>> The famed L.A. smog’s now got its own book: Smogtown: The Lung-Burning History of Pollution in Los Angeles. In a Salon review:

Though smog may have been, as the authors write, “not only a blight on the skyline but on the boom mindset,” it was not, apparently, blight enough to impel the citizens of Los Angeles to make any material or long-term sacrifices. In the end, the smog crisis is a parable with a pessimistic moral: “To a large degree,” the authors write, “people breathed the air they deserved.”

>> Easing congestion — creates more congestion, finds a RAND study. Strategies that actually worked raised the cost of driving, via tolls or parking fees.

>> A short profile of Metro Chief executive Roger Snoble, who’s set to retire soon, by LA Times’ Road Sage Steve Hymon:

Snoble said that he’s tired of the rail versus bus controversy. “I’ve always thought it such a ridiculous argument,” Snoble said. “They’re all transit tools, and we just have to use the right tool in the right place. I come out of a bus environment and I believe until you have the bus just as competitive or even better than the automobile, it’s not going to work” in terms of attracting riders.

>> Steve Hymon himself gets interviewed by Streetsblog’s Damien Newton. Says Steve:

One story I’ve wanted to write for a long-time that I just got to at the end of the year was how poor the traffic light timing is. In Pasadena, it’s almost comically bad. It’s as though someone came in and said, “Let’s see if we can program the lights so that drivers miss every one of them.

1 Comments