Transit

This weekend, on March 20th, Occidental College and UEPI have helped to organize the Los Angeles Street Summit at the LA Trade Tech. This convention will provide the city and its residents with a hands-on opportunity to both learn about and consider issues of environmentally friendly transit within Los Angeles.

The fact is, Los Angeles is currently dominated by the motorist and the cityscape is therefore defined by its highways and plagued with seemingly endless sprawl. Contrary to what you might believe, however, these existing problems were no accident. In fact, city planners actually established Los Angeles as the car-centric city they believed would one day provide an example for future modernist designs. Instead, LA has only been ridiculed.

Now more than ever, it is important that Los Angeles begin to examine different ways in which its transit needs are met because the current motorist model is clearly not sustainable. But, exactly WHAT CAN WE DO?

Personally, I think that the city must proactively invest in alternative forms of transportation. For one, this will require the construction of new light rail lines, which operate on electricity and are arguably more efficient than subways. In addition, new bike paths must be dedicated along busy city streets and larger areas of sidewalk must be built for the pedestrian.

Locality within Los Angeles is not the only issue though. Nowadays, with globalization, etc. I believe that individuals have been spoiled and have grown accustomed to a mobile mindset. But before I go any further, let me just say that this is a good thing. We are in the 21st century and I do not believe that anyone should feel anchored to any one locale. I believe that it is important for us to get out, to explore, and to see new cultures and people. Therefore, it is vital that new long-distance transit models must be sought out.

Already, aggressive international efforts have been pioneered in China, Germany, Japan on magnetic levitation trains. These trains can boast speeds past 300 mph and will certainly help to define the way in which people travel in the future. This past summer, I was actually able to ride a "maglev" train in Shanghai that zipped along at these outrageous land-speeds and have to tell you, it was awesome. Here is a link to a very brief video that demonstrates just how fast the train is.



Hope for Los Angeles is not lost. I, myself, used to believe that LA is beyond repair. However, if planners begin to encourage this innovative changes, I believe that the feel for this city can be rigorously transformed for the better. As maturing adults, it is our job to take ownership of this responsibility because we will be the decision makers soon enough.


-Alex Kwong