The Wilshire Advocates Coalition approved the beginning of a new urban strategy for the Wilshire Corridor Communities. This Coalition along with other business and residential groups and individuals within the Wilshire Community area have come together to work jointly to develop an urban strategy. The goal of the strategy is to make Wilshire Boulevard/Wilshire Corridor a better linear urban area for working and for living, to set an example of what L. A. can become, and to help L.A. reinvent itself as many unique centers within a unique world city. Some key elements for a better place are good transportation, good schools and good pedestrian environments.

It has been suggested that we put together a Wilshire Corridor Urban Strategy Conference with leading urban planners, real estate professionals, local community groups and community members this coming spring to develop the Strategy with a series of luncheon leading up to the Conference. A kick off luncheon was held on November 10, 99 on urban schools, and another luncheon was held on transportation,  January 13, 2000.  

The questions are how do we position and define the Wilshire Communities and the Wilshire Corridor in L.A.? Whom do we attract, who is here, and what are their needs? How do we make this place better? How do we make the Corridor a more livable and workable area? The following quote from William Mitchell, Dean of MIT School of Architecture and Planning, offers a solution: "One promising strategy is to pursue the development of polycentric cities (communities) composed of compact, multifunctional, pedestrian-scale neighborhoods interconnected by efficient transportation and telecommunication links. These units might be arranged linearly, along public transport spines. By remixing homes, workplaces, and service facilities in this way, we can seek a more sustainable balance of pedestrian movement, mechanized transportation, and telecommunication."

This linear element in L.A. is Wilshire Boulevard from Downtown to Santa Monica connected by the MTA Red Line and a possible future monorail system (now dead) from the Wilshire/Western MTA station. This Boulevard links some of the most dynamic and varied communities in the Los Angeles County area, such as, Central City, Westlake, Wilshire Center, Miracle Mile (Museum Row), Beverly Hills, Westwood, and Santa Monica. 

The Boulevard represents what makes L. A. a great and unique city - a city of many communities/centers. As Frank Gehry, Architect, said "The real downtown of L. A. is linear, it’s Wilshire Boulevard." In the 20th century Wilshire Boulevard became one of the classic automobile-oriented streets with development of the commercial and residential areas along and around the Boulevard clearly influenced by the automobile. Architectural critic Reyner Banham called this area "the world’s first linear downtown."

As we enter the 21st century we need to rethink the role of the automobile and buses, and look toward a better means of transportation. There is a population currently of approximately 500,000 and a work force of approximately 500,000 along the Wilshire Corridor (Downtown L.A. to Santa Monica). 

It is time to look at a new rapid transportation system for L.A. that is environmentally friendly such as a monorail. Just within the Wilshire Community Plan area (Wilshire Center to Miracle Mile) there is a population of 350,000 (a growth projection to about 400,000 in 2010) and a current work force of 150,000.  Together, the communities along Wilshire Boulevard within the city of Los Angeles make up 10 percent of the city’s population.  A comparison is with Central City, Downtown L.A., with a population of 27,000, and a work force of 210,000.

The stretch between Wilshire Center and Miracle Mile is an ideal corridor for a transportation system of the 21^st century. Featuring office space, museums, and restaurants along one of the most heavily traveled streets in the nation, Wilshire Blvd., and for that matter, Los Angeles would benefit from a cutting edge transportation mode that carries passengers between downtown L.A. and the Westside.

The monorail (a concept shared by 8 of the 11 Coalition members) could have presented a potential mass transit alternative that is cost-effective, quite, convenient and "sexy." It runs on simple, inexpensive elevated tracks that can be constructed, installed and operated without major impact on existing neighborhoods, medians, streets, buses or traffic patterns.

The city now has a unique opportunity to link two vital communities via an innovative and appealing transportation system that will supplement the current bus and shuttle systems.  As Al Martinez, L.A. Times columnist said; "It's difficult to imagine that this world city, this giant of on the rim of the Pacific, this metropolis of tomorrow, is still thinking in terms of yesterday".

The monorail, a concept for this metropolis of tomorrow, is discussed in the latest update of the Wilshire Community Plan, 6/3/99, by the L.A. Planning Department. The monorail concept is talked about in conjunction with a Wilshire bus system and a local shuttle system. The Objective 10-3 of the Plan states we need to encourage the planning, design, and implementation of a light rail, elevated all-electric, rubber-tired, Monorail System, as an additional mode of public transit in the Wilshire Community Plan Area. This public transit system is seen as a way to improve mobility with an efficient, reliable, safe, convenient alternative to automobile travel.

Urban sprawl - for too long this is how urban planners and experts have referred to Los Angeles. Our city has been viewed as a vast wasteland in search of an identity. Recently, however, Los Angeles is on the cusp of reinventing itself. Areas that have been crime-ridden or deteriorating are coming back, not as carbon copy images of one another, but as individual and unique centers. It is critical that Los Angeles continues to invest in and support these varied communities, rather than attempt to replicate other cities by creating a single urban center.

