In the May 18,m 2008, edition of the Los Angeles Times, California section, was an article on the parking situation in Los Angeles. Quoted was a businessman who complained that drivers should not have to walk two or three blocks from parking to get to their destinatioin.
Drivers have become soft, indeed, if walking two or three blocks after parking is considered a hardship. This pampering attitude towards drivers in Los Angeles is ignorant of what transit riders must do: walk from the transit stop to their destination. sometimes many blocks. We are fully aware of this, and it hasn’t stopped us, particularly those in wheelchairs (Not walking, but they are mobile on the sidewalks and brave city life to ride transit.), or seniors who use canes or walkers or just hobble along, or mothers and nannies with their children in strollers.
This fear of walking is why Los Angeles can appear to be such a soulless place, with people stuck in vehicles unwilling to get out of their mobile living rooms. It is an attitude detrimental to the city’s financial health. The Third Street Promenade in Santa Monica is a huge success where people park blocks and walk to its businesses. It can also be a parking nightmare, similar to Westwood, but I avoid this when I take the bus to either place, get off, walk blocks around and see drivers scurrying to find parking, sitting in traffic wasting gas, adding more air pollution and global warming gases.
