European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - May 22, 1989, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Once a showcase the los Angeles freeway has reached the Point of gridlock with the worst traffic conditions in the United states and related Ozone pollution. Have l. A. Freeways reached the braking Point by Bruce v. Bigelow associated press writer life in the last Lano is screeching to a halt As Loo Many cars am Doolittle con Cycle in America Premier motor Mecca los Angeles angeleno a still love their cars but using them is pushing Many to the braking Point Traelic planning look a wrong turn somewhere along the Road. Drivers spend More time Reading bumper stickers than gelling where they want to go. Even a Hal tire or passing Shower can turn a commute into an hours Long ordeal. And the one Lime showcase of lop Down freeway living now laces the nation s worst Frallic conditions and related Ozone pollution it is As bad As it seems said Dave Roper of the California transportation department. Congestion is growing at 15 percent a  with Southern Ca Lornia s population expanding 3 percent a year and vehicle mileage jumping 4 percent gridlock is changing the Way people live. The freeways have been operating reasonably Well in a lot of Aroas but close to full Roper said now additional travel is taking it Over full and the break Point has occurred " although segments of metro rail and two regional Light rail transit projects Are under construction in los Angeles the City s status As the largest metropolitan Region in the United states without a mass transit system is assured Lor years. The three systems will have 46 Miles of track by 1993. The most optimistic estimates put daily ridership at 213,000 passengers by the year 2000. In los Angeles county today there Are 25 million Daity trips 97 percent in cars and the rest in buses. That s in a county with 8 6 million residents 65 million registered vehicles and 504 Miles of freeway. I Don t know what s going to help la congestion at this Point but it can t Hurt said Cindy Marion an executive in a Law firm who faces a 40-mile one Way commute and a $130-a-month parking Bill. If it came to my neighbourhood i d Lake it she said of the planned subway. Some argue that the billions going to the High tech subway would be better spent on buses carpools and other traffic improvements but even with rail transit in place transportation planners lace limited options and dwindling funds As they try to negotiate ideas through the Region s Hodgepodge of Federal state regional and municipal agencies. There in t enough Money there in t enough land and the environmental constraints and financial constraints Are such that it s no longer possible to exclusively build our Way out of the problem said Bob Remen chief Deputy director for the California transportation commission. The commission has selected $7 billion in transportation improvement projects statewide for the next five years but Remen said the primary funding source the state gasoline lax is being eroded by inflation California gov. George Deukmejian an anti tax crusader lived to solve the problem in june with a $1 billion Bond measure for Highway improvements voters rejected the idea Deukmejian s Fallback plan was a series of transportation summits with business labor government transit advocates and others. On april 4, to called for a special election in november to let voters decide on a detailed 10-year, $20 billion transportation improvement plan that includes a 9-cent-per-gallon gasoline lax hike the governor however refused to firmly pledge his support Lor he plan and political analysts show Little enthusiasm for a costly special election when voter turnout is usually Tow but anti tax sentiment usually High. Funding problems aside transportation planners agree that costly capital projects such As double decking freeways Are financially prohibitive and politically impractical if not impossible. As a result transportation officials Are concentrating on wringing More efficiency out of an overloaded system. What we be had to do in the City is focus our efforts on traffic management options and also on demand said s Edwin Rowe general manager of the los Angeles City department of transportation. Remen said state officials Are considering not just projects to expand capacity but techniques to improve freeway efficiency and land use management to encourage commuters to live closer to their jobs. It s going to require  he said it s going to require All Means  hanging Over the entire process is a threatened crackdown of the Federal clean air act which orders the . Environmental Protection Agency and regional slate agencies to meet Federal air Quality standards. Drastic measures already have been enacted by the regional South coast air duality management District which has Power to enforce air Quality standards and More stringent Steps Are being taken. Under state legislation we re authorized to mandate companies to Oiler ride sharing programs and we be done that said Tom Eichhorn a District spokesman. We can regulate truck traffic during Peak hours and we can require owners of Fleet vehicles. To Star buying vehicles that Burn clean  another regional Agency the Southern California association of governments has been working to improve air Quality by studying land use regulations and by developing a regional mobility plan. But the task is daunting As reflected by the executive summary of a draft of the air Quality management plan released by Scag in september. The 20-year plan is estimated to Cost $42 billion a heart stopping aspect is that its goal is to restore the degree of mobility motorists had in 1984. Meanwhile Drivers Are coping with worsening traffic in a variety of ways. On any Given morning motorists can be seen using cellular phones applying makeup shaving eating breakfast talking Back to language tapes and flirting. In fact there Are several dating services specializing in Roadway Romance including drive me wild of Simi Valley which uses bumper stickers to facilitate matchmaking Bumbeck there s a Good interview with talk show Host Larry King in this month s Lear s Magazine in which he is quoted As saying i never think about age. But i could never go to bed with anyone who did t know who Adlai Stevenson was in to v idding71 could never co to bed Wilh anyone who did t vote Tor Adlai Stevenson. It s called the Comfort Racior. To lend to hang out with people who have lived through our own War Wear our same morality and get tired ihc1 same Lime we do. Our bodies fall at the same Rale our ailments Aie in sync with our ago we want to have our children when our friends Are having theirs and Deal with the same problems As a group when we try to mix the generations we end up Wilh a family tooling Down the Highway singing the Only song Allol them have in common Row Row Row your boat gently Down the Stream Page 16 the stars and stripes there Are a lot of May december marriages that work great but i m too insecure for that. Where would i find someone who knows thai i interchange Acle and common cause How would i break in someone to realize thai make up Sallis is from Reader s digest when i want to win in argument Only a contemporary would know  i consider heavy breathing behind we the principal by Noil to jogging. I  imagine being married to someone who would be going out when i was going to Bod and coming in when i was leaving Lor work my own history is important to me and surviving it with someone adds to its dimension the crying babies my husband and i held in our arms at the social room of the Church As they got their first inoculation against dreaded polio. Sobbing together Over the assassination of a president and Iho greatest Black Leader of our times and wondering what we had become. Auctioning Oil my husband s underwear to Benefit an Era rally the Good monday May 22,1989 news is he was l in them at the Lime it does t moan we Shu out other generations or Don t relate to them. But generations Are like High school classes. Each one has its own members reputation and personality. It s probably Why we go to reunions. To go to walk once again with our intends in the world we created that is unique to us no one else understands us belter. We bought a House years ago from a widow in her late 70s. She was Bright exciting alive and we loved having her around. But she talked a lot about the last that most of her contemporaries were dead. This created a void and she was saddened by memories that no one related to. In her 80s. She surprised everyone by marrying a Man who was the same Vintage. Looking Back on it maybe she just yearned to sleep next to someone who knew who Woodrow Wilson was c 1989 Erma Dombeck