SF vs. LA Transit

So the SF Giants have managed to make it all the way to the World Series, take down the un-hittable Cliff Lee and win the first of four games to be crowned Champions of Baseball. But how does the Bay Area's transit system match up to LA's?

1. The airport: SF's rail line picks you up at the airport. LA makes you take a shuttle that can be confusing and time consuming. 1 point SF.

2. Price: This is tough, because it depends what system you are using in SF. There are two main transit operators: BART- the Bay Area Rapid Transit and Muni which is the local bus and light rail provider within SF proper. BART's prices are based on geographical distance with a heavy premium for the airport. It cost $8.10 from SFO to Civic Center station (approximately 25 minute trip). The Metro line is $1.50 per ride with no transfers, so if you happened to only take the Green Line to the LAX shuttle it would only cost $1.50. If you had to transfer a day pass might save you some money and runs $5.00, still cheaper than BART. Muni though can be significantly cheaper than Metro, because it allows on and off privileges for 90 minutes for $2 and we managed to go from brunch, to Golden Gate park and to lunch all on one fare. Metro does not allow transfers and taking four buses would have cost $6.00 at a $1.50 per ride. 1 point for SF for Muni's transfers, 1 point for Metro for non-geography based fares.

3. Convenience: Now here's where SF really stands out from LA. First, BART has a paper fare card that can be reused, reducing the number of times you have to visit the fare machine. Times for when the next BART or Muni will arrive are available online and via the iPhone. In the station, times are listed for the next arrival of a train (soon to be available in LA, but should have been around for awhile now). Metro only recently created an iPhone app, but it still does not provide real-time updates for bus/rail arrivals and there is no mobile version of bus/rail schedules (only a painfully slow-loading PDF version). 1 point for SF

4. Style: Now I know this is not as important, but I do want to at least give props to LA for not putting carpet and fully upholstered seats on their rail like BART. I always worry about the number of germs and nastiness that must be living in them. Also, MUNI has weird seat set-ups in their buses with seats facing each other that seem like space wasters. Plus, the public service ads in MUNI paled in comparison to the beautiful Metro ad campaigns.
1 point for LA

Final tally: SF, 3 vs. LA, 2. Looks a lot like our baseball season, they're better than us, but not by much. And with today's approval of the expansion to the Westside, we'll start being able to build a system in the near future that can compete with our Northern neighbors.

L.A. ranked #4 among workers using transit

A recent release from the U.S. Census Bureau's American Community Survey listed the LA Metro region #4 in terms of the number of workers using transit, but the percentage of workers using transit LA is still lagging behind at 6.2%. I think there may be several reasons for the lack of more transit riders, but here's a few:

1. Employers are more willing to subsidize parking rather than transit. Until parking becomes a scarcity it is a difficult sell. Metro has already put in place reduced transit fares for employers through its B-Tap program. Unfortunately, Metrolink's sizable expense results in employer reimbursements' accounting for a very small portion of the cost. In other cities such as SF, DC and NY the cost of a monthly parking spot can equal rent on a small studio.

2. Many of public transit riders in LA are not workers, but rather students, elderly and of course those people who don't ride i.e. the unemployed. Not that other Metropolitan areas don't have the same types of riders, but I think LA has a disproportionate amount of non-working riders. I would be interested to see how LA matches up against other areas when all transit riders are considered.

3. LA has several areas where the majority of workers are headed. Traveling to DTLA via transit is very doable, but other city centers: Century City, Long Beach, Santa Monica, Westwood, Burbank, etc. are so spread apart that having reliable, frequent trips for workers is difficult.

The reasons I ride transit have a lot to do with the fact that my transit is subsidized by my employer; I work in DTLA at a transit hub, i.e. Union Station; and I learned how to ride transit from my time at USC where parking costs over $300/semester (parking scarcity). Take away one of those and I might be with the other 93.8% of workers in the LA Metro area- stuck in traffic, in a car by myself, listening to NPR and cursing.

Constructive Tweeting

I had a bummer experience on Metro last Friday. After leaving a little early to be able to purchase some breakfast on my way to work, I arrived with a good 3 minutes to purchase my one-way pass with my pre-paid token. The first machine I used ate my token. I put it in and nothing happened, no ticket, no returned token. Now instead of being a smart Metro rider, I decided to try the same machine again. I thought maybe my first token was stuck and the second would jar it. Bad idea as my second token was promptly swallowed up.

