Moderated by NBC’s Robert Kovacik, the breakfast event held at Doubletree by Hilton in Culver City included a panel of experts that debated the vision for the future of the Westside and how to create a regional transport system that works.
“This event is a powerful forum to discuss and address the serious transportation challenges the Los Angeles region, and in particular the Westside, is currently facing,” said Genevieve Morrill, President and CEO of West Hollywood Chamber of Commerce and President of Westside Council of Chambers of Commerce (WC3).
The panel was selected to provide an in-depth overview of the current mobility and transportation situation on the Westside and to discuss a range of viable options, according to Morrill.
Speaking on the panel were: Hilary Norton, Executive Director, Fixing Angelenos Stuck In Traffic (FAST); Martha Wellborne, Chief Planning Officer, Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority; Gina Marie Lindsey, Executive Director, Los Angeles World Airports; and Zev Yaroslavsky, Los Angeles County Supervisor.
“The Westside is a terrific area to work, visit, dine, entertain and get an education, but few people in the region can afford to live here,” said Norton. “Each day, hundreds of thousands of people travel into and out of the Westside from other parts of the region.”
Metro research shows that more than 310,000 people travel into the Westside from across the region each morning, while 137,000 others leave it and 88,000 travel within it, sited Norton.
UCLA is a major area-wide draw with nearly 38,000 students, and the subway extension also has the potential of boosting cross-town access to a variety of major cultural venues, from Disney Hall and the Museum of Contemporary Art (MOCA) to the Los Angeles County Museum of Art and Royce Hall, she explained.
FAST is a non-profit organization focused on tackling transportation issues arising from such movement, designing and supporting the implementation of short-term strategies to reduce traffic congestion by optimizing current transit infrastructure and facilitating use of public transit in order to improve our quality of life, according to their website.
“A coordinated approach is the only way to make lasting change,” Norton explained. “We need to invest in a variety of mobility options because people have a variety of preferences and obligations for travel each day. Providing those options on the scale that the region needs takes coordination, vision, and a commitment to invest wisely to address our region’s needs.”
The State of the Westside panel was an important step to realizing the region’s mobility solutions, Norton added, enabling business communities to translate multi-modal options with a mission to reduce transit times and congestion and to implement new ideas.
A wide range of options were discussed at the event, including roadway corridors; mobility hubs for connectivity to rail; car and bike sharing; shuttles and parking; job and housing opportunities close to transit options; improvements to sidewalks and bike lanes; the expansion of express lanes and bus services; and the adoption of technology applications that encourage ridesharing, transit use and walking.
“We need to finish the job of implementing these mobility improvements, and combine infrastructure and technology investments with the will to change our own travel behavior,” Norton said. “Only then will we be able to sustainably move around this region, improve our economy and educational opportunities, care for our families and our community, and improve our quality of life.”
State of the Westside is an annual event organized by WC3, an organization whose mission is to advocate for business on the Westside. The organization collaborates with 11 Chambers and three business sponsors to identify and guide the organization’s position on the issues most critical to Westside businesses on a local, state, and federal level.
Their focus is in areas of transportation, healthcare, energy, environment and sustainability, infrastructure, entertainment, tourism, and economic development.
