CityWatchLA - Port of LA: A Lesson in Contradictions

CityWatch, Aug 6, 2010
Vol 8 Issue 62

To look at the Port of Los Angeles from deep inside is to gaze upon the character of the City of Los Angeles. I say this not because I've been reading Nietzsche, but because I just returned from a tour of the Port, one where I experienced profound contrasts in scale, behavior, and purpose. Theoretical discussions of shipping, transportation, the environment and the economy went from theoretical to tangible and all iActive Imaget took was a three hour boat tour.

I've long participated in advocacy work that involves reviews of bridges such as the Commodore Schuyler F. Heim Bridge, of environmental issues related to trucking on the 710, of development issues and the impact on surrounding communities and of the economic impact of LA's commitment to moving America's goods.

Those conversations inevitably include references to the Port of Los Angeles and its connection to the city, the region, and the nation.

But for all the expert testimony, mountains of technical documents and PowerPoint presentations, nothing communicates the nature and the size of the Port of Los Angeles like standing in the shadow of a Container Ship that stretches out of sight, or sailing under the Vincent Thomas Bridge and looking up at a procession of trucks moving like ants, or watching a never, ever ending train loaded with shipping containers move across the Commodore Schuyler F. Heim Bridge.

My wife and I toured the Port with a team from Caltrans that included engineers responsible for everything from environmental review, design, bridges, highways, access, funding, and regional connectivity.

We've long worked with Caltrans and it was from within this wide variety of perspectives that the term "economies of scale" took on a new meaning. But most of all, we encountered some simple contrasts that was quite revealing about the Port as well as the City of Los Angeles.

1) From our vantage point aboard the Port of LA's Angelina II, we looked to one side and watched a huge ship unloading brand new automobiles imported from overseas. The cars were shiny, the ship was beautiful, the operation of unloading was seamless.

To the other side of the channel, mountains of shredded scrap metal, salvaged from discarded automobiles, was prodded and pushed by a couple of bulldozers, part of an operation that sorts and shreds waste material and ships it back overseas so that it can be recycled and repurposed and sold to us again, perhaps as the shiny vehicles on the other side of the channel.

The majority of the shipping containers that leave the Port of LA leave empty, but of those that hold a cargo, apparently the balance of trade consists of brand new product arriving and scrap material being returned. The contrast between what we get and what we give was daunting.

2) Container Ships are huge diesel burning power generators and even sitting motionless in the Port they need power.

To see a mega-sized extension cord hanging from a large ship is an interesting contrast in technologies and environmental commitments. Unfortunately, not all ships are enabled for Port Electric and it is an optional program, one that the Port funds in an effort to make it attractive.

The contrast between the Port's commitment to improving the Port's environmental impact and the Port's reluctance to raising the standards for the shipping partners leaves some innovations light on systemic implementation.

3) The Port has a surreal quality to it, incredible amounts of activity but at such a huge scale that it's hard to see the humans in all of the motion. They must be there, in little cabins on cranes or raising and lowering the bridge or operating the train, but they're hard to see.

So much takes places with such an emphasis on automation that from a distance, it appears that the ships are picked clean by machines. There is something awe-inspiring to watch something work so seamlessly.

Simple or complex, a well-designed system that works is a thing of beauty. Such is the Port of LA.

But once off the ships, the containers go two directions, on a train or through LA. The contrast between the high-tech unloading and the low-tech transport is what leaves much of LA feeling under siege. Freeways filled with trucks that move containers one at a time, around the clock, has an environmental and land use impact that can't be ignored.

4) An operation the size of the Port of LA must require a diplomatic corps of its own, such is the need to synchronize the many authorities, powers, agencies, and departments who have influence over everything from national security, the economy, the ocean, cross-country shipping and local neighborhood land use.

The relationships that must work in order for the Port of LA to move so smoothly is an invisible thing of beauty.

But by contrast, a simple proposal to implement a container fee to offset environmental impact expenses was stymied for fear of losing business to Oakland and Seattle.

The fact that LA is held back because of a lack of synchronicity with west coast partners in shipping is an obstacle that must be overcome.

