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h/t for video via Streesblog LA
Department of Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood visited Los Angeles last week and took a tour of the Gold Line Eastside Extension, which is expected to open soon (no date had been announced, though). The line will run between Union Station and East LA.
"This whole rail line is way ahead what we are talking about in Washington," exclaimed LaHood. "This is what we mean by livable communities. You build it and they will come."
Charity Tran, a fellow LA blogger at ExperienceLA, the region's official website dedicated to public transit and cultural events exemplifies her website's mission and is car-free, commuting to work every day via the Red Line. Her housing situation has turned and she's looking for a new place, hopefully in downtown near work or along a rail transit corridor so she can keep to her car free ways. What she's found in the first week of searching is a little middle class American drama: anything affordable along a rail line is for low-income workers and everything else is too expensive (if you've got any helpful tips, leave a comment below).
No doubt, something will come up for Tran as her search continues, but for those who can afford to move in next to transit, are they using it? An LA Times investigation proved otherwise (similar results in an LA Weekly feature) a couple years ago, but as far as we know, no studies about Los Angeles transit corridors in regards to this issue has come out. Former LA Times transit reporter Steve Hymon began to question it last year, too. "Something I've noticed in recent months is that a lot of what's getting built near mass transit is labeled as 'luxury' housing," he noted.
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And all that luxury housing comes with parking, or with street permits!
If gas goes higher, things will change, but a lot of that depends on how much higher it gets, as well as people's driving habits. Some people have no choice but to use cars, and high gas prices hurt them. Right now, gas is at the right price point to encourage me to use public transit. I spend about $100 a month on transportation. That's enough to either fill up my gas tank 3 times and drive to work everyday, or it's enough to fill my tank once for the times I need to drive and to buy a monthly metro pass for the rest of the time. The latter comes with the benefits of less pollution, less wear on my car, and more walking/exercise for me. But not everyone sees it that way.
If biking is an option, she can look a little further away than the normal transit corridor - with bikes probably being "allowed" on trains, now. For example, when I lived in Melrose Hill, biking to the red line at Hollywood and Western could have been an option, or taking a bus up Western to the red line. Koreatown also has some options near the purple line. I have several friends who live there, not all in good financial circumstances.
Uh, negatory, LaHood. I'm from L.A. and I live in DC. And he's wrong. DC has done it from the beginning and it's just plain expensive to live here. L.A. just never got the big picture and now they're scrambling to get it done, and it's just too expensive now.
I'm reading the LA Times article, and I need to make a few more comments:
Congestion pricing works in some cities. It costs like $12 to get into Manhattan, way more than that to get into London. It's significantly cheaper to use public transit. However, I doubt this could ever be implemented in Los Angeles, given the nature of the city.
Parking is no where near as ubiquitous in other cities as it is in LA. I get free parking at work. I have to pay for my transit pass myself. For that reason, I compared the cost of gas for getting myself to work to the cost of the pass. When my boyfriend worked in downtown Boston, parking cost several hundred dollars a month. His company would either pay for parking or pay for a commuter train pass. He and his father both chose the latter. More companies in LA need to subsidize transit - and locate themselves near trains or major bus depots. And then spread the word to employees that they'll pay for a pass. Even if you still own a car and use it occasionally, meaning you still spend on insurance, etc, you'll save a ton of money by getting a FREE metro pass and not buying gas. Financial incentives (rather than environmental, etc) are by far the biggest predictor of who will do what.
There are quite a few affordable and not designated low-income apartments & houses in the Hollywood/Western area! Yeah, it's not the NICEST area of LA, but I've never felt scared walking around and it's really close to everything, especially via the Red Line.
Something else that I've found is that if the housing near public transportation is affordable to more middle class families, the apartments are usually "bad" for some reason. In my neck of the woods, the badness comes from the nearby freeway. I specifically live someplace so that I can walk to the Red Line and not own a car, however, this also means I am living right next to the 101 freeway. This is bad for health, safety and sanity (I thought I was hearing voices until I realized I was just hearing the police on the freeway, chasing after people while talking on their speaker systems). The way some of these "livable communities" plans are laid out, the people trying to avoid cars have to deal with the worst aspects of car culture! Building managers are also not open to renting apartments without the parking space being included. In my case I am explicitly prohibited from using the parking space for anything except storing a car.
I know that my living situation is not unique as you see countless apartment buildings lining the freeways all over Los Angeles. There is another development with this same issue being developed in Pasadena near the Del Mar train station. Take a look at the freeway near the Lincoln Heights Gold Line station. The only good thing is that I can tell you from personal experience that a decent number of the residents in my apartment building do use the near-by Red Line.
