File under "Arteries"...
Last time I sat down (okay, the ONLY time I have sat down) with Bill Rosendahl, we were discussing a pet project of his, the Green Line extension to LAX, and he was looking for Enviro support in Sacramento. Back story; in order to keep taxi drivers and shuttle companies happy, some Metro folks "forgot" to build the last mile of Green Line light rail to LAX . Undaunted by already making itself look foolish, Metro then provided a free shuttle (wha?) to LAX from the Green Line stop, so everybody could be happy -- particularly those travelers who enjoy inconvenience due to limited bureaucratic thinking.So it strikes me as odd that a man who would undergo a heart surgery to reduce the risk of a stroke (bloodclot blocks an artery, interrupting bloodflow to the brain...) would come out against a holistic plan for opening the arteries of Wilshire Blvd. traffic from downtown to Santa Monica by use of dedicated bus lanes during rush hours. CM Rosendahl reportedly stated that using traffic lanes for buses during rush hours would further congest surface streets in his district.
It's a fair concern, but a poor argument. People use whatever method of transportation that gets them in and out of work with the least amount of time lost. By my eyeball count, a single bus can remove upwards of 40 vehicles at a Wilshire intersection IF you can extend the range, regularity and efficiency of that bus by using a dedicated lane. Mr. Rosendahl, come take the Orange Line with us. Earliest projections were an extremely hopeful 5,000 riders a day. Even in a recession it now handles more than 20,000 riders daily (down from 27,000 in '08). Dedicated bus lines and rail have a tendency to do that. Imagine taking 20,000 vehicle trips off of Wilshire Blvd. You'd have some real happy condo owners then.
File under My Super Bowl Prediction:
The artichoke dip will be gone before halftime.
