PROPS FOR THE PROP-If Proposition 64 on the November 8 ballot passes, California joins the ranks of states where the prohibition against marijuana use is lifted for anyone 21 and older. Polling shows support at somewhere between 50 and 60 percent in favor, so it looks as though “Happy Days Are Here Again” could be the theme song for a lot of Californians. 

Medical marijuana is available in 25 states. Four more have legitimized its recreational use. Mostly, legal pot is a blue state phenomenon, but there are some red states with libertarian tendencies that have joined the crowd. 

The first place to offer medical marijuana? California-- following the passage of Prop. 215 in 1996. Cannabis was outlawed in the Golden State in 1913. The first ballot measure to legalize pot came in 1972. It failed by a 2-1 margin. The next attempt at complete availability occurred in 2010. The initiative failed by seven points (53.5 percent No.) 

The current iteration of full-blown legalization would allow those 21 and older to use marijuana in various forms. (Brownies, anyone?) It also provides for regulation and taxation on retail sales and cultivation. Estimates of tax revenue range up to $1 billion annually. In addition, local governments could impose their own rules and taxes. The measure essentially treats marijuana much the same as tobacco and alcohol. 

It makes you feel good and the state makes money. And don’t forget the potential impact on the sales of snack foods. What’s not to like? 

According to opponents, unleashing the demon weed would loosen an army of intoxicated drivers who could not be prosecuted because there are no legal standards for determining how much under the influence a pot consumer is. They also claim a torrent of advertising and sales to minors would ensue (things prohibited by Prop. 64.) 

I asked my morning coffee crew what they thought. Responses ranged from absolutely not (“we have enough stuff to make people stupid already”) to an enthusiastic yes (“hell, yeah!”). The answer that I think probably comes closest to most voters’ thinking is, “I 95-percent don’t care.” The other five percent? “It’s O.K. with me as long as they tax it.” 

This is how a society changes its rules; not because the body politic feels a great enthusiasm for, or dislike of, a proposition. When an initiative like Prop. 64 garners the level of support it has, it’s not groundbreaking. It’s a ratification of the status quo. 

And now, here we are on the verge of allowing marijuana to become the newest legal vice for adults. For aging baby boomers like me this has been a long time coming. To many, the march from “reefer madness” to a 21st century version of the before-dinner drink is simply the latest manifestation of a culture that is moving to a greater level of tolerance and acceptance of new societal norms. 

Assuming Prop. 64 passes, it won’t be long before you can walk into the local market and pick up a pack of doobies -- and don’t forget the chips.

(Doug Epperhart is publisher, a longtime neighborhood council activist and former Board of Neighborhood Commissioners commissioner. He is an occasional contributor to CityWatch and can be reached at: [email protected]) Prepped for CityWatch by Linda Abrams.

RIDING WITH RICHARD--Last night I sat through a four and a half hour meeting of the Mid-City West Community Council. Sitting for an hour, let alone four, is not my preference, but a few months ago, friends and neighbors urged me to run for the Council’s board, and I finally acceded to their wishes. I indulged in exactly two (2) hours of campaigning, but, much to my dismay, I won anyhow. So there I was, along with thirty-four other board members, and a roomful of contentious neighbors.

Contentious because of, among other things, a proposal to implement a road diet along that deadly part of Sixth Street that runs through the Miracle Mile. Crashes, caused by speeding, swerving cars, are a weekly occurrence there; injuries are frequent, and there have been deaths. Neighbors just trying to get home or to the store or the park. A woman was killed standing on the corner waiting for the light to change, her body broken by cars spinning away from yet another collision….

Everyone agrees that cars must be tamed along Sixth, but not everyone agrees on the means. Many people’s immediate reaction to a road diet is to assert that reducing the number of through lanes will “of course” increase congestion. This is not, in fact, true, as dozens, perhaps hundreds, of real-world observations have revealed. But in this sad time of “truthiness,” flat-earth theories are given respect that other hypotheses have had to work for. The evening was long.