Have you ever been to Arlington, Virginia. This urban county right across the Potomac River from the Washington, D.C. got it right in terms of transit-oriented communities with a mix of low-income, middle-class and luxury housing. Just take a ride along the Metro Orange Line and get off at Clarendon or Ballston. Here is more info on Arlington's successful urban villages: http://www.commuterpage.com/ART/villages/index.htm
I live in LA (Westchester, specifically) and I don't own a car. I live with my girlfriend and we share one car that she takes to work. I ride my bike to a bus, which takes me to downtown LA where I work.
It can be done.
Of course it can be done. People are just too lazy to do it. There are times I want to sleep an extra half hour rather than get up early and walk to Hollywood and Highland, but I do. Usually.
I live near the Pershing Square Metro Station in Downtown Los Angeles on Hill and 4th Street. I take the Red Line and the Gold Line to work in Pasadena. I am happy and middle class without the daily use of a car to get to and from work.
The funny thing is, when you don't have to waste money on a car, you're more likely to BE middle class, rather than pouring all your savings into a heap of metal. ;-) Gas, insurance, maintenance, repairs, the cost of the car, and depreciation sucks up a huge portion of a pay check.
Its easy when the office is on Lake Avenue in Pasadena and the longest part of my commute is waiting for the light to turn green on Colorado Blvd.
I live near the Pershing Square Metro Station in Downtown Los Angeles on Hill and 4th Street. I take the Red Line and the Gold Line to work in Pasadena. I am happy and middle class without the daily use of a car to get to and from work.
i live in los feliz around vermont/franklin area and take the red line routinely to downtown and hollywood from the vermont/sunset stop. housing is very reasonable, especially as you get closer to the subway. it is about a .7 mile walk for me, but there are many options closer - middle class public transportation can definitely be done.
We live in Studio City, very middle class, and we are 5 minutes from 1 bus stop that goes to Hollywood or to the NoHo red line station, 10 minutes walk from 4 more bus lines, including a Rapid, and a 15-20 minute walk from the Universal City red line station.
We've lived car-free for a year and a half, and have a Ralph's, Starbucks, dry cleaner, neighborhood bars, and pharmacy all within a 10-minute walk. One Rapid stop away is a Trader Joe's and a weekly farmer's market.
I'd be happy to have Charity as a neighbor!
The thing is, a lot of it has to do with *perception* and *stigma*. People really don't want to be labeled as "one of those".
It is *somewhat* acceptable to be a known rail transit rider. Yet the *bus*? Forget it. (partially due to it's high transient ridership). Yes there are some exceptions to the rule and they are awesome, yet sometimes it seems like there should be critMass equivalents of transit rides, just to break up the stigma a bit.
Like anything else, real estate and rental properties are all about location. There are nooks and crannies that exist, yet it usually takes a bike rides distance from the station to get a reasonable price. Anything that's even *somewhat* reasonable is going to have some rough edges.
Thank all the soulless real estate vampire opportunists for that one. They really wrecked this town. Did you know, for instance, that Venice and Santa Monica were actually totally *affordable* 15 years ago, and had a vibrant middle class community?
I completely agree with that. When you mention you've taken the bus to work, people ask, "Oh, is your car in the shop?" Or they assume you're too poor to have a car, lost your license, or got in a bad wreck recently. Sometimes they offer to drive you places out of pity, because it's totally better and quicker than taking the BUS for crying out loud!
While the subway is definitely a smoother ride, with more breathing room, the express buses are quite convenient. They're mainly newer, large, timely, and stop at major transit centers. Buses can be crowded, but personally I'm never on one for more than 30 minutes or so. I'm also starting to prefer the car-free commute. Not only because I get to read or watch an episode of Lost on my iPod. At first, not hauling around all your stuff and having your own personal space in your car is kind of scary. I mean, I'm 10 miles from my house right now with no car, and only the purse I brought with me today. The first few times I did this I felt sort of stranded, but I'm really anything but. After a while, it's quite liberating. Not to mention, metro makes for great people watching. It's a way to feel connected to people in a city where people complain they never do. I think there's so little privacy in Manhattan because no one has a car to retreat to. But I'm now rethinking whether that's a bad thing or not.
May I recommend the Valley Glen area, around the Orange Line Valley College and Woodman stations? It's only a few stops to the North Hollywood Red Line transfer point. It's fairly middle class -- lots of nice smallish single-family homes on tree-lined streets, if that's your kinda thing. I live there and I'm car-free, fwiw.
It just all depends on what "middle class" means to you. It seems that the term has become more a lifestyle (two kids, suburban home, two cars) than an income indicator. You can get a condo in Downtown for $200k, or you can get a house in Riverside for that same amount. It's your choice.
One area not mentioned yet , that hasn't trendHO'd up the wazoo *yet* is East Hollywood (proximity of Vermont between Sunset and Santa Monica).
The added bonus you can go to Scoops, the best ice cream place in town (if not he world).
Hey everyone! As the Charity indicated in the article, thanks for all the tips. Just found a place recently in the K-town area - close to subway and major bus transit lines. Definitely possible, but like any living situation, one must certainly need to look long and hard for a good place :).