Streets Without Cars

one night in L.A.                                                           KW

Here in Los Angeles, it's not easy to live without a car. That's the way they wanted it to be, those who built the city. And here in Los Angeles, a year doesn't go by that we don't get the latest prognostication regarding total gridlock. Not a matter of whether, apparently, but of when. Still, it wasn't until a couple of weeks ago that it all became harder to ignore.
   It started when we had to skip dinner before the theater because we couldn't get over 15 mph on the freeway. That reminded me that, a few days before, I had decided against attending a college alumni get-together because the mere thought of sitting in rush-hour exhaust exhausted me. Then, the next day, a good friend bowed out of a party on my side of town because, she said, "I just can't face the traffic." Pathetic? You bet! (But I continue to hold out high hopes for our expanding metro rail system.)
   So of course I was intrigued by this article on the direction many cities in Europe seem to be taking, what with point-A-to-point-B bike rentals, ride sharing, Ubering, and all (which some U.S. cities are adopting as well). Birmingham, England, for example, is in the first phase of a program it's calling Birmingham Connected. Its main proponent could just as well be talking about L.A. when he says, "Birmingham was seen as the champion of the car, and as a result it didn’t develop an underground or the tram network you see in major cities across Europe. There’s been a failure to develop those systems because there’s been no longer-term vision." He's hoping to change that. Helsinki, Finland, is working toward a vision in which "the future resident ... will not own a car."
   And how are the car companies responding to all this? Good question: http://www.theguardian.com/cities/2015/apr/28/end-of-the-car-age-how-cities-outgrew-the-automobile