But many people, on and off the board, spoke at length about both the mechanics and the benefits of road diets, and in the end…the motion passed!

The board will now send its recommendation to the LADOT and the local council member, David Ryu. Whether he will continue his predecessor LaBonge’s suppression of the road diet remains to be seen.

Yes, continue it: because this is not a new road diet. It was first proposed years ago. LADOT’s analysis and most of its design work have been done. In fact, just about everything has been done except actually doing it. Meanwhile, cars crash, neighbors die, and people at a recent town hall said they’re afraid even to walk along Sixth on the sidewalks!

Maybe, just maybe, Ryu can show some spine and support what will, despite overwhelming local support, be a contentious project. If he caves to the naysayers, in the time-honored way of LA council members, well…the gutters will continue to run with blood in the Miracle Mile.

As one of the other board members put it, “This is a moral issue. People are dying while we argue.”

(Richard Risemberg is a writer. His current professional activities are focused on sustainable development and lifestyle. This column was posted first at Flying Pigeon.)  

-cw

AT LENGTH--At the Sept. 13 Central San Pedro Neighborhood Council stakeholder meeting, we were reminded once again of Councilman Joe Buscaino’s commitment to transparency—or lack thereof. 

It was revealed that the Los Angeles City Council’s Homeless Strategy Committee was acting to authorize $615,000 for the leasing and construction of storage facilities for the homeless in San Pedro, without any prior notice given to the Harbor Area neighborhood council’s. Buscaino’s record on  transparency is par for the course, while failing to reach any sort of consensus on thornier issues.

One year ago, the homeless issue exploded in San Pedro at the CeSPNC meeting after that council voted unanimously to support the tiny homes initiative of Elvis Summers. Buscaino stepped in after that to announce his appointment of the Homeless Taskforce. That singular vote was the result of mounting frustration with the lack of action by Buscaino on this critical issue. I should know. I had a front row seat as president of Central during that time.

Not only did the councilman intentionally appoint a group of political shills who were neophytes to the homeless issue—with the exception of Shari Weaver, the one professional from Harbor Interfaith Service — he also excluded anyone from the Central San Pedro Neighborhood Council, some of whom had been working on the issue for more than two years.  This political insult was exacerbated by appointing Ray Regalado, president of Northwest San Pedro Neighborhood Council, as his co-chair and George Palaziol the leader of the anti-homeless uprising and founder of the questionable nonprofit organization  “Saving San Pedro” to the task force.

Also appointed were Elise Swanson, the political armchair of the San Pedro Chamber of Commerce, Mona Sutton, the owner of the Omelette and Waffle Shop and others, who, as I’ve said before, have little experience in dealing with homeless issues. Since that time they have held multiple closed-to-the-public meetings, with no published agendas and reports on their activities. The councilman promises that one will be release soon, but in fact this move is classic JB—no transparency; zero community engagement.

If not for the continued scouring of LA City Council notices by Danielle Sandoval, the Budget Advocate from the Harbor Area and CeSPNC treasurer, the August 2016 Transmittal from the Homeless Strategy Committee, chaired by City Administrative Officer Miguel Santana, would have been buried and Buscaino’s deceit would have been missed until it was presented as a done deal.  His office has sought neither advice nor consent. There has been no waiting for City Controller Ron Galprin’s office to release the list of thousands of publicly owned properties and the only discussions that have taken place have been closed door ones with San Pedro Chamber of Commerce CEO, Elise Swanson.

Instead of Buscaino appearing before the CeSPNC himself, as he was scheduled to do this week, Swanson appeared in standard form as his apologist, making excuses and assuring that the “task force” was going to do its work and present a proposal with illustrations from the “consultants” for public comment (read rubber- stamp approval). Who knew that they already had consultants hired to work on the project that nobody knew about?

Further, with Sutton now president of Central, Regalado and  Palaziol, all being on different neighborhood councils, they all have conflicts of interests that prevents them from voting or even participating in the discussion on the proposed homeless storage facilities, since they are also on the councilman’s Homeless Task Force.

