MetroRiderLA

[tags]red line, los angeles, subway, construction, 60 minutes, youtube[/tags]

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=79w_161D-Wc&eurl=http%3A%2F%2Ffadein%2Ewordpress%2Ecom%2F2007%2F08%2F19%2Fa%2Dyoutube%2Dhistory%2Dof%2Dthe%2Dred%2Dline%2F[/youtube] [youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LJBAIIEt1H8&eurl=http%3A%2F%2Ffadein%2Ewordpress%2Ecom%2F2007%2F08%2F19%2Fa%2Dyoutube%2Dhistory%2Dof%2Dthe%2Dred%2Dline%2F[/youtube]

Nearly 12 years ago, on December 17th, 1995, 60 Minutes ran a segment apocalyptically entitled “Earthquakes, Riots, and now the Subway” chronicalling the tumultous construction process of every MetroRider’s favorite bit of public transit, the Metro Red Line. Last week the good people over at FadeIn discovered the segment on YouTube and shared it with its readership, and now I pass it on to you.

See Also:

• Film Review: Beneath Los Angeles

[tags]metro movies, los angeles, 70’s, reyner banham, urban planning[/tags]

[googlevideo]http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=1524953392810656786&hl=en[/googlevideo]

I found this gem over at the SkyscraperCity forum. It’s not directly related to public transit, but it offers an interesting perspective on Los Angeles from over 30 years ago. It’s interesting to see how the world has always been acutely aware of L.A.’s shortcomings, merits, and potential. One particular bit in regards to potential that got my attention happens about 16 minutes in, when Reyner Banham, the narrator, speaks of the future of Los Angeles:

“So come the day when the smog of doom finally descends, when the traffic grinds to a halt, and the private car is banned from the streets, quite a lot of craftly placed citizens will be able to switch over to being pedestrians and feel no pain.”

It seems that 35 years later we are nearing that day, and many of us have already made that painless transition to living car-free in a city where it has long been thought to be impossible. It simply takes the ability to remove those car-culture tinted glasses to realize that Los Angeles is the perfect city to be car free, better than any other!

I <3 L.A.

[tags]villaraigosa, mayor, bru, metro, los angeles, yaroslavsky, fare hikes[/tags]

Here is the sound bite from the fare increase hearing last Thursday, wonderfully captured by SO.CA.TA Treasurer Henry Fung.

The Mayor is ripping Zev a New One. Very inappropriate. A.V. has really lost it in what he does in public. Listen to what he says in this emotional rant. He cites costs showing that the rail subsidy is more. He may claim he supports rail, but his cutting of rail service was a VERY real proposal. Try getting back the late night rail service that was cut 24 months ago.

The Purple, Green and Gold Line lost an hour of service and the most recent bus cuts removed the Green Line replacement bus service.

Another proposal, buying buses on credit, so you could pay off the loans out of bus operating revenue in a few years would only serve to damage the system even more. This no brainer idea was first brought forth by Bernard “buses get in the way of our police cars” Parks at a recent Metro Committee Meeting.

If this kind of terminal dumbness is the best proposal from Jaime de la Vega and the Mayor obviously accepted this advice, then we are still in for a rough road. We can’t let this continue to happen.

We need to communicate with the Mayor and we need to let him know that the “Metro Enterprise” must run on a financially sound basis, rather then his magical thinking style of problem solving. (more…)

[tags]metro movies, car free, uncar, copenhagen, urban planning, contested streets[/tags]

[googlevideo]http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-9067416427722807670&hl=en[/googlevideo]

Los Angeles bicycle blogger Brayj Against The Machine brought this clip from the film “Contested Streets” to my attention. The clip offers a fascinating and inspiring look into the reimagining of streets in Copanhagen from the traditional automobile oriented streets to streets focused on the bicyclist and the pedestrian. What’s so interesting to me, is that according to the clip, Copanhagen wasn’t always this way, but they fought against the trend, political dispute, and naysayers to bring a about a better city. It gives hope that perhaps such a transformation could happen in car-centric American cities.

[tags]red line, subway, los angeles, music video, pershing square, daniel powter, bad day[/tags]

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oIcFgl6zf3A[/youtube]

Here’s some powerful Adult Contemporary to go with your rainy Friday afternoon. This music video from Canadian piano pop artist Daniel Powter tells the story of two work-a-day Red Line riders whose lives are missing that special someone. The two rail-crossed lovers (presumably Downtown loft dwellers) connect through subway grafitti and Perhsing Square near-misses until finally hooking up outside the Pershing Square Red Line station on a rainy day much like today. Awww.

<3

[tags]bp, helios house, car culture, cute, evil[/tags]

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3rklKyFMUME[/youtube]

BP continues its quest to make gas and car culture cool again in the post Inconvenient Truth era with this uber cute commercial for its gas stations, you know, the one’s that are a “little better”. While saying absolutely nothing about how the gas stations are “a little better”, the cutesy ads warm your heart and make you want to go out all fill up even if your tank is full. Or you don’t own a car. You can watch two more here and here.