LOS ANGELES—Councilman Jack Weiss, representing the 5th District of Los Angeles including West Los Angeles and the San Fernando Valley, has recently come under fire for traffic congestion. Since his reelection in 2005, Weiss stated that his “number one responsibility” is “to provide city services to residents and neighborhoods” and his goal is to “make our city safer and a better place to live and work.”

As a show of concern for the public, and a means of keeping his word, Weiss has posted a memo about how he plans to solve the traffic problem that plagues Los Angeles.

Councilman Jack Weiss

The memo outlines Weiss’s plans to introduce a measure that will explore improvements of infrastructure and funding mechanisms. Weiss suggested that this measure be added to the ballot so that Los Angelinos decide how to best invest in their traffic needs.

Hinging on Weiss’s suggestion is the prediction that California’s population will reach 60 million by the middle of the century. If this is an accurate estimation not only will residential areas be more crowded, but roads and freeways will as well, not to mention the potential for a drastic increase in air pollution. Weiss claims that current infrastructure will not be able to support such a population boom.         

Such particulars as extending the subway, improving bus and rail systems, street and traffic signalization improvement are mentioned in Weiss’s memo as plausible solutions.

Los Angeles traffic

In addition, Weiss also asked the Chief Legislative Analyst to develop an estimate of what such improvements would cost and how they could be funded so as not to exceed the city’s budget.         

This measure was then forwarded to the Transportation Committee.        

Weiss has a lot of work ahead of him. Since late May, several residents in his district have organized to recall Weiss. Cited among reasons for recall are over-development, allowing firefighters and police officers to do more with fewer resources, caring more about the interests of developers than voters and allowing traffic to choke the area. One allegation against Weiss on the recall website reads: “Expect heavy traffic congestion and delays! I’m making lots of deals that are going to add to your gridlock.”   

Weiss’s plans for the future had better measure and hurry up, or else not only will residents be unhappy with traffic, but with Weiss as well.

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