Agreed that Union Station is getting full of light rail traffic, so I’m not sure what the best fix is.

Re “Most people don’t even know that City Hall has a public observation deck at the top. It’s an incredible view for 360-degrees, and one of the highest publicly-accessible points in Downtown”: At the turn of the millennium I applied for one of the modest $1,000 Cultural Affairs Grants to create a half-minute or so “after-the fact” time-lapse sequence of the evolution and growth of Downtown Los Angeles and Bunker Hill from 1927, when City Hall was built, into the 21st century that would have been created from what I assume(d) must be thousands of photographs taken over that span of time from the south side of the observation deck by tourists, filmmakers, and news organization photographers (particularly from the L.A. Times, whose headquarters is in that view) that would be gathered, in large part, from a public call-for photos. The resulting morphing sequence would have been available to the City for use in online and TV ads, in kiosks, and at City Hall itself. The Cultural Affairs Department, in its (lack of) wisdom, turned down the grant proposal, even though my partner and I had secured the participation of a noted film-history and Oscar show videomaker and editor.

But Morphing DTLA is still a good idea! Maybe the City or someone else will have a crack at making this unique video sometime before City Hall’s centenary 14 years hence?

The older design, with the yellow background was/is usually better. But since they switched the outbound trains to the new design (which is a better looking design and nicely shows a difference between Red/Purple lines), the “arriving” notices have only stayed on the screens while the train enters the station and it’s usually back to the normal slideshow even by the time the train stops!

Also, it would be nice if the “Train Arriving” signage could remain lit the entire time the train’s doors are opening. It’s annoying to see a train at the platform only to not know what train it is (unless I happen to be perfectly positioned and timed to read the tiny flip-disc display on the side of the car).

Real-time arrivals info will be coming to the rail system “soon.”

http://www.subwayjoyride.com/2013/04/08/metro-refreshing-train-schedule-displays/

It’s gotten considerably better than when the line first opened, but because of the multiple agencies involved, plus pedestrians and cars that affect light timing, it’s still not great.

There’s a few details here:
http://steven-white.com/2012/07/25/the-secrets-of-metro-rail-operations/

But ultimately, it comes down to the fact that there is still more work to be done. Unless the trains get preemption (meaning they can actually turn lights green no matter when they arrive, rather than just hold them green for extra time) and crossing gates, all stops will probably not be eliminated. Metro’s received a ton of complaints about the issue and it’s gotten better, but they’re still working with LADOT to improve it further.

Congesting 7th Street even more by a slow moving trolly could hurt all those businesses just getting started on the street.

Downtowners routinely voice their desire for proper green space. Pocket parks aren’t viable green spaces as they instantly turn into dog play / litter boxes. A streetcar that doesn’t extend to either the LA State Park (ex Cornfield) and / or Elysian Park — both viable nearby green spaces — isn’t a project worth funding.