John Stammreich, the itinerant parlia-mentarian of CeSPNC, needs to brush up on his understanding of the legal terms “recusal” and conflicts of interest.

Sutton has a double conflict since she was recently appointed by Buscaino to the Harbor Area Planning Commission just before the June neighborhood council election. It’s a position that might allow her to review a change of use issue of any proposed storage facility under that commission’s purview.  Could the avoidance of controversy get any more complicated?

It certainly can as the CeSPNC homeless committee chairwoman Tunette Powell, resigned from the council after only two months on the job citing personal issues. Yet, it is well known that she was pounced upon by the bullies of the Saving San Pedro’s closed Facebook page for differing from their polemics and constant negativity.  Her frustration was evident at the recent meeting.

All of this and more comes into play as Buscaino has his sights set on a second term while having very little to show for his first five years in office, except for the constant barrage of photo opps and social media propaganda.

Yes, there are lots of promises such as the San Pedro Waterfront, the plan for redeveloping the public housing at Rancho San Pedro and three market rate housing projects (with no low-income units included) in central San Pedro. Through it all, there has been next to nothing in terms of  transparency in the pre-development stages, and with what little information that has been made public, is information that was vetted behind closed doors between the council office and the Harbor Department.

Don’t expect the actual waterfront plan to come out very soon.  It is rumored that Los Angeles Waterfront Alliance hasn’t yet secured an anchor tenant, therefore, there’s no actual capital funding as they continue to negotiate the biggest attraction at Ports O’ Call, the San Pedro Fish Market, down to 25 percent of its current footprint.

Buscaino just wants to be re-elected at any cost and he’ll smile his way past any one who thinks he doesn’t deserve it. But watch out, his deceit is as treacherous as Saving San Pedro’s comments on my hat are libelous.  And his continued lack of transparency and his use of neighborhood councils as rubber stamps will trip him up in the end.

(James Preston Allen is the Publisher of Random Lengths News, the Los Angeles Harbor Area's only independent newspaper. He is also a guest columnist for the California Courts Monitor and is the author of "Silence Is Not Democracy - Don't listen to that man with the white cap - he might say something that you agree with!" He has been engaged in the civic affairs of CD 15 for more than 35 years. More of Allen…and other views and news at: randomlengthsnews.com.) 

-cw

GELFAND’S WORLD--Once a year, City Hall opens its doors to the public for the annual Neighborhood Council Congress. This year, the gathering occurs Saturday, September 24. It's a chance for people who participate in neighborhood councils to network, hear presentations, and meet city officials. I think the congress has done pretty well, but it is ready for some rethinking. What's been missing of late is the old spirit of rebellion that motivated the founding generation. It's that same spirit you see in the pages of City Watch. The public should have their own shot at engaging in such discussions. 

Let's start with what's good about attending the Congress: It's a chance to meet folks from all over the city, so you can learn about the issues that other neighborhood councils are facing and how they are dealing with them. It is also a chance to become involved in the regional and citywide organizations that have grown up in response to citywide issues. 

Unfortunately, the Congress has tended to shy away from the more political discussions. I suspect that the organizers see these as divisive. Instead, we are being served up an extended civics lesson. Some of it is interesting, and some of it is even useful, but we should consider some bigger ideas (see below). 

What you can expect: There will be workshops, training sessions, and a breakout session on a subject I have been writing about here, the need for disaster preparedness. 

There will be a lot of sessions that are reminiscent of high school citizenship classes. There is a session on Board Basics, which is, I assume, training in how to participate in a board meeting. There are sessions on land use and code enforcement, outreach, working with city departments, and so on. We can get tips on leadership skills (I wonder how you teach that?), a session on how to manage a committee, and something about clean streets. These are defensible topics, but not door crashers. 

Let's quickly explain why the congress is set up this way. 

Back around 2001- 2005, neighborhood councils were a new invention in LA, and we all had to figure out how to navigate through the details of forming a brand new council and getting it up and running. Out of this came a few meetings where these subjects were explored in front of hundreds of interested people. For the past few years, the congress has been run by volunteer participants and a few hardy city agency staffers. 

