To the editor: As I sit right here in Rancho Park, trapped in my home by site visitors eight hours after the Los Angeles Marathon, I might sincerely wish to know which bureaucrat at Metropolis Corridor thinks it’s a good suggestion to separate West L.A. — and different areas — in two for practically a day.
A Westside the place site visitors is borderline or past insufferable for 10 to 12 hours per day. A Westside the place, for the previous two months, we have now added innumerable vehicles because of Pacific Coast Freeway closures. A Westside that’s, as I write this, fully gridlocked, that means if there have been an emergency individuals may die earlier than assist arrives.
L.A. doesn’t want a marathon to be an ideal metropolis. But when it have to be run, let it finish in all elements of the town, not simply on the Westside or in Santa Monica. Finish it on the Eastside, in South L.A., within the downtown space, in one of many valleys, and even in one of many fire-damaged areas as a tribute to their resilience. Solely have an effect on the Westside (and the opposite areas) as soon as each 5 years or so.
Brent Byrd, Rancho Park
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To the editor: The Los Angeles Marathon has come and gone with too little dialogue of the prolonged site visitors catastrophe that it creates yearly. There are a number of main points with the route and operation of the marathon that must be addressed.
One vital drawback is how lengthy streets (particularly the cross streets) stay closed; they reopen at one thing near a brisk-walking price. After 4 or 5 hours, the walkers can look forward to the crossing indicators.
Second, there is no such thing as a actual on-the-ground publicity in regards to the route. Residents should hunt down info on avenue closures and opening instances.
Third, the price to the town. The celebration parade following the Dodgers’ World Sequence victory final 12 months bought a variety of consideration as a result of value to the town for site visitors management, however the staff paid about $1.7 million for the event. How a lot does the marathon pay the town for site visitors management and disruption for an occasion that lasts longer, covers a bigger space and attracts far fewer individuals?
Keith Worth, Los Angeles
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To the editor: Oh, there it’s, lastly, on B3 of Monday’s California part (“An American wins the L.A. Marathon for the first time in 31 years,” March 16). Was protection of the L.A. Marathon, with 1000’s working via the town the L.A. Instances represents, not a sufficiently big story to provide higher protection? I’m wondering if it could have been coated in any respect had an American not gained the competitors for the primary time in 31 years.
Invoice Glazier, Fullerton
