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Thursday, Mar 28, 2024

Transportation Focus of Conference

Healthcare. Education. Land use. These topics all received major coverage at the Valley Industry & Commerce Association’s 2007 Business Forecast Conference Nov. 8, but the issue that ultimately received the most focus was transportation. During the event, city, state and local officials repeatedly stressed the need for changes to be made in the transportation realm, citing both the need for a shift in policy and a shift in how the public uses transportation. “One of the things we have to realize is we are traffic,” said Rita Robinson, interim general of the Los Angeles Department of Transportation. Robinson, appointed to her position in September, said during a panel discussion on the issue, that all too often Angelenos regard traffic as an entity that exists outside of themselves, that they can neither control nor reduce. Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa also called for the public to do its part in fighting congestion. “You want to do something about traffic?” he asked during the luncheon that concluded the conference, “When’s the last time you got out of your single passenger automobile?” If you want to do something about traffic, “You gotta invest in public transit,” he said. Smart planning is the key to reducing traffic, the Mayor said. “We’ve got to have housing next to jobs next to transportation,” he stressed. Villaraigosa also cited successes Los Angeles has made in transportation, saying that many predicted the Orange Line would have a mere 6- to 7,000 riders, but it now has 26,000 riders. Los Angeles County Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky also recalled the resistance the Orange Line received from many community members. “I want to take you back to the Orange Line expansion,” he said. “Just because there’s opposition doesn’t mean you pull the plug on it Then, you’re endorsing the status quo.” Robinson believes that L.A.D.O.T. has made strides in the city by creating four major bicycle paths. She believes further improvements could be made if Los Angeles uses the San Francisco Bay Area transportation system as its guide. There, the need for cars has been almost eliminated by the combined use of cable cars, trains and taxi-cabs, she said. Los Angeles City Councilwoman Wendy Greuel believes that improving parking may result in reducing traffic. She discussed how often cars repeatedly circle major roadways, such as Ventura Boulevard, causing congestion and creating pollution, alike. Dale Bonner, secretary of the state’s Business, Transportation and Housing Agency, had a similar line of thought. Bonner oversees 13 departments, including Caltrans, the California Highway Patrol, the Department of Motor Vehicles and the California Housing Finance Agency. He called for the building of more parking structures. Moreover, he said that the various transportation agencies in the state need to unify and communicate to solve transport problems. “In many cases, all of these assets are owned by different agencies,” he said. “It’s a similar thing with economic development, a very fragmented system.”

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