What's true is that Los Angeles is remarkably unique - in culture, diversity and innovation. Its geographic expansiveness is what makes it special and sets it apart from other cities. Local residents have an opportunity to visit several urban centers, not just one and experience the richness and history that each area offers. Los Angeles needs to accept who and what it is and exploit it for what it's worth.

The key to Los Angeles realizing its potential is investing in a "new urban strategy for the 21st century."  Revitalization of individual communities is critical, but it can't be random. It is essential that each program be linked with an overarching planning strategy that brings together the city's diverse communities. It won't detract from the cultural and historical identities of each area, but rather enhances them as residents from across the city have access to what these communities offer.

Key ingredients of the new urban strategy include a local commitment to revitalization, a cooperative working relationship between business and residential communities, pleasant pedestrian environments, strong retail, and good schools. In addition, there must be a component that links these diverse communities together—a modern and efficient transportation system that works cooperatively with the bus system and encourages residents from across the city to travel to other communities.

For too long Los Angeles residents have been trapped in their cars, rarely venturing out of their individual living quadrants. Increasingly oppressive traffic congestion has contributed to this phenomenon with driven singularly focused on just getting home as quickly as possible and "beating the traffic." This situation has done little to encourage people to "sample" what other areas have to offer.

It's time, however, for Los Angeles to face reality and accept the fact that its rate of growth simply cannot be supported by current transportation systems. We must find ways to get people out of their cars and into public transportation systems. No, it hasn't worked yet--but that doesn't mean it can't. The key is to integrate all planning so that it makes sense for everyday people to change the way they have lived their lives.

The Metropolitan Transportation Authority is currently exploring Westside transportation corridors, including Wilshire and Exposition Boulevards. This should be a true study, where communities are allowed to provide meaningful input and provide a voice for what would best serve local needs. In addition to determining which route would make most sense, the MTA is also looking at various means of transportation.

Currently, many legislators seem enamored with a designated busway, designed after the system in Curitiba, Brazil. It should be noted that the city's land use plan was centered on the busways. This isn't necessarily a system that will work anywhere, particularly along already overly congested streets. Another mode of transportation being discussed is the monorail.

Traffic on the Westside of Los Angeles is out of control. Wilshire Boulevard is a major east/west thoroughfare and its congestion is legendary---and it's only going to get worse. The number of trips is expected to increase substantially due to the increase in population and employment on the Westside. The Southern California Association of Governments (SCAG) estimates by 2020:

· 27% increase in population from 1.5 million (1994) to 1.9 million (2020)

· 20% increase in jobs from I million (1994) to 1.2 million (2020)

The higher population and job densities on the Westside (almost triple the population densities of other areas in the County), along with supporting land uses, such as dense commercial and multi-family residential, provide the elements for a successful public transit system. A transit constituency exists, with 13.6% of workers in the study area already using public transit, compared to only 6.8% in the County as a whole.

To address the need for expanded public transportation options in the Westside, the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA), in cooperation with the Federal Transit Administration (FTA), is conducting the Mid-City/Westside Transit Corridor Study. The purpose of the study is to explore alternatives to Metro Rail projects suspended in 1998 due to funding shortfalls and a November 1998 voter approved initiative that prohibited further use of local funds for subway construction. Local funds, however, can be used for aboveground transportation, and the MTA has a $650 million federal earmark for construction of the suspended subway projects.

The MTA is currently in the process of conducting community meetings on this issue and is scheduled to deliver a final recommendation to its board on January 28, 2000. Over the study's 18-month time frame the MTA is set to evaluate the feasibility and effectiveness of the various alternatives, with the goal of narrowing the list to one preferred route. A detailed environmental analysis will follow which will include an extensive public outreach process in early 2000.

It is critical that this process be inclusive and provide the opportunity to address all points of view regarding what Westside route is most logical, as well as determine what means of transportation is preferable among local constituent groups. Phase I of this process is designed to produce a "Locally Preferred Alternative"; hopefully it will be just that, and not a set recommendation predetermined by MTA stakeholders.

The Westside transportation routes out of Wilshire/Western being considered are Wilshire Boulevard, Pico and San Vicente Boulevards and the abandoned Exposition railroad right-of-way. The transit technologies being considered must meet the needs of the Mid-City/Westside and be realistic in today's financial environment. Transit technologies being considered include rail/trolley, busways with dedicated lines, Metro Rail subway/aerial rail extensions, and how a monorail.

Earlier this year, a delegation of local and state officials went to Curitiba, Brazil, for a four-day fact-finding mission on urban transportation systems. Curitiba uses triple-length buses that carry as many as 270 people on some routes. Some County officials estimate that a busway can be built at about 5% of the cost of subways. They contend that existing traffic would not be disrupted because the bus lanes could be built on streets wide enough to accommodate extra lanes along the center median and one additional lane or remove street parking.

