Red Line Parking

Re “Parking Spot-Check,” Aug. 15: I was ROFL (rolling on the floor laughing) when I read the MTA officials’ and Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky’s response to the shortsightedness of inadequate parking at the Valley MTA train stations. To suggest that limiting parking at these two train stations is a way to offer change in the way people commute to work by forcing them to find “alternative” ways to get to the station is beyond credibility. Aren’t 15,902 commuters riding the train instead of taking to the freeways in cars already making a big change?

And what are these “alternatives”? The only MTA bus that travels from near my home to either of these stations only runs once an hour. And turns a five-minute drive to the station and 20-minute train ride to downtown into a one-hour and 20-minute odyssey. And to even imply that riding a bike, or even walking, two-plus miles in 100-degree weather is an alternative is not only impractical but irresponsible.

Face it, Zev, it is time to stop defending the mistake and to now work on making it right. Stop bowing to corporate greed and quickly move to use the vacant lots surrounding the stations to build adequate and permanent parking.

KEVIN RUNYON

Studio City

* I fumed as I read the article on lack of parking at the Universal and North Hollywood Red Line stations. As a new fan of the Red Line, I would love to leave my car at home. Unfortunately, I usually take the 5 a.m. train and there are no buses that will get me to the station in time. I hope transit officials are successful in their attempt to “blast automobile commuters out from behind the wheel.” I just hope getting us where we’re going when we need to get there is part of the plan.

PAUL B. DUFF

Studio City