Whilst browsing the interwebs today, I came across this really, really bizarre op-ed by Ray Bradbury about how to solve LA’s intractable transportation problems.
His suggestion basically boils down to this: Instead of building one insanely expensive subway line, build a bunch of interconnected monorail systems.
This raised a number of questions in my mind:
- Ray Bradbury is still alive?! He must be about 126 by now.
- Monorails? Has he been getting high and watching the “Marge vs. The Monorail” episode of the Simpsons?
- He uses Seattle’s monorail as an example of the potential benefits of building such a system. Does he realize that no one in Seattle actually rides it because it’s only one straight line, and that it’s basically a very expensive souvenir from when Seattle hosted the World’s Fair?
- Does he actually think that the same idiots who blocked the Red Line from actually serving parts of the city that desperately need more public transportation would sign off on an enormous eyesore snaking its way down Wilshire?
- Does he recall that we occasionally have earthquakes here, and that people would probably prefer not to be 30 feet in the air when they occur?
I mean, yeah, there has to be a more cost-efficent way to fix LA’s transit problems than building another Metro Line To Nowhere. But this theory definitely puts the crack in crackpot.
Last year when I read an article in the LA Weekly about how Ray Bradbury was mad at Michael Moore for the whole Fahrenheit title thing, I told my dad and he said, “Ray Bradbury is still alive?”
Well, he is. I actually saw him in person at Comic Con in July.
As for the point of your post, remember, the man has been creating very good fantasies for 60 years.
I remember getting to the downtown library on whatever line that was. THAT ruled. When i left, they were still building the ones out to Hollywood and such.
BUt you’re right about the monorail.