To pretend to understand all of the complexities of the Port of Los Angeles after a simple boat tour is simplistic, but the value of framing the discussion from within the Port is priceless.

Perhaps all discussions and debates should start with a walk, a bike ride, or a boat tour. It's worth a try!

(Stephen Box is a grassroots advocate and writes for CityWatch. He can be reached at Stephen@thirdeyecreative.net. Disclosure: Box is also a candidate for 4th District Councilman.)

CityWatchLA - Hollywood Gives up on Tourism, Embraces its Truck Stop Future

CityWatch, Sept 11, 2009
Vol 7 Issue 73

Hollywood Boulevard is one of the most famous streets in the world and to many people, it's known as the Walk of Fame. But those days are gone as the leadership of Los Angeles gives up on tourism and embraces trucking as the future of Los Angeles. As a sign of that commitment, Hollywood Boulevard is being reinvented as the Truck Stop to the Stars!

Tourists come from around the world to walk the Boulevard, starting at LA Brea Gateway and passing the Roosevelt Hotel, Grauman's Chinese Theatre, the Kodak Theater, Ripley's, Madame Tussauds, the El Capitan, the Egyptian, the Pig 'n Whistle, Musso & Frank's, Boardner's...phew! We haven't even hit Vine Street! Keep going and there's the Pantages Theater, the Music Box Theatre, a great view of the Hollywood sign and an equally good view of the Griffith Observatory. It's as if Hollywood Boulevard is the center of the Entertainment Industry universe.

Along the walk, there are abundant cafes, restaurants, shops and opportunities to enjoy the local flavor which varies dramatically from one block to the next, featuring a community so diverse that over 100 languages are spoken within the densely populated neighborhood that wraps around the Thai Town and Little Armenia area known as East Hollywood.

One would think that such a hot tourist attraction would be guarded and protected by city leadership, celebrated and supported as a valuable heritage that deserves to be nurtured, not just for its economic potential but simply for its cultural legacy and value as an iconic symbol of the entertainment industry that gave birth to to the celebrated community.

Granted, Hollywood has had a bit of a roller-coaster past, going from peaks filled with klieg lights & red carpets to lows lit with red lights and inhabited by squatters. Along the way, Hollywood Boulevard lost its claim to fame as the center of the Entertainment Industry. FilmLA Inc., (formerly the EIDC) the company that handles the bulk of the film permitting process for the LA area, gave up its Hollywood digs in order to move to the old Unocal Building in downtown LA. Production companies, post-production facilities, payroll companies, sound studios, rental companies, and studio support of all flavors left town for more hospitable accommodations in surrounding communities. While Hollywood fiddled, local cities such as Santa Monica, Culver City, Burbank, Santa Clarita, and Glendale courted the Industry and facilitated moves that left Hollywood light on production and heavy on blight.

Things have now reached the point that even if a local crew member were to get called by a local production company to shoot a film locally, that person would likely be paid by a payroll company located in Burbank or Santa Monica, would likely rent everything from trucks to grip & electric from over the hill, would likely drive to the westside for all post-production, and would likely go to Santa Monica to sell the finished product at the American Film Market. "Local" just doesn't really mean "local" anymore!

Of course, Paramount Studios and Eastman Kodak are still in the neighborhood and if the film does well, our local crew member will be able to sit in the grandstands on Hollywood Boulevard to watch the stars arrive at the Kodak Theater to pick up their Academy Awards, so it's fair to say that Hollywood has hung on to some of its glamorous past. Barely!

While Hollywood's shine faded and the CRA came in to address the blighted conditions, speculators started circling, waiting for the right moment to dive in with bags of taxpayer money to develop any of the large number of chain-link protected empty lots that litter the Boulevard all the way to Sunset on the east. For literally years the locals and the developers have been engaged in a tug-of-war over the past, the present and the future of Hollywood Boulevard, debating development, revitalization, funding, traffic, infrastructure, community character, and nightclubs. Adding fuel to the fire were and are charges of cronyism, corruption and simple incompetence.

