Ways to Cut Traffic

The split between the Los Angeles Department of Transportation and Councilwoman Ruth Galanter over the traffic improvement plan is missing half of the banana.

First, computerized traffic-signal systems and wider streets will not reduce traffic. They will just provide space for more vehicles. It’s like digging a hole in water.

Second, Councilwoman Galanter is correct in using money as a method to obtain an end and in moving workers closer to their workplace to reduce times spent driving. But that’s just a start--she didn’t finish her plan.

Until the passage of Proposition 13, government agencies used the power of taxation to control development. Now, with a little practice, government can use builder fees to increase or limit growth and, with a little thought, traffic.

Low-income housing is a start toward reducing traffic trips, but a very small start. The trip to work is but one of many trips made from a home. All trips that originate from the home must be dealt with, and the destinations of all those trips should be moved closer to home when possible.

If potential drivers cannot work at home, most of them should be able to walk or ride a bicycle to work. And a community should have most home-originated trip destinations in its immediate area: markets, department stores, professional services, etc. A community should be a mixed residential, commercial and industrial where feasible--a little city without a bureaucracy.

The Department of Transportation and Councilwoman Galanter should observe what people do and then plan accordingly. It’s a lot easier to react to people’s behavior than it is to change it.

K. R. JEWETT

Playa del Rey