So far, so good. The congress provides breakfast, lunch, and a nearly acceptable volume of hot coffee. City Hall has plenty of conference rooms and a regal City Council chamber, all of which get used. 

The one thing remaining for us to accomplish is to make the congress into a real congress. Instead of just those goody-goody sessions, I'd like to see a few things added on: 

Let's bring back the discussion of cutting City Council pay by half. 

Let's have a serious discussion about recreating Los Angeles government as a borough system. 

Let's take a strong position against high priced parking meter costs and parking ticket fines. 

Let's have serious discussions about all the reform suggestions coming from other writers here on City Watch, including Charter changes regarding the city budget. 

Let's have a serious discussion about public financing of City Council and mayoral elections. 

Let's talk about the limited public comment periods in City Council committee meetings. How many of you are tired of watching that green light - yellow light - red light gizmo run down? 

Let's even talk about the way that neighborhood councils were created with an almost total lack of authority, and whether this ought to be changed. 

Let's have a serious discussion about putting neighborhood council elections on the regular ballot, probably during the June primary election in even numbered years. 

You may have your own ideas for robust discussions. The point is to visit the serious underlying questions rather than just nibbling around the edges of the most superficial problems. 

We might also revisit an idea that has been circulating in neighborhood council circles since the beginning. Why not schedule quarterly Town Hall meetings, each dedicated to a particular subject? I'd like to see the Valley Alliance and the LA Neighborhood Council Alliance alternate in sponsoring such Town Halls. They wouldn't replace the annual congress, but they would allow serious people to engage in important discussions.

(Bob Gelfand writes on science, culture, and politics for CityWatch. He can be reached at [email protected]) 

-cw

MY WAY--I like to think I am an equal opportunity critic and cheerleader but, of late, I’ve been more of a critic. So, I am happy to play cheerleader this week in writing about something that seems to be bringing neighbors together. 

If you are like me, you receive -- on a daily basis -- what seems like hundreds of emails that are of no interest. Aside from the spam, the scam, and other sexually charged missives, there are the commercial messages that I can easily do without. Still can't figure out how I got on the list for Viagra and beautiful Russian women! 

There are, however, certain emails I read on a daily basis. One of them is the Nextdoor Daily Digest. I bring up this particular website because of a conversation I had with some friends who are paranoid about their privacy. They use the internet in their business and personally, but mention sites like Facebook, Linked In, Instagram and Nextdoor etc., and it’s obvious they are not interested. 

The reason given for this loathing is, "I don't want people to know who my friends are or what I am doing." Yes, the age factor does make a difference. Millennials and Baby Boomers, at least the younger Boomers, don't have the same privacy issues. I must admit I enjoy Facebook because it allows me to keep in contact with my friends all over the world. I seldom post anything other than my CityWatch articles but admit to making comments, likes, and I've even learned to use the emojis. 

Nextdoor is a completely different type of social media. I learned about it when the City of Los Angeles entered an agreement with Nextdoor about three years ago. EmpowerLA introduced it to the Neighborhood Councils and encouraged them to set up an NC Nextdoor pages. Gradually it broke into smaller and tighter geographical areas. My group has 149 members with more joining every week. 

The site defines itself as the free and private social network for neighborhoods. On Nextdoor, neighbors create private online communities for their neighborhoods where they can ask questions, get to know one another and exchange local advice and recommendations. A recent Pew survey reported that a Facebook user has only 2% of its neighbors as friends. So this is more targeted. 

It was started by several Silicon Valley "techies" in 2010. They were wondering how they could bring their Menlo Park neighborhood closer together. In 2011, they went national with this concept and now have a 65% representation in 112 communities in the U.S. There are no ads and the sign-up and postings are free. How do they make money? Right now they don't generate any income but are conducting some pilot programs which should end up making the site profitable. This will undoubtedly please their various capital venture investors. They insist that the basic concept will remain free. 

