It seems we're not the only city suffering from massive transportation problems. We're just the only one famous for it. IYou can't swing a cat these days on BoingBoing without hitting another alternative transportation story. To wit: the French are exploring personal transportation vehicles while the Japanese have produced the first train/bus hybrid. The uber-geeks at Boing Boing (and we mean that as a compliment) have even picked up on the planning nugget du jour: sprawl makes us fat. We're not sure we like all of these other cities honing in on our territory. Horrendous traffic and wacky transportation ideas used to be an area we had a lock on. Obviously, LA domination is beginning to wane. Someone should do something about that.
Oh yeah, Damien Goodmon, our favorite transit gadfly/thinker/awesomely-named activist is hosting an open meeting tonight at Philippe's to discuss the Get LA Moving Plan. On the agenda (among other line items and french dip sandwiches): Current State of Metro Rail and Metrolink, Background/Inspiration: Boston Square System, Get LA Moving System Stats, Getting It Built, Case Studies: Beijing & Madrid, Current Political Obstacles & Solutions. For more info, feel free to email Damien at getlamoving@gmail.com. We have to show the French and Japanese they're not the only ones who can take on traffic head-on.