The Mission Gold Line station only has two machines for each direction. The other was being used by what I could only assume was an infrequent Metro rider, as she used at $20 bill to purchase her $1.50 pass and spent several moments trying to count up her $1 coins. Luckily, she finished up her transaction in time for me to put my 3rd token in the second machine and retrieve my fare with time to run to the train. So after $4.50 spent in tokens I finally had valid proof of fare. Needless to say I was not pleased and promptly fired off a tweet to @metrolosangeles. I received a reply tweet a few hours later that I should call the 323.Go.Metro customer service line to report what had happened or use the intercom located next to the ticket machines in the future. Unfortunately, neither of these options would work for me, because the Customer Service line has notoriously interminable wait times (over 20 minutes) to reach an agent and I was not going to miss my train just to talk to someone on the intercom. Plus, I feel that Twitter is a great forum to receive real-time information from customers about service issues and relay the information to whomever needs to know and if @metrolosangeles is not the appropriate Twitter handle to respond to, I suggest the Customer Service folks at 323.Go.Metro to start their own.

I guess to add icing on the cake, when I exited at Union Station I was greeted by no less than 6 Sheriff officers asking for proof of fare. If I had been someone who could not afford to waste 3 tokens or who only had exact fare I would have been fined despite my good faith effort. I made sure to relay to them the problem at Mission Station's ticket machine and they did seem to be at least mildly interested in the information.

For better or worse, my tweet was posted on Metro's Source blog. I hope to be listed under compliments in addition to rants one day, because no one likes a Debbie Downer.

TAP Cards and Turnstiles

Metro's electronic fare system, TAP, was in the news again for the cost of installing locking turnstiles that are still not being fully utilized and the slow adoption of riders from paper to electronic. Although, many of the assertions made in the Daily News article are true there is little doubt that the majority of other public transit entities in the U.S. struggled through the same issues when they transferred from paper to electronic fare systems. Other systems do have advantages though to LA's Metro including having staffed stations that allow for confused riders and problems to be addressed in real-time by a Metro employee and a much larger rail system that was built with turnstiles originally in mind. I never quite understood what made Metro choose to start with a honor system except for that when the Red Line was built it was feared to be rarely used by anyone let alone have to worry about fare evasion. As the network has grown and lines are added the increased need for oversight has made this system a problem. As a regular rider, I take offense to being constantly asked by Sheriffs and fare checkers for my proof of transit. I often see them paying more careful attention to patrons that one might expect to be potential fare evaders: teens on skateboards, individuals that are asleep, etc. Without a system that ensures every rider has paid the profiling will continue.

As for the article's questioning as to why more riders haven't adopted TAP, I believe that until paper tickets are no longer an option for students and seniors, there will be little motivation to move to the new system. People enjoy what is familiar and will not change unless forced. With the increase of use there will hopefully be more outlets to purchase a TAP and remove the burden of finding an outlet near you. And maybe one day soon, Metro will be able to lock those pretty new turnstiles once and for all.

Am I a loser?

According to Hollywood, I just might be. Slate has a great article entitled "Dude, Where's your car?: How not having a car became Hollywood shorthand for loser". This is an idea not lost on me. I often wonder what people think about the fact that I live in L.A. and there's only 1 freeway-drivable car in a 2-person household. I would argue that not having a car to get me to all my destinations, has increased my cool factor.

1. I'm not stuck in my car for 90-120 minutes a day commuting 5 days a week. Although this means I don't get to listen to endless amounts of bad radio, I do get to spend my commuting time listening to my iPod and This American Life podcasts.

2. By having only 1 car, we were forced to move to a transit-friendly neighborhood. In addition to being near transit I also live within two blocks of a local wine store, Trader Joe's, two yoga studios, half a dozen restaurants, two coffee shops and a bakery.

3. I'm able to shop at the weekly Thursday farmer's market, something I never got home in time to visit when I drove. I can also make almost any yoga class or dinner date within 30 minutes of me being off of work, even on a Friday! (Gasp! Has taking public transit turned me into one of those crazy hipsters who only shop locally? And if so, isn't that the definition of Hollywood cool these days?)

4. A weird side effect of not driving during the week is how little I drive on the weekends and nights. The bearded man and I tend to stay within the 10 mile radius area around our place, which just happens to include Downtown LA the newest cool spot to be in Lala land.

So I guess I will dust off those weird stares and uncomfortable pauses when I tell people I don't drive very regularly. I'll remind myself there are millions of New Yorkers who never even care to get their license and not worry about being called out like poor Cher.

