CityWatch Picks Up My Huffington Post Column on Solving LA Housing & Traffic Gridlock Crisis

CityWatch just put up my first of six Huffington Post columns on how to collectively solve LA's traffic & housing problems. They will be part of my twice a week column called - An Rx for Los Angeles - 101 Way to Fix a Broken City - and by the end of next year - I will... finally.... have enough raw material for me to also... finally.... edit it all into book form. Half of the columns will draw upon projects I - and/or - others of us Downtown or in other parts of Los Angeles - have already done or are in the works of working on. The other half will be proposals for larger scale projects that should to be done.

Below is the start of the first column and the above link will go to CItyWatch which will take you to the HP site for the rest of the column. If you have any comments - or suggestions - please leave them at the Huffington Post site.

How to Save the Los Angeles Times, End Rush Hour Traffic, Solve the Housing Crisis (And Not Have to
Westwater Downtown
By Brady Westwater (Posted first at huffingtonpost.com/LosAngeles)

Two of the most important decisions any of us ever make is where we decide to live and what job we choose to accept. Rush hour traffic, however, proves how wrong we all can be.

But it is hard to make informed choices when there are so many housing options within 20 miles of any job. And if you fall in love with a house -- it's hard to know what jobs might be within commuting distance.

There are also those who are trapped in homes or jobs that are no longer right for them -- but who stick with them because they are too exhausted from day-to-day life to summon the energy to fix their lives.

But in chaos exists opportunity. Someday, a local media company -- such as the LA Times or Rubicon -- or someone such as Jay Penske -- will realize there is a need for a website that contains everything anyone in Los Angeles needs to correctly make those decisions.

A single site with every possible housing option in greater Los Angeles, and every imaginable job option.

A site with public school test scores, statistics for charter and private schools, locations of medical facilities, churches and temples -- and everything else (crime rates, air pollution, etc.) anyone needs to know.

A site that ranks every job and housing option -- based on your needs -- and then -- and here's the first killer app -- it sorts them first by the physical distance, and then by real world, rush hour commuting time distance by car and then by every different transit option -- between each job and every housing option.

Everyone will suddenly have far more options, while also being able to quickly reduce the numbers of those options to more manageable numbers.

But helping people already looking for a new job or a home is only a start.

The key part of this killer app is that everyone can input their desired jobs, housing and commute times, long before they need them.

They will then get emails with every new job and new housing opportunity that meets their needs.

And that's when the larger societal and personal benefits start to kick in. (The rest of Brady Westwater’s column here.)

(Brady Westwater is Mr Downtown. He helped found the Downtown LA Neighborhood Council, Gallery Row, Downtown Fashion Week, the Art & Fashion Walks while working on civic planning projects from the Police Headquarters to the Park 101 Freeway Cap and recruiting 50 businesses and non-profits to Downtown. He blogs at www.lacowboy.blogspot.com & www.downtownfashionwalk.blogspot.com. You can follow him on Twitter: www.twitter.com/bradywestwater . This article was posted first at www.huffingtonpost.com/losangeles) ◘




CityWatch
Vol 7 Issue 101
Pub: Dec 11, 2009