There are more than 500 different Nextdoor groups in the City of Angeles and more than 5500 in the greater Los Angeles area. Aside from the 112,000 plus sites throughout the U.S., they are in the Netherlands and this week opened officially in the UK. 

It’s easy to get started: simply visit www.nextdoor.com and enter your email and home address. If Nextdoor is already available for your neighborhood, you will automatically be invited to join that neighborhood. If not, you'll be given the option to create one by drawing the boundaries of your neighborhood on a map, naming your Nextdoor site, and inviting your neighbors. You must have at least ten sign-ups in twenty-one days. You must use your real name and street and there are three ways to authenticate that you are who you say you are.

Nextdoor communities are self-moderated by the neighbors who live in the communities. Needless to say, all Leads and Founders are volunteers. This can include the Founding Member who started Nextdoor in his or her community, as well as the Leads of the neighborhood. In addition, any member can flag content to their Leads or contact Nextdoor’s support team. They have what they euphemistically call a conflict resolution team to handle improper posts. 

Posts are divided into categories in the daily digest and on the website. Topics of discussion on Nextdoor are as varied as local events, school activities, plumber and babysitter recommendations, recent crime activity, upcoming garage sales or even lost pets. Breakdown of conversations on Nextdoor is as follows: 7% events; 8% lost & found; 8% free items; 16% crime and public safety; 19% classifieds; 26% recommendations; and 16% other. 

As an example, here is what is in my Nextdoor digest today: 

Cat to a Good Home

Looking for Lost Dog (with pic)

Recommending a great fence builder

Need an Animal Crate

LVN wanted for Weekend Invalid care

Car broken into parked in front of my house

Just moved here from Michigan looking for friends 

I asked the Head of Communications, Kelsey Grady, if they have many improper or nasty postings. She replied that they do get some. There are one or two "leads" for each neighborhood site. These are volunteers who keep an eye out for problem posts and answer questions. 

One of their recent challenges has concerned "racial profiling." The company is confronting a tough problem: How do you stop an activity when people can't even agree on how to define it? Jaywalking and speeding are easy. Racial profiling does not have a universally accepted definition, as experts in criminology have noted. 

If you go to their website you will see the large amount of press coverage they have received on this issue. Nextdoor decided to create a working definition that is relatively broad: anything that allows a person to stereotype an entire race. Throughout this summer, CEO Nirav Tolia and his engineers have been testing ways to put a stop to it online. He says that they have managed to decrease racial profiling by fifty percent; he looks forward to eradicating it completely in the near future. 

People engage in racial profiling "often not on purpose," Tolia says. It's implicit bias. For example, he says that a user might think, “‘If I look out my window, and I see someone breaking into a car, and the only thing I see is that they are dark-skinned, why can't I post? That's all I see.’” 

Tolia continues, "The problem with that post,” — ‘a dark-skinned man is breaking into a car’ —, [is that] while the activity sounds like a crime, the description of the alleged perpetrator lacks any useful detail, like what he was wearing, his sneakers, his hairstyle or height. 

"Because that message goes out to the entire neighborhood, where presumably many of the neighbors reading the post are dark-skinned, that would be considered racial profiling," Tolia explains. 

Nextdoor has been no stranger to such posts. The end effect, he says, has been more hurtful than helpful, generating animosity among neighbors instead of offering useful tips for law enforcement. 

In a pilot project running in select neighborhoods across the U.S., the company has altered the rules for posting. When a user wants to post about a crime or suspicious activity, in the Crime & Safety section, a new form requires two physical descriptors — e.g. Nike sneakers, gray sweat pants, bald — if the user chooses to include the race of the person." 

An algorithm under development spot-checks the summary of the suspicious activity for racially charged terms, as well as for length. If the description is too short, it is presumed to lack meaningful detail and is unacceptable. 

If a draft post violates the algorithm's rules or the form's mandatory fields, the user has to revise. Otherwise, it's not possible to post. All 112,000 U.S. communities have been sent the new regulations. 

