Sports

03/09/2008

A Weak Ago Today: L.A. Marathon Retrospective

A dreadful pun, to be sure, but not nearly as dreadful as the mess of downtown traffic and subway screw-ups that marked the 2008 L.A. Marathon.

Last weekend there was the L.A. Marathon. It is an event that much of the rest of the world knows occurs round this time annually. Then there is Metro, the City Council, the meter maids and most anyone associated with "keeping L.A. moving," or whatever the bullshit motto of the meter maids might be. Then again, the L.A. Marathon has been an annual event for approximately as long as the "city" of Los Angeles has been bereft of a comprehensive transit plan.

Here are some videos from last Sunday, above ground and below, that is sure to prompt anyone who has lived in a real city to ask: "What the hell is wrong with the morons charged with running what alleges to be the second largest city in the United States?"

From Tony V (who alleges to be the mayor), to City Transportation Chair Wendy Greuel (whose questionable constituency in Sunland-Tujunga is beneath anything I have witnessed
in the hinterlands of Tennessee), to the outrageously evasive Metro CEO Roger Snoble, to the insincerity of LACMTA (Metro) Chair Pam O'Connor, to everyone else directly involved at the top, there is such a huge hole in accountability, competence, finances and above all, sincerity—I will be frank: EVERY one on the MTA board is a flat-out liar and cheat—that it is no wonder that this so-called city is such a bleeding mess. Even when a potential world-class event is planned, Metro and its associate idiots are not on hand to let it be a damn mess.  One might see it on the news, however, so I spent the day documenting that which would not be were Metro, the L.A. city council, et al, not concerned with adultery, covering up drunken wives' wrecks and junkets to Australia.

Did I mention the millions of dollars spent on green kiosks in which pee should have been collected but after many, many months remain unopened?

 

 

 

 

 

-BusTard

About The Bus Bench

  • The Bus Bench is published by Browne Molyneux. The editorial consultant is Randall Fleming.

    The Bus Bench’s roots are in Social Ecology.

    The Bus Bench takes a satirical and editorial approach to dealing with the issue of mobility in Los Angeles. The emphasis of The Bus Bench is public transportation, but we also discuss class, race, gender and Downtown Los Angeles.

    In commenting on The Bus Bench we do not mind if your opinion differs than that of an opinion of a writer on a particular post. We welcome discourse. We only ask that you be respectful. Do not be violent with your words.

    Contact us at: browne@shametrainla.com

Murder your car! Art project.

  • The Bus Bench is doing an art project on January 10th in collaboration with The Loft Gallery's Post-Post Apocalypse exhibit in San Pedro and we need a car to murder.

    Are you ready to release yourself from the chain of car ownership? Do you want it documented?

    The Bus Bench wants to make that dream happen for you.

    Email us at browne@shametrainla.com

    The Loft Gallery
                   401 S. Mesa
                    San Pedro, CA 90731
    Title of Exhibition: Post-Post Apocalypse
    Curators: Edith Abeyta and  Marshall Astor

    A group collaboration with:
    Betsy Lohrer Hall, Robert Tower, Michael Lewis Miller, Pirkko de Baer,
    Vlad Gallegos, Joey Grana, Browne Molyneaux and Randall Fleming

Twitter BUSdates

    follow me on Twitter

    Car Free Culture

    Search The Bus Bench

    • Search The Bus Bench
      Google

      WWW
      www.thebusbench.com

    LA Eastside Posts

    Click below logo for ShameTrain Homepage

    Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported

    Doing LA Transit Links

    Social Justice

    Passengers

    Alt Transport Liasions: The Bus Bench Calendar

    The Bus Bench bloggers

    • Browne Molyneux is a freelance journalist and a friendly gadfly in the LA based blogosphere. She writes a transportation column for LA City Beat: Tracks and is a contributor to LA Eastside and The LA Progressive. She does not own a motorized vehicle, but she does have a bike.

      RANDALL (BusTard) FLEMING has spent two decades working in most every facet of publishing. A former magazine publisher (Angry Thoreauan, 1987-2001), he has also contributed to a great many books, periodicals and newspapers in Los Angeles and New York: New York Post, Brooklyn Spectator, Discover Hollywood!, Ben Is Dead, Flipside, Los Feliz Ledger, Sabotage in The American Workplace (Pressure Drop Press), Notes From the Underground: Zines and the Politics of Alternative Culture (Verso), and several of the Unreinforced Masonry Studio books about Los Angeles.

      Art Gonzo was raised in Los Angeles. He is a visual artist. He has seen a bus. When not at The Bus Bench he is a contributor at LA Eastside.

      A Valley-born Los Angeleno, Simon Ganz only recently returned from the liberal enclaves of Northern California where he, to his surprise, found himself more than happy living without a car. Now back in his hometown with only a political science major to show for his journey, he is of course constantly unemployed and hoping to join/start/follow a movement to create better transit for everyone in Los Angeles.

      Rogelio Gomez is a public transit rider and an avid cyclist. He blogs at My Daily Ride when he's not sharing his adventures on The Bus Bench.

      Sirinya Tritipeskul is a graduate student studying to become a transportation planner at UCLA. She writes on The Bus Bench about living car-free on the Westside. Her own blog, The Valley Girl Planner (in training), is a tribute to her Valley Girl roots and her travels around the Los Angeles area.