Too many transfers, too many delays

My coworker is a brave soul. She travels on 3 Metro rail lines a day to get to work: Green to Blue to Red. The total distance of her commute if she drove would be a little over 13 miles. For the most part taking public transit works for her. She doesn't spend close to an hour in traffic, her car isn't forced to put on mileage and since work pays for the majority of her monthly pass it's cost effective. But there's something that is rarely taken into account: the psychological toll of relying on transit day after day to get you to and from a place 10+ times a week. The problem is that with 3 rail lines that's 3 times as many places for things to go wrong, multiply that by a round trip and that's 6 times a day things could go wrong, multiply that by 5 days a week and you're up to 30 times...you get the picture. The problem becomes when the days that the trip goes off without a hitch start to seem fewer than the number of times SOMETHING goes wrong. This can range from something minor like one or two doors not opening on a train causing momentary chaos at every station to a crash with a car, requiring everyone switching to a bus bridge. In LA it tends to be the Blue Line with problems more often than the others, and in Washington D.C. it typically was the Red Line, but when one of these "problem" lines are on your daily commute your ability to rely on transit as a timely and efficient option starts to dwindle. Not to say Metro isn't trying the twitter feed @metrolosangeles has started keeping much better with transit alerts and continues to be responsive via the source blog for issues being raised by customers. Check them both out if you're a rider or just a transit enthusiast.

The end of $2.00 for a monthly pass

Today is the end of June which for most people means that the year is halfway through, but for those transit riders out there it means the start of a new fiscal year and LOTS of changes. Tomorrow LA Metro will increase the base fare by $.25 to $1.50 and the monthly pass will go from $62.00 to $75.00! I am lucky that my employer pays for $60 towards my transit costs in lieu of paying that same amount for parking. The tough decision now will be whether to continue buying the monthly pass or switching to tokens. There are a few pros and cons to each.

Pros for tokens- I will only buy $60 worth a month and therefore have no out of pocket expense.
Cons for tokens- I no longer get to TAP my way on to the bus/train each morning. Not to mention the inconvenience of having to purchase my pass everyday. And it's possible I'll use up all of my tokens and need to pay out of pocket anyways.

I've decided to try tokens for one month and see how it goes. Tomorrow should also mean a shakeup for Metro's bus routes which means new schedules/routes/stops, etc. Trying to figure everything out is difficult, but we have 511 to the rescue! Similar to 911 for emergencies, 511 is for transit and transportation. Southern California recently unveiled it's go511.com site with transit planning information, traffic alerts, carpool and bike information. It's a lot more user friendly then the trip planner offered on Metro's website AND more comprehensive than Google transit. (Sidenote: This may not be Google's fault since transit companies must be willing to provide the site with route and time information for this to work.) 511 might not be everything to everyone, but it is the dawn of Southern California transit being integrated on a regional scale that is easily accessible from any computer! Woo hoo!

Stranded on the Gold Line

Yes I have to admit that for two evenings in a row, my favorite method of transport, the Gold Line, left me stranded. Monday evening I left work to ride the 6:10pm train to Sierra Madre Villa station from Union Station when an announcement comes on that the train will be leaving in approximately 3 minutes. This is odd, considering this will make the train late something that I'm happy to report is relatively rare for the Gold Line, particularly during morning/evening rush hour. After a few minutes, the driver instructs everyone to exit the train, as it will be going south to Atlantic Station. We are then told that a train running north will be arriving shortly. Two more trains arrive traveling southbound and still no northbound train. Finally, we get the real update there is police activity at the Chinatown station and train service between Union Station and Lincoln/Cypress station has been canceled for an undetermined amount of time.

Rather than being smart and heading over to the nearest happy hour I decide to go on a bus adventure with the goal of reaching Gold Line's Lincoln/Cypress station and continuing on my trip home. Unfortunately, Metro's website does not include a mobile transit trip planner and loading the full version on my iPhone takes an excruciatingly long time. I decide to wing it and board the LADOT DASH to Lincoln Heights/Chinatown. Turns out this bus goes by the Gold Line station, but stops about 1 mile away. I decide to transfer to Metro Line #45 which also has a head sign of "Lincoln Heights" but alas this bus also does not meet up with the Gold Line. I decide to exit and transfer to my third bus, Metro Rapid Line #751 which travels along Daly and does meet up with the Gold Line station. To make a long story short, my 15 minute ride turned into a 90 minute ordeal.

