San Diego relocated their baseball stadium from the 'burbs to downtown. Photo by Mark Whitt, via Flickr.
This is one of our occasional posts in which I express actual opinions…
1. Loved CicLAvia last month but I didn’t see anyone from Metro in any of the booths selling TAP cards to the masses. The cards are very useful and convenient — and I think it’s fair to say that not everyone has a TAP card yet, at least from what I see on buses and trains and what anecdotal evidence has burped out of last month’s gate-locking experiment. Big events such as CicLAvia are a good chance to get the cards distributed!
2. The Dodgers should be playing in a downtown Los Angeles ballpark that is part of the city and is easily accessible to mass transit — not sitting on an isolated hill surrounded by mall-like parking lots. The upcoming sale of the team is a chance to make that happen before a new owner sinks a lot of money into the current ballpark and developing some of the surrounding parking lots. If a downtown football stadium would benefit L.A. (and I think it would), then a downtown baseball stadium with many more games each season would be even more profitable.
Yes, I know there is a lot of sentimental attachment to Dodger Stadium among the natives (I’m a transplant). It’s a nice ballpark. But it’s not Fenway or Wrigley — the two baseball stadiums that should be preserved because they’re actually part of real neighborhoods in Boston and Chicago, respectively. The new ballparks built in the past two decades across the U.S. suggest that something could be built here that honors the past and that brings L.A. into the modern age.
3. It’s kind of interesting that none of the announced candidates in the mayor’s race in L.A. have ever served on the Metro Board of Directors. Metro is one of the nation’s largest transportation agencies and the mayor of L.A. has an automatic seat on the Board as well as the right to appoint three others to the Board. In other words, overseeing Metro and planning transit across L.A. County is a huge part of the mayor’s job.
4. I think it makes sense to first bulk up service in the evening hours on Metro Rail before adding late-night service. The next few months will be a good chance to see if the demand for more rail service at night is there. I have to admit: I’m not a late-night bar/club-goer, so it’s hard for me to say if there’s a huge demand in L.A. at 2 a.m. for rail service or if it’s something that a vocal few really want. I also know many of you disagree with me on this one.
5. I feel like I should have a strong opinion about high-speed rail in California. But I don’t. I do think the p.r. efforts on behalf of the project the past couple of years have not been good — especially the repeated proclamations about cost that didn’t seem to have any basis in reality — with the cost having gone from $33 billion to $98.5 billion. I think it’s very hard to get excited about a project with a $80-billion-plus funding gap and thus far no firm solutions how to solve it. The most realistic way to pay for it, in my view, would involve some type of user fee or tax spread across the state, but I don’t see how that’s politically possible at this time. Or maybe ever.
Fascinating idea about Dodgers Stadium, Steve. Right now it’s certainly very hard to access.
Gridlock before/after a game (whether you’re in a car or on a Dodger Stadium “Express” bus) does NOT add to the enjoyment factor.
Thank you, David.
I also think the surrounding parking lots really hurts the overall ambience of the place. When you look at what they’ve done in San Diego, San Francisco and Seattle — to name a few — how can we not do that or better?
Steve Hymon
Editor, The Source
Hi Steve,
Great list. It could have been a few posts, though I understand why you might want to corral your opinions together.
As a native, I completely agree with you about Dodger stadium. The newer MLB parks, which are generally more urban, and smaller in size, have an energy about them and the surrounding neighborhood that Dodger Stadium lacks. I think there is a real chance of this happening–Chavez Ravine is a better location for football, and the approved AEG stadium concept near Staples is a better location for baseball, for all of the reasons you stated. If that sort of swap could be pulled off, there is a lot of money to be made.
Re late night service, I disagree. Asking people to leave a bar, restaurant or event before midnight on the weekend to catch the last train is de facto excluding people from transit service when it could have the highest potential to prevent drunk driving or at the very least save everyone the hassle and cost of cab. More frequent service does not answer the question: But how will I get home?
I whole-heartedly agree on the Dodger Stadium issue. Out of all the ballparks I’ve visited, this is the absolute worse in terms of transit accessibility. However, it was purposely done this way, which is very upsetting. Metro shouldn’t have to spend so much additional cash to provide service to Dodger Stadium on their bill. Dodger Stadium would be more fun if it was transit accessible……like Staples Center.
