By Tom LaBonge

Nothing gets residents more riled up than to think cut through traffic on residential streets may increase or, for business owners, that access to their stores will be restricted. Who could disagree?

These very legitimate concerns were raised at the City Council’s Transportation Committee during public comment on whether to make Olympic and Pico Boulevards one-way to increase cross-town mobility. Let me reassure everyone, I am against this plan.

I am still open to learning more from a planned study to be conducted by our Dept. of Transportation, but my gut tells me the proposal is seriously flawed.  

I*m a neighborhood guy as well as a big proponent of extending the Red Line along Wilshire Boulevard to the ocean, a.k.a. *subway to the sea.* I also support our Planning Director Gail Goldberg*s notion of villages within our 465 square miles.   Creating the surface street equivalent of freeways is not the answer.

But I do support a dedicated Rapid Bus lane during peak traffic hours along Wilshire to encourage riders … as long as the MTA fixes the roadway they are helping to deteriorate. (Tom LaBonge is the Los Angeles Councilman for the 4th District. This report was excerpted from the LaBonge 4th District Newsletter.) _