Considering I've been using the Gold Line as my main commuting transit option I am pleasantly surprised that in 6 months I had only two days when getting to/from work had taken significantly longer than it would have driving. That was until yesterday when I was stranded again for the second time. Luckily, this time I was already at Lincoln/Cypress station when the police activity shut down the northbound trains and I quickly phoned the bearded man to come retrieve me and spirit me away home. But what about those riders who do not have a back-up option? In order for public transit to become a viable option for those who do not HAVE to take transit, giving riders a sense of security that they will be able to reach their destination in a reasonable amount of time or offer options in the event of emergency is key. I was hoping that the new Twitter feed @metrolosangeles might be able to alleviate this by reporting in real-time issues affecting service. This is not currently possible, but I'm glad to see that Metro's blog the Source was at least responsive to the fact that its passengers are talking on Twitter about service issues. I'm particularly excited that my frustrated tweet from Monday evening made it to the Twitter Tuesday post, check it out here. Hopefully, this will be the last of the mysterious shutdowns due to unexplained police activity at least for awhile, I'll be keeping my fingers crossed as I stand on the platform.

Dodger Game Express

I had the privilege of attending the Dodgers' home opening on Tuesday afternoon and utilized the free Dodgers Express bus from Union Station to just outside the field level entrance at the stadium. For someone like me that works at Union Station there could not be a more practical means of transport to the game and this service will save me a considerable amount of money ($15 per game). It being a sold out game, the Express bus was running fairly frequently and I waited a mere 10 minutes to board. My fellow riders were particularly rowdy as we had less than 30 minutes until the first pitch and the traffic on Cesar Chavez was brutal. Some suggestions I heard from the riders included: 1. creating a bus only lane before game time to allow for faster trip times
2. allowing the bus to turn right from the far most left lane into the parking lot rather than having to travel in the congested center and right lanes
3. having a bus only travel lane once we've entered the line for parking
My personal suggestion is that they make more than one drop off to allow those people with reserve and top deck level tickets to disembark closer to their seats. I would imagine that those individuals sitting at the field level will probably be driving to the game seeing that $150+ per ticket was in their budget. I didn't take the Express back to Union Station as I was lucky enough to have the bearded man pick me up and take me to dinner, but I will at some point during the season and report back on how it fairs. I suspect that it might be faster to walk down to Sunset Bl. and take a regular Metro bus (Route #2, 704) but that will also be part of my research. Finally, I want to test out if I can make it back from a 7:00pm game to Union Station in time to make the final Gold Line train (that is if the game ends in 9 innings, and doesn't last 5+ hours like Wednesday's game). All good information to know whether it is truly possible to attend a Dodger game in L.A. sans personal vehicle.

Overall, I was impressed with the Metro representatives on hand to direct people to the bus, and especially amazed at the driver for putting up with all those awesomely rowdy and crazy Dodger fans. Here's hoping that after this year, it will be seen as a reliable and necessary service that either the Dodger organization or Metro will make available every season and not just if funding is provided by the Southern CA Air Quality Management District. For more information on why and how this was funded, please read the LAist article.

There will never be enough $

The L.A. County Metropolitan Transit Authority (aka Metro) released its operating budget for the next fiscal year and anticipates the operating budget will be far below what it needs to be. The obvious solution for Metro is to reduce service and increase fares. Yet, one of the main reasons Metro does not raise more money from its fare box is that the system as it stands today is inefficient and difficult to use as a primary form of transit. The long wait at the bus stop and the number of transfers necessary to get from Point A to Point B is why ridership continues to decrease. The only people left to ride Metro are those who are forced to because they have no other option. There will not be an increase in ridership until Metro realizes that cutting service and increasing prices is not the only answer. How about optimizing a system that has not been radically changed in several decades? Why not work on creating an integrated Regional System where local city transit systems connect to a concentrated Metro System which serves Downtown, major commuter routes and other centers of L.A. life. There was going to be such a system, it was called Metro Connections, and it was basically shelved after barely even getting off the ground 2 years ago. I'm just hoping that with this new set of impending service cuts Metro finally does something about Express Route #460 which travels a whopping 27 miles each way from Downtown to Disneyland! I really would like to know what the ridership looks like on that gem as well as an explanation as to why the L.A. County Metro is paying for service that should be left to the Orange County Transit Authority. For more information please read the LA Times article.

Gold Line Drama

This past week in L.A. there's been a deluge of rain and wet weather, but luckily for this public transit commuter the actual trip time hasn't been severely affected. That is until this morning when around 4:00am a tree fell on the tracks and caused closures from Sierra Madre Villa Station to Southwest Museum Station. As my home station is Mission in South Pasadena, I knew I'd be in for an adventure to get to work. I assured the bearded man not to worry and feel free to take our one rain proof vehicle (Scooter in pouring rain didn't sound like a good idea). I departed at 8:10am hoping to at minimum catch Route 176 that travels to Figueroa and York and transfer to Route 81 that travels down Figueroa through Downtown L.A. Lucky for me I managed to walk right on the bridge bus transporting passengers between the stranded stations and Southwest Museum Station. For the 2 stops we visited (Highland Park and Southwest Museum) I found Metro staff to be informative and quickly moving people along as best as possible. I made it to work in about 50 minutes, or about 3 times as long as it would take on a normal operation day.

