From: Martin Engel <martinengel_at_(domain_name_was_removed)>
Date: Fri Dec 21 2007 - 10:38:19 PST

I know, Menlo Park is not Los Angeles. However, like us, they have a Transportation Committee, which I assume is something like our Transportation Commission. And here are some comments from it's chairwoman.

Wendy Greuel calls for a "comprehensive and reliable transportation network." That sounds familiar. Having advocated, in those very words, an integrated urban mass transit system for the Peninsula and in the Bay Area for some time, I think we might pay some attention to Wendy's words. Many of the LA problems and obstructions to solutions are no different than ours. Perhaps we might take an action plan page from her book.

Martin

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City Watch: http://www.citywatchla.com/content/view/900/75/ I Was Shocked: No Transpo Vision for LA
December 21, 2007
GuestWords
By Wendy Greuel

I would like to request your feedback on Phase One of the City's Transportation Strategic Plan which will form the basis for transportation projects in Los Angeles for the next 20 years.

When I became Chair of the City's Transportation Committee, I was shocked to learn that Los Angeles - the most congested city in America - had no future vision for transportation and no concrete plan for reducing traffic. In fact we had not developed a Strategic Transportation Plan in more than a generation.

We are never going to solve our traffic crisis with piecemeal solutions. For too long transportation leaders have advocated for short term solutions to meet their own short term political needs. In order to create the kind of transportation system we so desperately need, we must have a comprehensive citywide vision and invest in long term planning.

In this first phase of the planning process we must articulate the City's transportation goals and objectives. We need to know the transportation priorities of our residents in order to deliver a useful and relevant plan. The City Council Transportation Committee has kicked-off a two month public comment period during which we are asking residents to read and submit ideas on the Plan's mission statement and preliminary documents at the city sponsored website. Click here.

While we will solicit feedback on specific projects later in the process, this is an opportunity to provide us with your citywide priorities. Please submit comments and encourage your fellow Neighborhood Council members to participate.

The current mission statement commits to improving accessibility and mobility in Los Angeles, but also addresses key transportation issues like the needs to reduce air pollution, protect neighborhoods through sensible street management and improve goods movement through our City.

The second phase of the planning process, to be completed next year, will produce a thorough assessment of the current traffic conditions in Los Angeles, funding sources and future projects.

In our third phase, we will propose specific projects and strategies to take the City's transit system from its current state to a comprehensive and reliable transportation network. We will develop a blueprint for reducing traffic and gridlock throughout Los Angeles.

While undertaking this critical planning process, I will continue to move forward with our more immediate traffic reducing solutions. We will keep synchronizing our City's lights, installing new left turn signals, and identifying new funding streams for our capital projects. Through this combination of short term and long term solutions, we will change the face of traffic in Los Angeles. I hope you will partner with us in this effort. If you have any questions, please contact my office: (213) 473-7002.

(Wendy Greuel is Councilwoman for the 2nd District and Chairwoman of the Transportation Committee.) _

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Martin Engel
1621 Stone Pine Lane
Menlo Park, CA 94025
650:323-1670
martinengel@earthlink.net


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Received on Fri Dec 21 12:15:58 2007