Someone recently asked me a simple question: Why is there traffic?
I babbled on for a while trying to give an answer that involved many elements: abundant land in the early 1900s, the freedom autos afford, historically cheap gas, zoning efforts that segregated housing from commercial and industrial areas, lack of coordinated planning, lack of investment in mass transit. And so on.
Yet I think there are two maps that explain it pretty well. The first shows the employment density -- jobs per square mile -- projected in Los Angeles County for the year 2030 by the Metropolitan Transportation Authority.
The colors on the map represent the predicted number of jobs per square mile:
White: 0 to 5,000
Green: 5,001 to 10,000
Yellow: 10,001 to 50,000
Orange: 50,001 to 100,000
Red: 100,001 to 244,918
Compare that with the Census Bureau's map showing population density in the year 2000. It's a basic map, and there are gaps in the data, but it gives you a general idea. The darker the color, the more people per square mile:
Light tan: 142 to 563
Dark tan: 4,390 to 5,787
Light green: 6,468 to 7,742
Green: 8,934 to 10,178
Dark green: 12,258 to 12,499
The maps together show that a lot of the jobs and the people are concentrated in different places. Thus, people have to drive to get where they're going.
The agency is using the employment density map to justify expanding mass transit on the Westside. If it's correct -- and it seems intuitive that it's on base -- there will be a huge number of jobs from downtown to the ocean, notably in Beverly Hills, Century City and Westwood.
That's also why it's likely that later this summer or early this fall, the MTA, the local transportation agency, will say the best way to serve the Westside is to build a subway.
* Things are getting interesting again regarding the proposal to ask Los Angeles County voters in November to approve a half-cent-on-the-dollar sales tax increase to pay for mass transit and road projects.
Two pieces of legislation are needed to get it on the ballot. AB 2321, a bill that would allow the MTA to go forward with the sales tax vote, must be passed by the Legislature. And an ordinance that would allow the county Board of Supervisors to put the tax on the ballot must be passed by the MTA board at its meeting this month.
The state Senate Appropriations Committee was scheduled to hear AB 2321 on Monday, but last week it was delayed until Aug. 4. What does this mean?