In the midst of the brouhaha, Hollywood lost its most valuable commodity, its name! Hollywood is the brand known around the world and Universal City, located just outside of Los Angeles on LA County land, simply lifted it and reinvented themselves as Universal Hollywood, leaving the locals on the boulevard to debate the CRA projects that litter the landscape and promise, at best, a better quality strip mall selling more expensive t-shirts.

Apparently, the fix is in, the deed is done and all that remains is for Hollywood to recover, rise from the ashes, reinvent itself, a task that appears to be underway.

The Hollywood Chamber of Commerce took a shot at promoting Hollywood as the Capital of Healthcare, an image that is supported by the fact that of the top three employers in Hollywood, two of them are Hospitals! Kaiser Permanente and Children's Hospital edge out Paramount and Sunset-Gower Studios, 8800 employees to 8000 employees, and based on results, often harsh but always fair, the Healthcare Industry has overtaken the Entertainment Industry as the substance of Hollywood.

All of which could change quickly, especially if LA's leadership continues to support the Trucking Industry with the bold and cavalier carte blanche and red carpet that they have offered thus far.

Hollywood Boulevard is designated as a Major Highway. It ranges in width from 60' at the eastern Laurel Canyon end to 70' at the western Virgil end and it varies in width along the way, getting as wide as 82' at one point. It is referred to as "built-out" by the Transportation Department, meaning that it is lined with historical buildings that prevent the widening or streamlining of the boulevard. It has three Metro Rail stations between Highland and Western, making this one of the most transit rich boulevards in the City of Los Angeles.

And yet, requests for bike lanes and sidewalk widenings are quickly squelched as simply impractical. The current City of LA Bike Plan maps confirm this by simply ignoring Hollywood Boulevard on the surveys and by using the visionary term "Infeasible" when referring to bikeways improvements for the boulevard. After all, "It's simply too 'built-out' and there is no more room!" This has become a popular refrain from the Department of "No!"

This position is repeated at community meetings throughout the area while complaints of 18 wheelers parked on Hollywood Boulevard, often for days on end, fall on deaf ears.

Calls to Councilmembers Eric Garcetti and Tom LaBonge yield instructions from local deputies on how to dial 311, an exercise in futility that leaves the caller frustrated and the 311 operator confused. The LAPD defer to the LADOT, the LADOT has been aware of the problem for two years and Chief Jimmy Price himself has claimed that the department is all over it and yet...the Hollywood Boulevard is still an 18 Wheeler Parking lot.

The simple secret is this; the parking ticket is cheaper than the off-street parking fee plus the shuttle back home. Locals park 18 Wheelers on Hollywood Boulevard because they can. They can because Garcetti and LaBonge let them. Parking Enforcement Supervisors acknowledge that there is no political will to enforce of parking restrictions for the operators of 18 Wheelers who leave their vehicles on the Boulevard, even when parked under a Tow Away sign.

As for the parking enforcement officers, there's simply no motivation to spend an entire shift working on the impound of an 18 Wheeler when during the same time, the same officer can write a full book of tickets. One Supervisor explained "These drivers need to sleep! It's better to let them park on the boulevard than to drive tired."

Good logic but not when it impedes traffic, forcing those in the #2 lane on a congested and "built-out" street to merge into the #1 lane to avoid sideswiping the 18 Wheeler.

Unless, of course, Garcetti and LaBonge are now reinventing Hollywood as the Trucking Capital and if that's the case, then it all makes sense. With the Healthcare Industry in flux, Garcetti and LaBonge are apparently betting on the future of Hollywood as a Truck Stop. It's the kind of genius plan we've come to expect, although the thought of Garcetti and LaBonge working in sync is a stretch. Regardless, public safety concerns be damned, Walk of Fame be gone, it's time for Hollywood to welcome its destiny, don the Trucker Cap, and embrace the future.

Hollywood is now your "Last Stop for Gas!"



(Stephen Box is a transportation advocate and writes for CityWatch. He can be reached at Stephen@ThirdEyeCreative.net) ◘