L.A. Traffic Strangulation

I never cease to be astounded by the pettiness and myopia of those who oppose Metro Rail. Property owners who resent the necessary reconstruction and tax increases for the project are acting out of mere self-interest.

History has shown that the most attractive and cosmopolitan cities care for their visitors and commuters through well-organized, extensive and purposely redundant public transit.

Take London, for example: Despite long and bitter opposition and cries of a “sewer railway,” on opening day the first London subway--known as the Underground or Tube--carried 30,000 people. All this is amplified by the fact that it happened on Jan. 9, 1863 . By 1877 the Underground was carrying 56 million passengers a year. Though London has at least twice the population density of Los Angeles it is actually far less congested due to the efficiency of this system.

Many of us fail to realize the Metro Rail stations being erected now are but one link in a chain of stations that should one day serve the entire county. The consequences of such a system are startling--far less smog, far less congestion, far fewer accidents--to say little of the worry-free ease of getting downtown in the quiet companionship of the morning newspaper. Is it not worth the extra money to build a future such as this? Can we not appreciate how truly glorious it would be?

Perhaps in 50 years our children will look back and wonder how we ever lived in such a unhealthy environment. Perhaps in 50 years they will wonder why we waited so long, why we put up with all the needless traffic deaths, the bad tempers, the utterly filthy air. Perhaps, in 50 years, the Los Angeles Metro Rail will have developed to the point the London Underground had reached by 1930.

ROBERT M. ROMOFF

West Covina