I did hear from other co-workers at stations farther northbound (Fillmore) there was little to no Metro presence or explanation regarding the situation. I understand that it is difficult to react quickly, but information is key. With the no-cost, instant ways to transmit timely information via Twitter, there is little excuse for Metro in not keeping their riders informed of service disruptions. I know a few months ago Metro was looking for a blogger to keep the public abreast of developing transit issues, but it appears they have a greater need for a Twitter account manager transmitting issues like today's in real time.

Luckily for me, close to 25% of my department takes the Gold Line to work so there was much sympathy and understanding when I arrived to work 30 minutes late. Looking forward to taking the Gold Line Eastside extension this afternoon to Mariachi Plaza for a michelada at Eastside Luv!

Riding around on 2 wheels

Today I spent most of my trip on the Montebello Bus Line 41 sleeping until I realized I was about one stop away from where I needed to get off. One of my biggest pet peeves is when people talk really loud on their cell phones in the bus. Apparently the guy behind me was frustrated about some Architect Committee members sending out rogue e-mails with other people blind copied. The fact that I even know this much proves how loud and obnoxious this one sided conversation was. Anyways, after exiting on 3rd and Spring I walked down to 6th and Spring to wait for the 33/333. It took about 10-15 minutes for the bus to arrive, but once boarded we had to wait an additional few minutes to allow a rider in his wheelchair on the bus.

This got me thinking how difficult it must be to get around a city like L.A. in a wheelchair. Owning a van with a wheelchair lift is VERY expensive, plus having to modify it with hand controls is another cost. But for $.25 someone can travel on Metro throughout the County. This is a huge public benefit that is not often considered when talking about public bus transit. The bus also allows disabled individuals to be dropped even closer to their destination as opposed to the fixed routes of light rail/subway/busways. Unfortunately, there remains several problems for disabled passengers when using Metro: 1) not all buses have the wheelchair lifts/they are not always working; 2) the frequency of the bus service can lead to VERY long commutes; 3) the passenger must always know where he/she wants to get off so the bus driver can assist them in debarking, which requires extra planning and research on the part of the rider.

Overall, I would hope that by improving the overall bus system for all riders, disabled passengers would benefit even more as they depend on public transit for the majority of their transportation needs.

Total transit time today: 90 minutes; 50 minutes from Whittier to Downtown L.A.; Transfer wait: 10-12 minutes; 10 minutes from Downtown L.A. to Pico Union

Redesign

Thank you to my few loyal readers, but I have decided to take this blog in a different direction. What prompted my decision has mostly to do with an advertisement I saw for a transit blogger for Metro's website. The purpose of this blog was to inform readers of on-goings in the transit world and progress on projects, Measure R money, etc. As I'm now a frequent commuter of multiple bus lines within L.A. County, I thought it might be interesting to report on what I see and hear while on the people's limo.

So let's begin with a review of Montebello Bus lines 41 and 341 (the Express). This line travels down Beverly Blvd beginning at either Norwalk Blvd in Whittier or Montebello Blvd. for the Express. After several trips on this line, I'm very impressed with the bus driver's service, the timeliness, and the cheap fare ($1.10 for regular, $1.30 for Express). The 341 travels on the 60 fwy. to the 101 fwy, exiting 4th Street before it continues Downtown. In total, the Express saves approximately 15 minutes in total trip time.

After I get downtown, I then need to make my way over to Pico Union. This second leg of my trip is unfortunately very tedious. There are 3 options: Metro Line 33 which starts at 7th and Spring and requires a 3 block walk to transfer, Metro Line 333 (limited stops) which begins at Union Station, and the Dash D route to the Dash- Pico Union route.

At first, I rode line 33 because it came the most frequently and dropped me off within 3 blocks of work. The line 333 is faster because of the limited stops, but comes less frequently and drops me off about a 1/2 mile from work. Finally the Dash combo drops me off the closest, but requires an extra transfer (although does save $0.75).

I have finally tried all three combos and believe Metro Line 333 to be the winner. Although it requires the longest walk to work, it saves time with less stops and comes frequently enough to warrant waiting out the extra few minutes in comparison to the Dash. Plus, it's drop-off point is in a safer neighborhood than Metro Line 33.

What I learned today was how inefficiently dispatched many of the Dash routes can be. The entire ride our driver was peppered with requests to spread out so that there was more space between him and the buses before and after him. The lack of specificity by the dispatcher allowed for no one to actually take responsibility for creating the required space and was very ineffective. I tend to believe that this is just how it's always been done at Dash without any ability to prove that it's useful or efficient.

