MetroRiderLA

[tags]Düsseldorf, germany, public transit, light rail, transit oriented development[/tags]

A MetroRider’s Dream? Düsseldorf .Click to enlarge.
Photo courtesy of Mareen Fischinger © All rights reserved. Used with permission.

The above photo caught my eye not only because of its fine aesthetic composition and balance, but because of the finely tuned balance of transit options it captures. Does this street scene from the city of Düsseldorf (named 5th most livable city in the world) in the Rhein-Ruhr district of western Germany represent the ideal in urban transit? Obviously the light rail is the most notable element, running down the center of the road, flanked by automobile traffic on both sides. The extra wide sidewalks and bike paths separated from the street also suggest a place where the car is not the end-all-be-all of mobility options.

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[tags]greenlagirl, transit oriented development, red line, wilshire vermont, koreatown[/tags]

Brochure for the Wilshire Vermont Station development.
Photo courtesy of greenlagirl via Flickr.

In a recent article in her “de-car-ing” series, Siel, the Green LA Girl, discovers a classy brochure for the new Wilshire Vermont Station development at none other than the Wilshire Vermont Red Line Station in Koreatown. According to Siel, the brochure shamelessly touts, for what must be the first time in LA history, the transit accessibility and the potential to be car-free as a selling point. Hell, there’s even a map of our subway system tucked into the brochure, which I also imagine is a first. Wilshire/Vermont is a great location, right at the crux of the Red Line and the Purple Line (which will hopefully one day reach all the way to the sea). The attractions and amenities of Hollywood, Downtown, and Koreatown become easily accessible thanks to the transit centered design. Take a ten minute ride down to Union Station and hop on the FlyAway for a cheap, easy, and car-free way to get to LAX. It’s great to see a new Transit Oriented Development market itself so openly as such. Hopefully the development is successful and the trend continues. I think every development, restaurant, bar, and shop in an zone easily accessible by rapid transit should market itself as such.

[tags]transit oriented development, koreatown, curbed la, purple line[/tags]

The Mercury is ready for its grand opening on April 21.
Credit: California Connected via Flickr

The folks at Curbed LA got to peek under the skirt of the Mercury, a high-rise adaptive reuse condominium complex at the corner of Wilshire Boulevard and Western Avenue, across the street from the end of the Metro Purple Line. Previously, the building was an office high-rise that has sat empty since the 1994 earthquake.

Curbed LA also has a “guess the price” contest on a featured Mercury unit.

And with the Mercury now almost complete, it’s holding another tour Saturday, April 21. RSVP via the web form or by calling (877) 586-9652.

[tags]los angeles, hollywood, red line, transit oriented development[/tags]

Rendering of Columbia Square
Credit: Curbed LA

Curbed LA revealed what’s going up — way up — at Sunset Boulevard and Gower Street. The Columbia Square project, now occupied by KCBS-Channel 2 and KCAL-Channel 9, is going to have according to Curbed LA’s EXCLUSIVE (caps are Curbed’s) report:

… 400 dwelling units, 125 hotel rooms, 380,000 sf of office space, 12,000 sf of ground floor retail and 22,500 sf of restaurant space, the project will also incorporate about 105,000 sf of the original CBS Studios.

The project is a short walk from the Metro Red Line (and for obligatory bus line pedantry: Metro Rapid lines 710 and 780, Local lines 2/302, 163, 180/181, 210, 212/312 and 217; and LADOT DASH Hollywood and Holly Trolley).

[tags] baseball, dodgers, angels, padres, petco park, transit oriented development[/tags]

What’s different about these pictures?
Satellite images courtesy of Windows Live Local.

Inspired by Wad’s recent post about the sad state of Dodger Stadium parking and transit access, and by my recent trip to San Diego (where I saw the uber transit accessible Petco Park), I decided to fire up Windows Live Local and take a look at the three SoCal baseball stadium from outerspace and see how they compared. The results with my markup can be seen above.

The images pretty much speak for themselves. Dodger Stadium and Angels Stadium should be renamed Dodger Parking Lot and Angels Parking Lot. Petco Park can retain its stadium status.

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The Downtown Pomona Train Station is the heart of the redevelopment plan. Photo courtesy of lorenabuena via Flickr.

Pomona, located 30 miles east of Downtown Los Angeles at the eastern edge of L.A. county, is poised for redevelopment of its downtown thanks to its proximity to Pomona’s Metrolink station. According to the Ontario newspaper the Daily Bulletin, the proposal by Watt Genton Associates to build 269 residential units above 47,000 square feet of ground-floor retail in two five-story buildings has the potential to break the city’s 25 year drought of private-sector economic development. This development would be just steps away from the Downtown Pomona Metrolink station (according to my Google Earth calculations), and if successful could completely reinvigorate the area creating a dense urban downtown with residents, businesses, and nightlife. Currently in the area there is a rock venue called The Glass House which has a collection of favorable reviews on Yelp.

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