say) most attendees at the meeting weren't fans of that idea. But hey, the automotive industry paved roads over rail lines way back in the 1920s, so that's 90 years of car culture Metro's battling. I think that they're doing a good job of working with what they've got and transitioning slowly and strategically. The good part about Metro being strapped for cash right now is that they need to be really careful about how they allocate funds (or else you and I'll have a fun time booting out all of the elected Metro board members).

After a pair of businessmen spoke very eloquently about the potential feasibility of a (dare I write?) monorail system, I got up and spoke as well as I could about the Metro working with Neighborhood Development Councils and local agencies to reinvest all localized monies back into their respective communities' transportation. In other words, the more people use the Blue Line, the more that Blue Line money will basically go back to the Blue Line. Made sense to me, especially since these rail plans won't really have much of a future until they're economically sustainable. The L.A. River Revitalization Plan is doing that right now with The River Corporation, which will reinvest monies earned by the river back into the revitalization process. I thought it was a smart move, and one that Metro could just full-blown steal for themselves.

Anyway, now that you've read the document, seen the video and read my little spiel, I think you should go to one of the community meetings. Tell them that Tony from FourStory sent you. We like getting props.

Here's a list of the meeting dates, but you better do it soon if you want to have a say!

And check out the Metro Imagine Campaign, and maybe even post something on their blog!

If you'd like your own copy of the DVD, please e-mail us with your mailing address.
It has the presentation in Spanish as well as in English.