Next up, a review on upcoming projects at Metro and an update on Measure R funding.

Grunts, Traffic Control, MJ and Insurance

Did you get to watch the amazing final round of Wimbledon this year? Or were you too scared to hear hours of guttural noises as tiny felt balls were pummeled across the court at very high speeds? Either way you should check out this HILARIOUS video courtesy of ABC News: The Unstoppable Tennis Grunt

After yesterday's big build up to the scary traffic drama surrounding MJ's funeral I must say I was pleasantly surprised by the LAPD and their ability to contain the chaos. It was almost eerily empty in South Park yesterday (that's the area by Staples towards USC for those of you who are not LA neighborhood savvy). I even managed to order a Fatburger and have it in my possession in less than 10 minutes, which is typically a near impossible feat. And because there was so few bystanders, the LAPD was able to send a bunch of cops home and save the city some overtime money. Considering the budget situation these days, a huge congrats is in order to Chief Bratton and Co.

I listened to most of the memorial on KCRW and was surprised at how touching it was to hear Brooke Shields, Stevie Wonder and Smokey Robinson pay their respects. I am especially sad for those kids who have lived such unimaginable lives thus far and now are being thrown into what must seem like an even stranger world. If it turns out that MJ's death was caused by abuse of prescription drugs, I can only hope it means we'll actually get a real debate on what's going on at the pharmacy. We've turned from the illegal street drugs of the 80s and 90s to the legal, but very dangerous pain and anxiety pills of the 21st century.

Which leads to me my last topic of discussion, the need for healthcare reform in this country and the hope that this Congress will actually make some headway in making this a reality. It seems that my favorite economist and those busy bean counters at the Congressional Budget Office have added up the costs of the most recent Senate Healthcare Plan and it's a) not that expensive and b) the money we would spend is a drop in the bucket in comparison to what we spend annually on healthcare already. The current system is certainly not benefiting many besides the insurance companies, so isn't it about time we spend money on helping everyone else out as well?

Such a bad blogger

Life has been overly crazy lately, and I blame it on the gradual warming of the temperature and lengthening of the day. It seems that now that it's sunlight until 8pm there are just so many more fun options of things to do and updating the blog isn't high on the list. So I was thinking should I just give up and quit the blogging business? But then again there are so many other things I still want to comment about and muse over, so I decided to forge ahead.

Item #1- Google Transit now includes Los Angeles County trip information! This means you can enter any two addresses in L.A. County in Google maps and receive trip planning options featuring a variety of service providers. This was already available in Orange County, but it seemed that Metro was going to do everything it could to prevent itself from joining the 21st century, and I'm glad to report the fight is over. Technology won!

Item #2- Michael Jackson's funeral. Tomorrow the King of Pop will be laid to rest and potentially hundreds of thousands (some predict even a million) will come out to witness the spectacle. I work very close to the Staples Center and the Laker parade of last month caused some definite traffic headaches, but this sounds like it's going to be A LOT worse. I miss MJ not because he affected me on a daily basis, but his music always makes me happy (especially at the club) and now when I hear it I'll have to remember that there will never be another MJ single or new album. Despite all the drama going on about whether he was a good person or should he be missed, there is no doubt that his music changed people's lives and the way we think about popular music forever.

Item #3- The return of Manny and the Dodgers. Yesterday was a tough game for the boys in blue as we eeked out a win in the 13th inning after our prized saver Jonathan Broxton, fell apart in the 9th, allowing 4 runs and forcing extra innings. Again, these troubles were not on the offense or defense side, but mainly from the bullpen (especially as Chad Billingsley pitched an excellent 8 innings). Mota and Belisario each had wild pitches and it was not until Weaver came in that we had some resemblance of control. I don't think this is a huge problem as I can almost guarantee that the main thing Colletti is looking for in the mid-season trade is some new pitching blood. Plus, everyone is allowed to have a bad day even the Ox. Pitching aside, Manny's return has been pretty uneventful and it was nice to see Pierre play so well on Sunday. He had 4 singles, but none of those turned into runs, which points to why Manny should play despite Pierre's current batting average. Manny hits doubles, and homers, while Juan bunts, singles and runs like a mad man to beat the throw. Manny just requires less from his teammates to get him home, and I'm pretty sure any pitcher would rather face Pierre over Manny further gaining some advantage for Mr. Ramirez.

Oh there's so much more to report on from the IOUs now being issued by the world's 8th largest economy to the fact that Minnesota finally has two senators and Alaska is down a governor, but these and other topics including the 21st century's first military coup must wait for further investigation and research. Until then, stay thirsty my friends.

