traffic redux

While the residents of San Pedro have every right to be concerned about traffic, which in my deluded opinion, is probably the most important topic of the entire discussion. I have to ask - One commentor on another blog complained that it took him 7 minutes. Seven whole minutes, to make it what is, according to my calculations, about 1¼ mile, during rush hour. (Many people spend over an hour commuting, but this person felt compelled to complain about 7 minutes!)

Now I must admit, that when I get behind the wheel of my car, I expect to be able to get where I am going in a reasonable amount of time. I've driven that route on innumerable occasions. With the traffic lights timed the way they are, it might be possible to make that drive in a minute or two shorter if there was no traffic. So in reality, this person who was complaining let himself get bent over a couple minutes. Wow, certainly sounds like someone needs to re-examine priorities. Either that or they have allowed themselves to become incredibly self-centered.

We have heard from experts from LADOT, from Bisno's people, from Chuck Hanson at Priority Engineering (hired by the NOrthwest Neighborhood Council), from Jerry Gaines and the Western Avenue Task Force that no matter what happens at Ponte Vista (even if nothing get built), the traffic is going to get worse. A lot worse. According to most of these same sources, Ponte Vista being required to mitigate the problem, could make the traffic less worse than if nothing were done at all. Can we afford to not give it a try while we still have one guy on the hook we can compel to make mitigations?

I have a problem with using something someone said in a casual conversation as gospel. It could have been a wish, a goal, a guess, a desire. But it does not make it an irrevocable truism. Taking the things said, running with them and using them for a bunch of projections is just plain irresponsible. We need to wait until it is set down in print before we start getting into a tizzy.

We've got plenty of time before this thing becomes a done deal. Let's all take a deep breath and get let them develop a solid proposal with real numbers attached before we start storming the barricades.

Tom Field