Posts Tagged: Los Angeles

Mass transit lands co-star role in LA

While high-speed rail in California may be in trouble, it looks like more rail-based mass transit is on its way in Los Angeles, according to reporting by Adam Nagourney in the New York Times.  This with the help of more than $500 million in federal aid — funds for rail transportation that elected leaders in other states are hoping to reject. (more…)

Car culture run out on a rail in LA?

Los Angeles is making tracks.

Known as much for its film industry and beaches as its mini-malls and traffic jams, Los Angeles officials have taken a substantial leap towards rebuilding the city’s once-comprehensive railway network.

Local transportation officials unanimously approved a $5.15 billion, nine and a half mile extension of the Los Angeles Metro along busy Wilshire Boulevard, report Dan Weikel and Howard Blume of the Los Angeles Times.

Under Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, Los Angeles has been more focused on mass transit projects. Until recently, LA’s mass transit system was jokingly referred to as somewhere to escape from crowds.  Now, Los Angeles is slowly rebuilding a workable network that could begin offering a viable alternative to driving, at least for some destinations. (more…)

LA mayor looks to step up mass transit – with federal loans

In southern California the car may still be king, but the train is making tracks. Officials hope a novel financing plan, pushed by Los Angeles mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, will garner federal aid faster and help the region realize a long-held dream, re-building its once robust commuter rail network.

The crux of the plan would roll funds from a recently approved transportation sales tax surcharge into leveraging a big federal loan (more…)

Two Tales of Transit in Calif. – North & South

In Los Angeles, where the car has been king at least since the Pacific Electric’s Red Cars were junked, there’s real hope that an innovative federal-state-local funding plan will get trains back on track. As Dan Weikel noted recently in the Los Angeles Times, officials hope their innovative funding plan will entice (more…)

Why Was Violent Crime Down In 2009?

The Wall Street Journal’s Tamara Audi and Gary Fields report that Los Angeles is the latest big city to announce that violent crime, including homicides, was significantly down in 2009, joining New York, Chicago, and Washington, D.C. among other cities. The article provides a surprising reason why this was the case:

Experts believe the fall in violent crime is tied to the aging U.S. population.

“The graying of America is a significant factor,” said James Alan Fox, Lipman Professor of Criminal Justice at Northeastern University in Boston. “The largest and fastest growing segment of the population is people over 50. People over 50 also happen to be the age group that is the least likely to commit crimes. As the group grows, crime rates do decline.”

Prof. Fox said a common assumption that crime goes up during a recession is wrong. Historic data show there is little connection between economic conditions and crime, particularly violent crime.

This graying of America, though, can’t really explain why the decrease in crime between 2008 and 2009 marked a greater annual decline than years past — unless in 2009, a whole swath of the population improbably grew out of their biological window to commit crime.

What the crime stats show is a correlation that does not exist — recession and violent crime. Despite fears, Broad outage over wealth divisions in America — and alienation with how the law has worked for Wall Street and the rich — has not lead to any generalized lawlessness or induced people to become more violent.