Mayor-Elect Eric Garcetti was on Reddit last night to field suggestions for how to "create jobs and solve problems in LA neighborhoods." The responses were surprisingly earnest and revealed a whole lot of love for the city's MyLA311 app. Garcetti replied to about 30 comments out of more than 600 on the thread. Here are some highlights:
-- The most popular question was about rail through the Sepulveda Pass. Here's the new mayor's take: "I support rail through the Sepulveda Pass, probably with a two-tiered tunnel that will take cars (for a toll, helping to pay for the cost of building the tunnel) and transit from Sherman Oaks to Westwood in 10 minutes. We need a rail line that starts in the north Valley and hopefully gets to Westchester eventually, even LAX. I have already met with Art Leahy and with AECOM (who is doing scoping plans for the tunnel) and want to include moving this forward as part of my transportation and transit agenda."
-- On the lack of north/south rail lines: "Crenshaw Line will be north-south, as would a Sepulveda/405 line. I've always thought it is strange how we fixate on East-West routes and streets at the expense of North-South ones."
-- On gang intervention and salsa: "Homeboy is excellent, and makes a killer salsa (I love the Morita)."
-- On pot shops: "I supported (the successful) passage of Measure D to provide safe access and give us some tools to help regulate the number of dispensaries, just as we do with restaurants or coffee houses. And I have consistently said that the federal government needs to reclassify cannabis. And that if the voters of California wanted to legalize recreational use, I would support that."
-- On green jobs: "As mayor, I will implement my 20,000 green jobs program which will focus on solar installation, water clean-up (by the way, EVERYONE has to come to the re-opening of Echo Park Lake this Saturday, which was a great environmental clean-up and jobs-creating undertaking), and energy efficiency programs for local buildings. Check it out!"
-- On bringing Google Fiber (their high speed internet service) to LA: "Yum. Fiber."
-- On littering: "Tom LaBonge, my colleague, is very passionate about this and the problem is not increasing the fines, it is enforcement. No one fines anyone for littering right now. I'm also looking at smarter trash can systems like Big Belly Solar which can compress trash, sort recycling, uses solar energy, and communicates with us when the bins are full, so we more efficiently send out trash trucks for pickups when they are needed and we don't have overflow."
-- The comment that asked him to "allow music festivals to happen in LA again, especially at the coliseum. Huge festivals like electric daisy carnival bring in a huge inflow of cash to the city and surrounding neighborhoods" got a "YES" from Garcetti.
And a few comments that didn't get responses:
-- From the history wonks at Esotouric: "Without an interior landmarking ordinance, there is no way to ensure the preservation of L.A.'s greatest interior spaces--no matter how historic, beautiful or significant. (Two examples of the type of unique spaces that have no protection are The Bradbury Building's atrium and Ernest Batchelder's tile murals in the Dutch Chocolate Shoppe.)"
-- From someone who maybe read this post: "We should make Hollywood and Highland pedestrian-only the way NYC did with Times Square. It's closed a good part of the time anyway for protests, festivals, The Academy Awards, etc."
-- From a Greuel supporter: "Now to answer the actual question: If you build a monorail that connects major parts of the city and work with Santa Monica, Beverly, Hills, Westwood, etc; then everyone will love you and you will be remembered in LA history."
-- From someone who did not agree with Downtown News's field reporting: "Im currently moving out of LA. The Arts District Downtown lost their BID due to a lawsuit and now trash and crime is spilling out from Skid Row. We've had numerous car break-ins and apartment break-ins (myself included) as well as straight up biohazards from homeless using the streets as their toilets. My questions is: A) What are you going to do about skid row in general and B) What are you going to do about the only place downtown without an active BID?"
· I'm Eric Garcetti [Reddit]
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