You may be aware that a section of Interstate 10 in downtown Los Angeles has been closed due to arson. How are residents taking it? The New York Times is at top. The LA Times is at bottom:
Different parts of the elephant, I guess.
11 thoughts on “So how are things going in LA?”
Comments are closed.
Is C.C. Meyers still around? They repaired the 10 Freeway in record time after the earthquake.
I was reminded of this:
LIMBAUGH: On California contractor C.C. Myers completing repairs 74 days early on the earthquake-damaged Santa Monica Freeway: “There was one key element that made this happen. One key thing: The governor of California declared the [freeway] a disaster area and by so doing eliminated the need for competitive bids…. Government got the hell out of the way.” (TV show, 4/13/94) “They gave this guy [Myers] the job without having to go through the rigmarole…of giving 25 percent of the job to a minority-owned business and 25 percent to a woman.” (TV show, 4/15/94)
REALITY: There was competitive bidding: Myers beat four other contractors for the job. Affirmative action rules applied: At least 40 percent of the subcontracts went to minority or women-owned firms. Far from getting out of the way, dozens of state employees were on the job 24 hours a day. Furthermore, the federal government picked up the tab for the whole job (L.A. Times, 5/1/94).
https://fair.org/home/the-way-things-arent/
C.C. Meyers also did a great job fixing an interchange that had been destroyed by fire in Oakland too. They worked closely with Caltrans. I was shocked by how quickly they were able to get the job done.
Limbaugh, as always, was a depraved liar.
Just take the Slawson Cut Off.
Some come from the east, some from the west. Those from any point of the compass except west won't have much of a problem. But if, like me and many others took the 405 to the 10, you are royally screwed.
Highway arson wasn't on my bingo card for 2023.
That portion of I-10 is elevated, and the state rented out space underneath as well as adjacent to the highway. The fire started in the space adjacent to the highway, but spread to stuff stored underneath the highway, and the heat of the fire may have weakened the structure. So no traffic on the highway until the damage has been analyzed and the structure reinforced where necessary.
The lease includes restrictions on what could be stored underneath the highway, but California appears to have ignored violations of the lease terms until the renter stopped making rent payments. The lack of rent payments caught their attention, and the state was in the process of evicting the tenant when the fire occurred.
It's a no-win situation. If somebody stores a buncha flammable stuff under a freeway bridge and the State of California tells them to move it, well, the MAGAts will come unglued over "gooberment overreach."
It's not easy to police lease terms. How exactly are you to know what someone is storing in their leased space?
Right now, consider a random commercial retail building in Los Angeles. Do you know what they are storing in their basement? How would you find out?
This is not a mere theoretical matter. A substantial problem nowadays is the extremely flammable materials held by "smoke shops" in their supply closets. The material may be theoretically legal for possession, but I am damn sure it's not legal for storage except under specific controlled conditions.
I'm aware of at least three substantial (ie five alarm) fires in Los Angeles caused by these circumstances.
If you want to get in arms about California not doing anything, you need to change the law to allow for things like truly random, no warning, spot inspections of all parts of a rental property. Are you willing to do that? And are you going to restrict this to just commercial leases? Why aren't you also concerned about such fires in residential areas caused by meth labs?
This is not just an issue of "MAGAts" as claimed by the above poster. It's technically a problem, and it's legally (with substantial consensus by *most* people) a problem.
Kind of makes the point that the undersides of infrastructure are BAD places for high pile storage and other occupancy types (all H and S) that would have otherwise required significant design upgrades to prevent a fire, including sprinklers.
I need to agree with D_Ohrk_E1....it was shocking that this land was leased out, (at what price? Very curious what the rental amount was!) Still, if this was to be let out, then certainly safety inspections and procedures should have been in place, part of any lease, and....fuckin` enforced!
I have driven through this underpass on occasion....if only because I hate this section of the 10 freeway and will take whatever steps allows me to avoid being on it. Best Wishes, Traveller
LA resident here (4 miles south of the 10).
All of us are immensely relieved that the damage wasn't too severe and that it can be repaired in (possibly) under 6 weeks. If the bridge section had to be rebuilt that would have taken several months and been a major problem for virtually everybody (fire was near intersection with another Interstate).
I'm getting the impression that the current mayor, Karen Bass, is not only a good administrator (e.g. homeless) but is also LUCKY. And that's not a bad thing.
(Cue the apocryphal Napoleon quote about generals.)