A01=Ethan N. Elkind
air pollution
america
Author_Ethan N. Elkind
behind the scenes
Category=KNG
Category=NHK
city planning
discussion books
driving alternatives
eq_bestseller
eq_business-finance-law
eq_history
eq_isMigrated=1
eq_isMigrated=2
eq_nobargain
eq_non-fiction
los angeles
mass transit
metro rail
metropolitan cities
modern history
nonfiction
political
political history
public transit
rail system
rail transit
railtowns
traffic
train developments
transformation
transit oriented neighborhoods
transportation history
transportation studies
urban development
urban landscape
urban planning
urban rail
urban sprawl
Product details
- ISBN 9780520278271
- Weight: 454g
- Dimensions: 152 x 229mm
- Publication Date: 22 Jan 2014
- Publisher: University of California Press
- Publication City/Country: US
- Product Form: Paperback
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The familiar image of Los Angeles as a metropolis built for the automobile is crumbling. Traffic, air pollution, and sprawl motivated citizens to support urban rail as an alternative to driving, and the city has started to reinvent itself by developing compact neighborhoods adjacent to transit. As a result of pressure from local leaders, particularly with the election of Tom Bradley as mayor in 1973, the Los Angeles Metro Rail gradually took shape in the consummate car city. Railtown presents the history of this system by drawing on archival documents, contemporary news accounts, and interviews with many of the key players to provide critical behind-the-scenes accounts of the people and forces that shaped the system. Ethan Elkind brings this important story to life by showing how ambitious local leaders zealously advocated for rail transit and ultimately persuaded an ambivalent electorate and federal leaders to support their vision.
Although Metro Rail is growing in ridership and political importance, with expansions in the pipeline, Elkind argues that local leaders will need to reform the rail planning and implementation process to avoid repeating past mistakes and to ensure that Metro Rail supports a burgeoning demand for transit-oriented neighborhoods in Los Angeles. This engaging history of Metro Rail provides lessons for how the American car-dominated cities of today can reinvent themselves as thriving railtowns of tomorrow.
Ethan N. Elkind researches and writes on climate change law and policy with a joint appointment at UC Berkeley School of Law and UCLA School of Law.