The Opera of Life

I recently went to the Opera with the bearded friend and was happy to see that 19th Century musical theater is still alive and well in the 21st century. It was particularly great people watching as the average opera patron is near 70 years old. It was almost impossible to count the number of Stuart Weitzman and Ferragamo low heeled pumps I saw, but they all pretty much resembled these to the right. This was still a vast improvement over what the rest of the younger set was wearing which ranged from full on floor length gowns to the always a mistake black bra with white dress. It has been awhile since I've done a post on fashion, but thought it might be time for another featuring highlights from the Opera:

1. A black bra should only be worn when wearing black or a color that is so dark it is indiscernible from black except under the most extreme lighting situations.

2. Strapless bras were invented for a reason, please utilize them whenever your bra straps would be otherwise visible. Yes, that includes if they match or (God forbid) are clear, and no just because Carrie Bradshaw always had her's showing does it make it okay.

3. Purses should at least be in the same realm of the outfit, for example if wearing an evening outfit, the purse should be equally evening-esque. This means exceedingly large work purses, shrunken backpacks and fanny packs need not apply.

4. Wear only as high of heel as you can actually walk in without looking like you're in extreme pain or about to eat it.

5. Men: please wear pants that allow for your belly to be placed within the confines of your pants.

6. As with #3, wraps/sweaters/coats worn to an evening event should match the occasion, please leave the track jacket in the car and freeze if necessary.

7. Jeans to a Saturday evening performance of the Opera is poor form, even in L.A.

8. Taking off your shoes is never an option, please refer to #4 if your feet are in pain.

9. Open-toed shoes require clean and groomed toenails, and at minimum some clear polish.

10. And finally, if leg will be shown, please choose either stockings or a fresh shave for the rest of us who might have to sit next to you and accidentally brush across you as we scoot to our seats.

I have joined the dark side

I decided to get a Twitter account a few days ago, mainly because I didn't want to be the very last person on the face of planet earth to join. I don't really get the point, other than being able to know what's going on with everyone in your world at that very moment. Between Facebook, text messaging and Twitter there is literally no reason to ever call/e-mail/meet up with anyone in real life. Maybe that's the real goal of all this technology we won't need our real selves, just our online personalities. There was even a recent NPR article about what happens to our online persona once we pass away and the different services that exist so you can determine what happens to your Facebook/Twitter/Gmail accounts. That seems like a lot of planning and I don't know how I quite feel about planning your afterlife on the Net, but it's something to think about.

In other news, the LA Times has been running an excellent series exposing some of the darker side of LAUSD. I recommend reading all of the articles as they discuss how difficult it is for the District to fire teachers regardless of the reason (including sexual harassment and other inappropriate behavior that borderlines on criminal) to what happens to teachers who are deemed unfit to be in the classroom, but cannot be fired. I know these cases are the exception to the rule in a district with tens of thousands of teachers, but it's important for the public to understand this does go on and could lead to large potential savings if dealt with properly. More than anything, I feel these articles are a wake-up call to the teachers' union that it is not just ALL the Governor, and bad administration there are things they could do to ensure this does not continue in the future.

Say it ain't so Joe...

After yesterday's turn of events, I can only imagine what it was like to be a Chicago White Sox fan in 1920 when their top player Shoeless Joe Jackson was banned from baseball for life after being found guilty of throwing the World Series. Even though Manny might not have been banned for life, 50 games is no drop in the bucket. Plus, it was kind of like being told there would be no Christmas this year or that vacation hours were being canceled at work. Another friend of mine used the analogy of finding out your ex has a STI and not knowing when she/he got infected. No matter what listening to the news unfold about Manny and his suspension made me sick to my stomach. Not because the team can't win without him, and not because the season is over. Not even because I'm naive enough to believe this isn't going on throughout all of professional sports (and in a lot of Colleges), there's just too much money involved to prevent it. What really makes me bummed out is I like Manny. I like the way he winds up to bat like a caveman, slamming his black bat down at the end of the batter's diamond. I like the way he knows when he's hit it out of the park and takes a nice long look as the ball disappears into the stands. I even like those commercials and billboards proclaiming "I'm Baaccccck!".

Because in the end this is L.A. and we love superstars. We want big sports' personalities that match our egos and our self-importance. We don't want to be a team of really good rookies and few vets patched together through a relatively inexpensive team salary. It's why we loved Darryl Strawberry in right field despite his affection for illegal drugs, and why we'll never fault Gagne for taking whatever he needed to make sure it was "Game Over". It's also why this couldn't have happened to a better team, because Manny may change the dynamics of the way Dodgers will play for the next 50 games, but it won't change the team or their fans. On July 4th, Dodgertown will claim its independence not only from one player, but from the rest of the country who believed our success only depended on Mr. 99. And to that end, I'll be there still rooting for a homer from the man in dreds, because what it comes down to, he was just not savvy enough to avoid getting caught.