I agree on almost all of these items except for #4. I think they should offer more trains for half of the time they’re planning on running more trains, and then run the extra trains after hours until 2. With more ridership comes more trains. With my trains comes more ridership. One of the great things in LA is knowing you’ll be getting to where you need to get to at no matter what hour (buses), ideally that’ll eventually be true for all Metro rail. With 24/7 mass transit, or close to it, it’ll be even easier for people to rid their car, or at least never use it.
Late night (12:30 AM – 2:30 AM) service Fridays and Saturdays on the Metro Red Line is likely to be viable: Hollywood Boulevard frequently experiences gridlock from La Brea to Western on weekend evenings, with backups on the north-south arterials that cross it. Also, as true locals know, the eviction of families from Chavez Ravine & Solano Canyon to build Dodger Stadium was a huge injustice, a racist redesign of the neighborhood that happen at the same time as apartheid neighborhood demolitions in South Africa. Moving the Dodgers to a transit-accessible location with nearby restaurants and nightlife not only makes sense from a business and traffic perspective, it would also reduce air pollution and right an old injustice.
Maybe I’m just sentimental, but Dodger Stadium — the stadium and its location — is a central part of the Dodger experience, every bit as much as Vin Scully.
It may not be Wrigley or Fenway, but ironically those are the only stadiums in the league that are older than Dodger Stadium at this point.
I do concede, however, that it’s a bit of a transit mess. The bigger problem, I’d argue is that there’s too much parking. It would help to cut down on the parking supply and boost shuttle service.
Carter Rubin
Contributor, The Source
I don’t agree that sports stadiums belong in downtown areas. Density is what drives transit, walking, and other low-impact modes; sports stadiums are by definition extremely un-dense land uses. They’re inefficient land uses in other ways as well… HUGE peaking problems, often empty, and not particularly versatile.
I agree that Dodger Stadium is pretty inaccessible, but I think there are other ways to address that. What about a funicular up and down to the stadium? The area nearby in Echo Park is actually pretty dense, and a lot of people could walk, if it wasn’t for that giant hill… so solve THAT problem. Give over some lanes for exclusive bus access, too, so that the Dodger Express doesn’t have to grind through traffic. Keep cranking up the price of parking to incentivize carpooling and alternative modes, until you can get rid of some of the parking lots. Heck, build one structure the same height as the stadium, and return most of the lot to parkland or residential use (lots of people lived in Chavez Ravine before the stadium was built).
But I’m already very upset about the football stadium, especially when we’re on the brink of having GOOD transit access to a landmark stadium in Exposition Park! I can’t fathom the concept that it could be *cheaper* to build a whole new stadium at Downtown land prices than to refurbish the Coliseum into something workable for modern football. Instead, I think people are still thinking about Downtown Los Angeles as an abandoned place that no one’s really using, rather than the vibrant community it has become… which could be fatally disrupted by plonking down an enormous trip generator that operates on such peaks and valleys.
Before we extend the hours of any rail line, we must make sure that there is enough time to do routine maintenance before the line opens the next day. The need for maintenance is why almost no subway systems (notable exceptions are Chicago and New York) operate 24 hours a day. Apart from that, I think extending the service span would have more of an effect on ridership than increasing the frequency. Since you are not in a hurry at night, the 10 vs 20 minute frequency will not entice you to take transit if you don’t already. An ending time of 2:30 vs 12:30 might, however.
Speaking of 10 minute headway, am I right in concluding Steve that this means the Red Line will operate more frequently at 11 PM than 11 AM (when it currently operates every 12 minutes). In my mind, that is nonsensical.
In terms of the football stadium downtown, unless other events can be booked to fill it (concerts, maybe a soccer team, etc.) it’s not going to do anything for downtown on the 355 days it is vacant. A baseball stadium, however, is occupied 81 days a year, and during the time of year when people like being outside. Dodger Stadium does nothing for the city of LA; in fact, I was amazed when I went to my first game after moving here and seeing how close it is to downtown LA.
Before we move the Dodgers to a new stadium, I’d like to see what we can do with the NFL at the convention center. That will be a good test of whether or not the Dodgers can move. (And frankly I do like Dodger Stadium.)
From what I’ve heard, the new Farmers Field IS designed for other events to take place there, so it won’t be “empty” the rest of the year.
And it will be very near the Blue Line/ Regional Connector, so they need a walkway or bridge over to Pico Sta.
Regardless of who ends up paying for it, I do think there are ways to improve transit to Dodger Stadium. I like the bus-only lane idea, and eventually perhaps the Downtown Streetcar can be extended.