The move to block posts sparked heated internal debate, Tolia admits. "It's highly unusual for a social network to say: If you don't do this, you cannot post. Highly unusual. I mean, think about Twitter or Facebook or Snapchat. There's no friction at all in the process of posting." 

In tech, "friction" is a dirty word. Engineers rack their brains over how to shave seconds off the time it takes to broadcast your post to the world. 

Some Nextdoor engineers argued that the company should just politely suggest, not require, a better description. They pointed out that when people complain — about bullying, hate speech, revenge porn — on other social networks, those companies don't change their product. 

Nextdoor recruits police and city agencies into the network as an added feature, a kind of Community Policing 2.0 that many users want. In the wake of the Dallas shootings, the police department there turned to Nextdoor to communicate safety updates to residents, and later to recruit for the police force. The network says it's partnering with more than 1,600 public agencies in the U.S. 

How many people do you know in your immediate neighborhood? This is a way to find recommended suppliers and services, to keep track of things-both good and bad going on in the community and best of all ... to bring people together. 

As always comments welcome.

(Denyse Selesnick is a CityWatch columnist. She is a former publisher/journalist/international event organizer. Denyse can be reached at: [email protected]) Edited for CityWatch by Linda Abrams.

TRANSPORTATION BREAKTHROUGHS-With all the technological improvements coming along with vehicles it is fitting that an advanced roadway architecture should be developed as well. This is so they work together and make even greater transportation service and efficiencies regarding congestion elimination and GHG reduction. 

A full range of small to large vehicular roadway solutions are feasible and attainable short term and can provide further roadway structure for continued technological improvement and planning efficiencies supporting SB 32 environmental goals. 

These improvements would be very affordable and integral with what exits today and would continue the desirable characteristics of travel that we want into the future while bringing about efficiency to the overall roadway network. 

A new breakthrough urban roadway architecture utilizes existing street rights of ways and begins by making higher capacity from selected regular boulevards by using “continuous flowing traffic on urban interrupted streets”, (the interruptions are for cross traffic.) 

In addition to capacity related problem solving, the continuous flowing traffic can be managed to provide safer speeds for drivers, bikers and considerations for pedestrians as well while making the significant reductions in GHG emissions. These are extra benefits beyond giving shorter travel times at low speeds related to the environs that are being traveled through. 

The improved structuring of how communities work can give urban design “place making” opportunities as well. The innovative roadway architecture that allows continuous flowing traffic is a dramatic improvement by essentially doubling the capacity of normal street lanes that presently have stop and go driving. The LA Automatic Traffic Surveillance and Control (ATSAC) system gives the necessary signal timing and brings integration with other related existing 4400 controlled areas of the street network. What would be taking place is the “digitization of roadways’ in selected portions of the vehicular network with the new roadway architecture facilitating “continuous flowing traffic” (CFT). 

Eventually vehicles would communicate with the roadway and the roadway would communicate with vehicles in making even safer, managed mobility with even higher capacities if so needed and desired. 

Bus transit would be truly rapid with CFT and coordinated with communications to minimize first and last mile connections from origin to destination. The continuous flowing traffic boulevards would attract ridership and bring greater frequency and dependability of bus service. 

An example of improvement with CFT would be the elimination of the 5 mph traffic congestion on Santa Monica Boulevard in West Hollywood. That utter traffic failure every work day, can be eliminated by an increase in capacity. Todays failing 5 mph peak period stop and go speed has a capacity of around 300 vehicles/lane/hour and is emitting GHGs at about 2.5 times the amount as when there is flowing traffic at 30 mph. A managed speed of 30 mph (not allowing slower or faster traffic), gives CFT capacity at about 1200 vehicles/lane/hour, four times as much than the 5 mph failing traffic. 

What that means is a shorter peak period with uncongested flowing traffic and a much freer spacing of vehicles one to another which would be safer and have less stress on drivers. This is the result of designed and managed free flowing traffic. 

As a larger case example, the I-405 bottleneck in West LA can be eliminated as well with selected roadways having continuous flowing traffic to add capacity to the I-405 corridor. 