The question that remains is--can a system that was designed far a city in Brazil really succeed in urban Los Angeles? Curitiba's bus system grew out of a comprehensive Master Plan which, at its core, had the concept that mobility and land use must be integrated if the city's future design is to succeed. The City was divided into five structural arteries that help to divert transport movement form the city center. Wilshire Boulevard is the main thoroughfare. Mobility is linked with land development, concentrating on five radial corridors and several circumferential corridors to serve suburb to suburb transportation.

Issues and questions around this system include:

· The busway will require removing either the parking lanes and the median strips along Wilshire Boulevard. Considering the immense congestion and need for parking that exists in the area, combined with the multi-million dollar investments local organizations have made to landscape the (including several million dollars invested by the MTA), is this really the wisest transportation plan for the area?

· People who live in Los Angeles have shown that they refuse to get out of their cars to ride a bus. Bus ridership numbers over the past 20 years supports this notion as boardings have declined on MTA buses from a record 1.7 million per day in the mid-1980's to about 1 million today. What makes anyone think that Curitiba buses will be any different?

· Has the MTA already made up its mind and determined that the Curitiba busway will be the "Locally Preferred Alternative"--before the community has weighed in?

The MTA is not the cash cow that it once was in its heyday, when it was reaping billions of dollars in state and federal funds in support of its Metro Rail Program. To make matters worse - due to a court mandated order to buy more buses and a voter-imposed moratorium on spending local transit tax revenues to build subways - the MTA has been forced to consider cheaper alternatives for serving commuters in a region that is the most congested in the nation. Having said that, the triple-bus system is just that, a cheap alternative. But over time this system will not be cheap as compared to an aerial rail system like a monorail.

The Wilshire Corridor is the single most congested thoroughfare, between Santa Monica and downtown Los Angeles. Because of this, most transit experts and city officials as the preferred Red Line route favored the alignment at one time. Rep. Henry Waxman @-Los Angeles) forced the MTA (then the Southern California Rapid Transit District) to alter its plans in 1985 after prohibiting it from tunneling through his district after a methane gas explosion tore through a Ross Dress for Less store at Fairfax and Third Streets. 

As a result, the MTA once again finds itself in a dilemma: How will it alleviate the crippling effects of congestion in such an expansive area with dwindling resources?  Triple-length busways being considered by the MTA will do nothing for Wilshire Blvd. but take up valuable space. Removing any lanes along Wilshire Blvd. will only make traffic worse, compounded by the fact that people will refuse to get out of their cars to ride a bus as past experience has shown. Instead, there needs to be a serious discussion of promoting a mode of transportation that will draw people out of their cars, such as Metro Rail and Metrolink have done for the region.

Monorail systems are proving to be innovative and cost-effective modes of transportation, which can be built for as little as 10 to 15 percent of what it costs to build the L. A. subway. Right of way for such an elevated guideway will require 36"  of Wilshire Blvd. medians to locate support columns, whereas the triple-bus system will require the loss of several parking lanes and/or all of the medians, which our community has recently invested millions of dollars in.  And, private consortiums, comprised of cutting-edge engineering and aerospace firms have  finance, design and build these types of systems with little comparative cost to taxpayers all over the world.

Most importantly a monorail system along Wilshire Blvd. could have accomplished what buses do not - an increase in ridership. The Wilshire Corridor would attract more riders than any other route in Los Angeles County, while in the process improving the region's air quality by prompting fewer residents to drive if given a feasible alternative. However, in order for an alternative along Wilshire Blvd. to enjoy any ridership, it will need to have strong appeal. The Metro Blue Line is the busiest rail line in the nation because it offers a reliable, intelligent and innovative alternative to the grueling and often inconvenient task of commuting by bus from Long Beach to downtown L.A.

The arguments for the monorail concept include the following. It takes nothing out of service, it competes for space with nothing, it produces no pollution, it collides with nothing, it waits for nothing, it interferes with nothing, it makes almost no noise because it has no engines, it is much faster than buses (45 mph versus 9 mph). It is much less costly than buses (buses are about $360,000 each, with at least 15% annual per bus maintenance costs), and finally, the monorail is wonderfully pleasant. No exhaust fumes, no delays, no swaying and lurching through traffic, no potholes, no diesel engine roar, no street level dust blown all over the passengers at the stops, and minimal safety concerns.

In addition to serving the Wilshire Center and Miracle Mile districts, a monorail route could have also serve critical areas of west Los Angeles including UCLA, Century City, Westwood, Beverly Hills and Santa Monica -- all areas that have supported a rail line in the past. This system could have served as a critical link to key employment centers, museums and all the amenities along the route with a viable transportation alternative.

It is truly unfortunate that the MTA was not able to finish tunneling under Wilshire Blvd. However, the MTA is doing itself a tremendous disservice by neglecting the Wilshire Corridor, which already suffers from significant congestion and air pollution from hundreds of buses a day that congest the streets. Clearly there needs to be a greatly improved mode of transportation to move these commuters without sacrificing air quality and surrounding traffic congestion. And in the absence of heavy rail, we believe the only alternative can be accomplished through a cutting-edge monorail system that anyone would be willing to leave their cars behind for.