So tonight I return to the stadium and will not mourn Mannywood, because he didn't build that stadium or this historic run of games. No I leave that to Kemp, Blake, J. Lo, Furcal, Andre and even J. Martin to pull us out and keep us above .500. And as for Pierre I say "Vamonos Juan!"

Swine Flu, Souter and Silliness

I went on a brief trip to the Bay to visit some friends and partake in some Bacchanalian activities, but was instead forced to stay inside all weekend due to the flu. I still don't know if what I had was the infamous H1N1 virus or not, nor do I really care, because either way it was the flu which meant I had to drink lots of liquids, eat clear food and rest. Plus, seeing as the symptoms of swine flu and regular old fashioned flu are the same I don't know how one would go about determining which one they have. Unless of course everyone visits this gem of a site. There's just something about pandemic flu, that really gets my snarky, sarcastic juices flowing, or is it just that I realize how much the human race loves to blow things out of proportion? We manage to gloss over such real problems like HIV/AIDS, homelessness, or world hunger, because those are just not sexy enough and don't have such easy fixes as washing your hands, and not blatantly sneezing on people in confined spaces.

The other big piece of news is that Justice Souter is planning on retiring. He's staring down at 70 and realized he doesn't want to spend his "golden years" stuck in a stuffy black robe in D.C. And who can blame him? 19 years is a long time to spend at any job, especially one as intellectually taxing as being a Supreme. I applaud him for wanting to hangout in nature in New Hampshire. But what does this mean for the President? He has to appoint a new Justice and so early in his term. It's not a big surprise, there's been a short list floating around since the campaign and considering Specter just made the big leap to the Dems, it doesn't seem like confirmation will be difficult. But on the other hand, Obama should be careful what he wishes for, Souter was appointed by Bush the First and has been a thorn in the conservatives' side ever since. Who knew these amazing legal minds would have the nerve to think for themselves and not be swayed to party politics? Awww...how I love the system of checks and balances.

Finally, just some general silliness that has been bothering me. First, the Dodgers' catcher Russell Martin has changed his jersey to read J. Martin in some sort of ridiculous homage to his Canadian roots. He has not been hitting like he used to and I'm starting to think there's some kind of bad Canadian mojo on him. If this is what happens when MLB players play in the World Baseball Classic then I say cancel it! Also, in addition to the traditional Take Me Out to the Ball game at the 7th inning stretch, there is a mandatory singing of God Bless America. I really hope this is gone soon, otherwise I'm definitely utilizing the facilities during this time. Don't mess with the 7th inning stretch, it's like apple pie and well, uh, baseball. Finally, the McCourts need to buy another two houses in Malibu, so they've shamelessly named a section of the Stadium, Mannywood which includes two tee shirts with the name splashed across it and two tickets for $99. Eee-gads, isn't it bad enough that you're insisting on calling the Stadium, Dodgertown?!

The rise and fall of news

I heard some sad news today from a fellow transit junkie friend of mine. Steve Hymon, the transit reporter for the LA Times, was laid off along with 30 other people at the paper once regarded to be one of the nation's best. It's amazing that there are still enough people in that building to actually put together enough stories to produce a paper, and the quality level definitely reflects these staffing changes. Just a few of the things he's reported on recently include: LA's plans for the stimulus money with regards to transit, the Expo and Gold line construction, and not to mention his excellent Bottleneck Blog. It's disconcerting that in a city with as much transportation issues as LA, the main newspaper would choose to decrease the amount of reporting on this extremely important topic.

Seeing as I now must rely on the New York Times for reliable and interesting news information, I found this somewhat hilarious post about Paul Krugman in the Freaknomics blog. My favorite economist wrote a scathing opinion on the new plan to price "toxic" assets in the public-private partnership developed by the Treasury Department. I know it's not fair that Krugman gets to criticize all of Obama and Geithner's moves without having to develop a solution (that is politically viable) but it's important that someone is pointing out the possible pitfalls. For the taxpayers' sake, let's hope that this Nobel award winning Economist is wrong, at least this once.

Finally in reference to my previous post, check out Steve Lopez's column about the last hired, first fired policy at LAUSD.

And for those of you who watched the Presidential Press Conference last night, please take a moment to watch Jon Stewart explain how conferences should go. HILARIOUS!

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