VOICES--The Los Angeles City Council last month approved a sweeping new framework, known as Mobility Plan 2035, for the design of the city's major streets. Twelve council members voted for the plan — which will add scores of new bike and bus-only lanes, among other changes — and two against it.
Even accounting for the wiggle room some of the plan's supporters on the council managed to reserve for themselves, saying they might try to exempt certain streets in their districts, 12 to 2 is a remarkable and suggestive margin.
The City Council, after all, is not filled with urban designers who enjoy stepping way out in front of the curve of public opinion. It is filled with politicians exquisitely sensitive to constituent feeling.
Still, there may be people in your life who have grave doubts about the mobility plan. These people might be your colleagues, your relatives, your neighbors, the writers of the blogs you read or the hosts of the radio programs you listen to.
If the subject of the mobility plan comes up, these people are likely to frown. They are likely to say that the plan is based on a kind of social engineering. (Read the rest)
-cw
CityWatch
Vol 13 Issue 77
Pub: Sep 22, 2015
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