Resident Survey Results Now Available

I found the data about children living downtown interesting since my wife and I have three very young kids. I thougth the information about what parents who live downtown plan to do with their children when their kids reach school age interesting. My wife and I are approaching that decision point right now.

The majority of parents said they'd move to find a decent school. I'd have to agree, based upon the data I've seen, the quality of public schools in downtown is terrible. The only public elementary school which gets good test scores is Castelar (sic?) in Chinatown. This would be unfortunate if this segment of the community were to disperse because no decent public school options are available. I think it reflects poorly upon downtown if it can't accomodate families. It would certainly stunt its development. I'd hate to move for this reason.

Does it show how many people used the $10 McCormick & Schmick coupon that came with the survey? I used mine.

first off, bill... hahahaha, that's great! congrads on your coupons, they were attached to my fridge for about 3 months and about a week ago my roommates and i decided, hey lets use those coupons. but alas, they were well expired. oh well, hope you enjoyed.

secondly, and more importantly:
61.4% of surveyed "very rarely or never use public transportation", and 63.6% "drive alone to work." my god what an embarrassment. urban? what a joke. come on dtla residents, set an example, stop lying to yourselves that you're urbanites, but really just transplanted west siders. downtown is the public transit center of la, you can get anywhere you need to go, yet only 11.3% of the surveyed residents use public transportation. unreal.

Responding to TJ's second point, it doesn't surprise me that downtowners are just as loath to use public transit as others. Yes, downtown is the hub of the public transit system and we have many excellent options. However, we are all part of the automobile culture. Moving downtown doesn't change us, it merely gives us more opportunities to use public transit effectively compared to say Brentwood (where your public transit options are lousy).

Think of urban living as a social skill. The idea of living somewhere where you can walk to most everything you need or jump on some convenient public transit is still an alien concept to most people, even downtowners. People move here and they pretty much continue to live their lives as before. Downtown living is just an different housing aesthetic, like a new pair of pants.

Obviously, many of us move downtown because we like the benefits of urban living. But, I'd bet most of the people who live here jump in their cars to get anywhere. When I lived above Grand Central Market for a couple of years. I almost never saw a neighbor in the market downstairs. Despite the fact there were restaurants within a block of the place, I never saw my neighbors there. Interestingly, I'd often see or smell my neighbors bringing home dinner from fast food restaurants. In the building I live in now at 9th & Broadway, the garage pretty much empties out over the weekend. Do I see my neighbors walking about in the Fashion? Never.

I'm sure many others here are committed urbanites who walk their neighborhoods and patronize the local businesses. Clearly, the choices for us are constantly increasting. However, I think the majority of downtowners are pretty conventional in their lifestyles. Driving everywhere is one of those very powerful conventions.

I wasn't too surprised about the low public transportation rate. It takes a while for people to shake off old habits. And with more transit options becoming available (Expo line, Eastside Goldline) those numbers will only continue to grow. Meanwhile, Driving does take you more places.

Look on the bright side 11.3% is more than the 5.6% that use public transportation in the greater LA area.

Noting the public transportation figures, what would concern me more is if the same downtown pioneers mobilize to force public transportation off most downtown streets. Particularly if the demand is to run most buses on Main or Los Angeles streets, in the middle of Skid Row, because residents think "that's where transit belongs."

One detail which I really enjoyed about the report was the nifty map showing the various rail lines serving downtown. Including the Metrolink connections is very helpful, too. With the Gold Line extension to East L.A. and the Expo Line to Culver City, the system is really hitting some kind of critical mass. Can't wait until they green light the subway all the way to Santa Monica.

http://downtownla.com/pdfs/econ_demo/DTLA_DemoSurvey022007.pdf

My only quibbles are:

1) Why is the Chinatown station not included as part of downtown?

2) The new designation of the subway from Union Station to Western as the Purple Line is not used.

Whoa there, BlogDowntown readers!

As I brought up on MetroRiderLA, regarding the survey's transit use statistics: we don't know AT ALL how this usage level (if the figures are even reliable) relates to other neighborhoods (like Santa Monica, Hollywood, North Hollywood, etc.) or L.A. County as a whole.

It's my hunch (and that's all, just a hunch) that 61% "rarely if ever" using public transit is a great figure compared to other places, where there might be 70%, 80%, or 90% of residents who "rarely or ever" use public transit. That means Downtowners are using public transit 100% or even 200% more than others in the county.

63.6% driving alone to work also seems like it would be LOW. I can't imagine less than 90% of the people who live in Sherman Oaks driving to work alone. Probably 5% bus it and 5% carpool. Okay, maybe 5% are so rich they don't work.

So let's wait for some evidence before we start berating the qualities of DT residents, Mr. Johnson. If they deserve it, fine, but my guess is that they are doing their part more than others.

Could we do better? Should we do better? OF COURSE we should be. Especially in downtown. But let's get our facts right. I hope there's some why we can find out for sure.

Hear, hear. I agree completely with Scott. Let's get the data first, in this case comparative data.

Just to be clear, in my follow-up comments to TJ's original post, I'm not making a value judgement or criticising downtowners' use public transit. I'm just commenting on what I see. I should have been more clear.

My rant on MetroRiderLA was never about how downtown compares to other parts of the city in terms of transit usage... it was about downtown and only downtown. Downtown is unique in Los Angeles (compared to say Sherman Oaks as Scott brought up) because it's brimming with transit options. A place like Sherman Oaks simply can't compare with the 129 bus routes (including 6 Downtown DASH routes), 3 Metro rail lines, and regional/commuter rail that serves the Downtown area. A quick look at the Metro System Map will make this clearly evident. Plus an area like Sherman Oaks is known to be a suburban area, no one says they move to Sherman Oaks for the "urban setting" like they do for Downtown (per the survey).