Comments on: More Measure R Drama: Towns File Suit Against 210-710 Tunnel Project http://la.streetsblog.org/2008/09/05/more-measure-r-drama-towns-file-suit-against-210-710-tunnel-project/ Covering Los Angeles's livable streets movement Tue, 07 Feb 2012 14:06:00 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 By: calwatch http://la.streetsblog.org/2008/09/05/more-measure-r-drama-towns-file-suit-against-210-710-tunnel-project/comment-page-1/#comment-2200 calwatch Sat, 06 Sep 2008 04:15:09 +0000 http://la.streetsblog.org/?p=1115#comment-2200 And that sales tax measure will fail to even get one half of the vote, since 95% of the residents of Los Angeles County have access to a car, 85% of the residents use them to get to work, and 70% of all residents drive alone to work. Failure to please the automobile lobby is just a recipe for failure. (Have you noticed how much time on TV is devoted to car ads?) The AAA has more members than there are transit riders in Los Angeles County, and unlike transit riders, they can send as much advertising to their membership on their mailing list as they wish. And historically, the AAA has not minded a good percentage of funding going for transit. It has given in the past, gratis, its ACSC maps (which used to be some of the best paper maps in the world, at times equaling the Thomas Guide) to Santa Monica Big Blue Bus, Culver Citybus, and Foothill Transit for them to overlay their routes onto them. All they asked for is some long playing bottlenecks to be resolved, and Metro obliged by throwing some money to roads. Until transit gets a 25 or 30% share countywide (so that the average person knows a family member of close friend who is a transit rider, and doesn't consider them nuts), don't anger car drivers unnecessarily. John and Ken's million listeners, the Auto Club's six million members, and the owners of the 12 million cars in LA County should not be underestimated. And that sales tax measure will fail to even get one half of the vote, since 95% of the residents of Los Angeles County have access to a car, 85% of the residents use them to get to work, and 70% of all residents drive alone to work. Failure to please the automobile lobby is just a recipe for failure. (Have you noticed how much time on TV is devoted to car ads?) The AAA has more members than there are transit riders in Los Angeles County, and unlike transit riders, they can send as much advertising to their membership on their mailing list as they wish. And historically, the AAA has not minded a good percentage of funding going for transit. It has given in the past, gratis, its ACSC maps (which used to be some of the best paper maps in the world, at times equaling the Thomas Guide) to Santa Monica Big Blue Bus, Culver Citybus, and Foothill Transit for them to overlay their routes onto them. All they asked for is some long playing bottlenecks to be resolved, and Metro obliged by throwing some money to roads.

Until transit gets a 25 or 30% share countywide (so that the average person knows a family member of close friend who is a transit rider, and doesn’t consider them nuts), don’t anger car drivers unnecessarily. John and Ken’s million listeners, the Auto Club’s six million members, and the owners of the 12 million cars in LA County should not be underestimated.

]]> By: ubrayj02 http://la.streetsblog.org/2008/09/05/more-measure-r-drama-towns-file-suit-against-210-710-tunnel-project/comment-page-1/#comment-2195 ubrayj02 Fri, 05 Sep 2008 19:37:26 +0000 http://la.streetsblog.org/?p=1115#comment-2195 We'll have the right kind of sales tax initiative when the AAA and automobile dealers are fighting to stop it from passing. We’ll have the right kind of sales tax initiative when the AAA and automobile dealers are fighting to stop it from passing.

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