Here are some pictures that drive me insane:
These are pictures, respectively, of the Vermont /Beverly, Soto/1st, and Vermont/Santa Monica Metro stops.
Why do they drive me insane?
As a city, we are spending billions of dollars to build out our currently-woefully-inadequate public transportation system to turn LA into a normal city.
The single most important factor determining whether people will use trains is how long it takes to get from door to door, inclusive of the walk on either end of the trip.
With that in mind, how insane is it to position your stations in the middle of huge, vacant lots?
Why wouldn’t you build super-dense apartment and/or office projects above the stations?
You would add tens of thousands of daily rides to the system, generate material rental income which could be reinvested in the system, and fill in these ridiculous tears in our urban fabric.
This is such an obvious win that planners at Metro ought to be running around with their hair on fire to make it happen.
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In other, less angry news: Some very kind person sent me a bottle of Blue Label from K&L with no card on it. It’s delicious! Identify yourself and be thanked personally!