Metro suggested a solution that a tunnel under the I-405 freeway going from south of the interchange with the I-10 freeway, then north on past the West LA area while still in a tunnel and into the San Fernando Valley (likely beyond the I-101 interchange as well). Thankfully it is not a solution and such a boondoggle can easily be avoided. 

The tunnel proposal comes from a view that does not recognize the travel demand which brings about the 405 bottleneck. The problem is not the amount of traffic that is exchanging between the San Fernando Valley and south of the I-10 (approximately just 8% of the Westside 405 corridor traffic). The problem is the massive amount of traffic that is exchanging with all the areas beyond the Westside, going to and from the Westside, within that short distance between Sunset to Pico Boulevards. 

The I-405 corridor and its related cross streets going under it from Sunset to Pico Boulevards, essentially comprise a daily traffic volume of around 680,000 trips per day. It’s a problem that a tunnel for vehicles, or a single line of rail transit however configured, cannot address. The congestion is inherently a vehicular problem. 

There are three major functions where the 405 is insufficient; 1/ backed up traffic on the 405 because the Interchange with the I-10 has been out grown, 2/ there is a lack of signal and ramping capacity to deal with the intensity of distribution and collection of commuters to the Westside which backs up traffic on the 405 and related crossing boulevards coming and going, and 3/ with the 405 failing, commuters then cut through the arterial grid such as between the Valley and the City of Santa Monica by going through Brentwood instead of using the freeways as intended. Cut-through traffic is excessive throughout the Westside because of that breakdown where the major corridors do not contain the travel demand due to inadequate capacity. 

The clear evidence of that is the backed up commuter traffic, some half mile or more for hours, on all the crossing roads with which the commuters are waiting to get on the 405. A plan using a frontage road with continuous flowing traffic along with minor improvements to the 405 and 1-10, can provide good access by solving these three deficiencies. 

The Santa Monica Boulevard corridor would be an included improvement for adding capacity and would have a connection to an improved 405 corridor. The result of the CFT frontage road, and related minor freeway improvements would be in effect the adding of 120,000 person trips per day capacity to the corridor. That would contain the traffic to the corridor and eliminate backed up traffic and the intrusive cut-through traffic into adjacent communities. 

Roadways and Planning! 

From a community viewpoint, future planning for the LA Basin must protect the character preserving and livable community standards by having limitations on development to keep the relationship of travel demand to land use in balance with available transportation infrastructure. This is also reasonable given the need for developing a mix of urbanizing land uses elsewhere in the County. 

Limiting future growth in the congested LA Basin then would direct the majority of future job and community enhancing growth to the suburbs which they need. This secures suburban urbanizing as well as the reduction of VMT by making shorter trip length on average because jobs, shopping, institutions and services are closer to the housing in those communities. Suburbs and cities would use CFT corridors to structure growth and maintain good land use to infrastructure relationships. 

With the 90 million miles currently made by vehicles each day in LA County, reducing average trip length from 15.5 miles in length to 12 miles would be a 22% reduction in VMT and GHG emissions. That is a significant approach to meeting the transportation share of GHG reduction to reach SB 32 goals and for providing good mobility. 

Structuring better planning with an extensive and efficient improved roadway system makes sense, whereas the supposed increase in rail transit implied by Proposition M brings about greater concentration of development in the LA Basin. The proposed rail is directed to the LA Basin which already resists over development. And the ‘coup de grace’ is that light rail can’t be put into existing boulevards without creating greater congestion and GHG emissions. Metro’s plan would not work! 

Vote NO on Proposition M so that affordable and good “bottom-up” planning can be incorporated into overall County plans to secure livable communities, towns and cities.

(Phil Brown AIA, has invented the CFT roadway system improvement by research and development that has occurred over the last twelve years analyzing the Westside traffic problems and the socio-economic needs of Greater Los Angeles. Contact is available through the website FlowBoulevardPlan.com) Prepped for CityWatch by Linda Abrams.