A Trip Up The Coast: Dodger Stadium Could Learn A Thing or Two

July 10, 2012 Leave a comment

This is the fourth post in a short series based on my recent trip from Los Angeles to San Francisco by train. With an overnight stop in San Luis Obispo and a weekend in San Francisco, there were some great urbanist and transit lessons to be learned.

As a baseball fan, no trip to any city is complete without a visit to the stadium. I’ve been to a game at San Francisco’s AT&T park before, but arrived late from the airport and headed straight inside. This time, I didn’t attend the game, but explored the area all around the stadium as crowds were arriving for the crossbay showdown between the Giants and the Oakland A’s.

AT&T Park in San Francisco is perhaps one of the country’s best urban baseball stadiums.

So far, San Francisco’s AT&T park and San Diego’s Petco Park are two of my favorite urban stadiums. There are many lessons for Dodger stadium to be found in them, though we also have to realize that Dodger stadium is a diametrically different kind of ballpark. It’s location on an isolated hilltop makes it much more of a suburban style stadium (surrounded completely by parking lots) than any of the country’s urban stadiums.

While some have proposed moving Dodger Stadium to a Downtown location, as a longtime baseball fan and purist I am conflicted with the idea. The urbanist in me says YES! while the fan wanting to retain as much of the history of the stadium says NO. For now, I will assume (as is most probable) that the stadium won’t be moving anytime soon. There are still many improvements that can be made in its current location.

So let’s look… What is so great about AT&T Park?

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A Trip Up The Coast: Conversations on Transit

July 9, 2012 Leave a comment

This is the third post in a short series based on my recent trip from Los Angeles to San Francisco by train. With an overnight stop in San Luis Obispo and a weekend in San Francisco, there were some great urbanist and transit lessons to be learned.

Having finally reached Oakland on the Amtrak Coast Starlight, we were picked up by a friend and drove to his apartment in the city. Two of my great friends live in the neighborhood between Pacific Heights and Nob Hill in San Francisco and were gracious enough to let us stay with them for a couple nights.

With a couple large gatherings for brunch together and late night drinks, we spent time with many of their friends. Of course, these were not all transit lovers like me, but with large groups of young urban dwellers, the conversation did turn there…

This was our homemade brunch. Good food, good friends, and good conversation.

There were two main things I noticed…

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A Trip Up The Coast: Traveling by Train Through California

June 11, 2012 4 Comments

This is the first post in a short series based on my recent trip from Los Angeles to San Francisco by train. With an overnight stop in San Luis Obispo and a weekend in San Francisco, there were some great urbanist and transit lessons to be learned.

From the historic halls of Los Angeles’s Union Station to the platforms of San Luis Obispo’s depot is about a 5 hour journey by train. The five hours, about an hour and a half longer than driving, pass quickly and smoothly, especially when you have a traveling partner. From beautiful seaside tracks to fields of crops, the sights are amazing. The ability to relax, use the free Wi-Fi (which works better than many public Wi-Fi systems, with just a limit on downloading individual files over 10MB) make the trip extremely pleasant.

The Pacific Surfliner between Los Angeles and Santa Barbara, like the trip between Orange County and San Diego, follows what must be one of the most beautiful routes in the country.

Leaving Los Angeles, the stops are often — Glendale, Burbank, Simi Valley — and seem to come right after one another. The train speeds up quickly, though, and the ocean-front ride up to and through Santa Barbara must be one of the most beautiful trips in the country. It’s even more enjoyable with a drink, some snacks, and a camera. Not long after come the hills leading into San Luis Obispo county, which were picturesquely blanketed in a thick layer of fog.

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Civic Philanthropy: Transit

March 29, 2012 3 Comments

This is part of a short series on Civic Philanthropy. For an introduction, please read my first post on the subject: How Can Cities Leverage Donations?

Transit infrastructure is imperative to a city’s success. Whether by way of roads, sidewalks, bike paths, streetcars, light rail, subway, or personal flying pods, people need to get around. I believe that infrastructure (and specifically transportation infrastructure) should be at the top of a government’s list when it comes to spending money. It is a shared amenity that benefits all within the city and allows the city’s residents and businesses to function.

Unfortunately, most of our nation’s (and certainly here in Los Angeles) infrastructure is crumbling. Bridges are failing, roads are sinking, trains are slow… because the government has not invested as it should. There’s obviously needs to go around. Education is important, police are important, some of the bureaucratic positions may or may not be important… but money needs to go to lots of things. Infrastructure often gets pushed aside until it’s too late. And now, it’s getting to be too late.

Thomas Wayne built Gotham's transit system as a gift to the people (and to support his business) in Batman Begins.

Like Bruce Wayne’s father in Batman Begins, I see an incredible opportunity for cities to court businesses and individuals to help improve the transit system in their city.

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