Tag Archives: price of gasoline

L.A.-Indio rail expansion plan might actually happen (?)

Desert Sun story on L.A.-Indio rail expansion plan

This is the main story in the Desert Sun this morning. I have been waiting for this – rail expansion between Palm Springs (Indio) and Los Angeles the entire time I’ve had this place out here (almost 10 years).

It just makes so much sense. There are no good public transport options between the Coachella Valley and the L.A. Metro area. Can I tell you how much I hate that drive?

There is a Greyhound Bus, but since they eliminated the downtown Palm Springs station they’ve made it oh-so-unbelievably inconvenient – you either have to backtrack to Indio (30 miles in the wrong direction) or get yourself out to the sandy, desolate and windblown train stop to pick up the bus.

Sandy, desolate and windblown station.

Then, it stops at every little bumf*** burg between here and the city, before finally terminating at downtown L.A.’s bus station – which isn’t even adjacent or walking distance to Union Station or any other kind of subway/bus terminal, making it even more complicated, time consuming and just plain stupid.

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No thanks.

In all my dreams of simple, efficient, fast and pleasant Southern California train travel I’ve never had the mistaken impression that someone would build the train line just for me. But I can tell you, I’d be a loyal and frequent customer! I learned to navigate L.A.s’ award-winning Metro system of light rail and buses and came to realize how much cheaper and less stressful my life would become the more I used it.

The era when the conventional wisdom about mass transit in L.A. – that you were either poor, stupid – or both – to use it, is long past. I believe it’s only a matter of time before trains connect all the urban areas of Southern California from Santa Barbara to the Mexican border and inland. I’d love to see it happen while I’m still breathing.

 

 

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“Living standards improve, despite tough economy” – Oh, Really?

Living standards improve, despite tough economy – USATODAY.com.

USA Today has finally abandoned even the pretension of journalistic credibility with this “article” in today’s paper.
I glanced at the headline while in Starbux earlier, and, eager to find out about my increasing fortunes, looked it up online.

What planet are these people on? Where to begin?

“The average annual income was $24,079 per person in 1980 in inflation-adjusted dollars, according to Bureau of Economic Analysis data. Last year, it was $40,454 per person.”

Ummm yeah, but I assume these averages take in everybody’s income, then divide it out by population. So it’s a big fat lie to say the average person makes $40,454! Income in the U.S. has been flowing to the top brackets since 1980, so the rich are much richer but the middle and working classes have been stagnant.

“Not only has income grown, what’s less obvious is how much better a lifestyle can be bought for the same amount of money whether it’s $25,000 or $100,000.”

They go on to say how much less computer memory costs in 2011 vs. 1980 (reminder: personal computers weren’t generally available until 1984 or so, before that it was industry mainframes mainly) and to say that we own more cars and take more flights.

Let’s talk to those commuters in places like L.A. and Dallas who spend hours more in traffic jams than would have been thinkable in 1980. Let’s talk to anyone who has to go to an airport and get felt up by a TSA goon, then sit in a cramped, tiny seat and get basically dehydrated and starved before we wax jubilant about the improved standards of air travel. Continue reading

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