How To Fix LA Traffic! LA Transportation Officials Endorse LANCC Transportation Committee!

Three speakers addressed the Los Angeles Neighborhood Councils Congress’ fledgling Transportation Committee – but there was only message: Neighborhood Councils must work together to fix LA’s traffic problems

Committee co-chair, former Los Angeles Department of Transportation James Okazaki, President of the Los Angeles Commission of Transportation, Paul Kim, and Wendy Greuel, chair of the city council’s Committee on Transportation, challenged 35 council members last Saturday to collectively work with them and the City of Los Angeles to fix a broken system.

By the end of the meeting, twenty-four NC members signed up to participate in the committee.

Wendy Greuel discussed how individuals can make a difference such as using 311 to remove illegally parked trucks or reporting malfunctioning signals in their neighborhoods. She also described the dramatic affect she has personally experienced in how synchronization of traffic lights can reduce rush hour congestion.

Commissioner Kim next emphasized how NC’s can best understand their own neighborhoods and how the NC’s need to unite to create meaningful change in the city’s priorities when it comes to linking development and traffic. Commissioner Kim also handed out his card to anyone who needed help with specific problems.

And whenever Greuel or Kim needed a question answered – or a fact checked, Committee co-chair James Okazaki provided them the information from his over 35 years of transportation expertise. James then pledged to use that expertise to help NC’s navigate the many agencies that manage the transportation systems of Los Angeles.

The next meeting will be in March when the committee will discuss how individual NC’s can deal with specific local problems and how the committee can collectively work with transportation professionals on developing a new neighborhood oriented transit master plan for the greater Los Angeles area.

If you are interested in joining the committee or being notified of the next meeting, email Brady Westwater at bradywestwater@gmail.com