Interact
The report outlines a vision for high-speed rail from Boston to Washington, integrating intercity and commuter services to shorten trips, boost frequency, and improve operations through coordinated schedules and targeted infrastructure investment.
More of these, please. Interactive websites/publications like this one help us understand and dream of very, very possible things we can do for ourselves at an infrastructure level. We need to stop asking “Can we?” of our governments (local and federal) and start asking, “Why not?” much more explicitly: “Here’s the plan, why aren’t we doing it right now?”.
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As the Palisades and Eaton fires were still burning in January, a dizzying lineup of mostly male, mostly obscenely rich public figures made sweeping proclamations to rebuild that didn’t deliver. Governor Gavin Newsom stood in a smoldering Altadena and described an “LA 2.0” vision that never materialized. Rick Caruso, the real estate developer who spent $100 million in losing the 2022 mayoral election, grandstanded at his Palisades property—unscathed thanks to private firefighters—and made promises like rebuilding a local park, which would mostly benefit the customers who lived adjacent to his mall.
But one proposal held genuine promise: In February, LA County Supervisor Lindsey Horvath announced the Blue Ribbon Commission on Climate Action and Fire-Safe Recovery, tapping in twenty civic and environmental leaders, including Estolano, to make recommendations for LA policymakers. Unlike the vibes-based, no-follow-through plans of other recovery efforts, all the recommendations of the commission would be dutifully underpinned by the research of UCLA academics. And perhaps most importantly, the commission pledged to deliver its report within six months of the fires because the window to take action was swiftly closing.
As with so many wonky things in government, it’s hard to get excited by the findings of a “Blue Ribbon Commission”, but isn’t this precisely what we want from our governments—especially our local government: boring, fact-based plans that actually have a chance of working and making a real impact?
We live in an era of TikTok commentary—often willfully (or even purposefully) misinformed—that simply isn’t meeting the moment because it’s all just words. Rebuilding LA needs a plan, an authority to take action, and that action. This commission laid all of that out very clearly. Time to ignore the loud, “obscenely rich public figures” and get some work done.
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Personally, I keep having moments where I tell myself that I’m going to hunker down and really “take onboard” everything that is happening, like really synthesize it, and come up with some sort of plan. In my imagination, this vague, mythical plan seems to have the faint outline of becoming a hermit and living deep in the woods off the grid somewhere. Which basically translates to… hiding?
Life has been… a lot this year. And while it’s hard to know exactly what percentage of my brain and energy is consistently consumed by [gestures broadly] before I even get to work, my personal life, and family and friends, I need to recognize that it’s well above zero percent and give myself grace for existing as a somewhat-normally functioning human in this time.
I want to be the lightness that honors the heaviness, the anchor that grounds us, and the relief that comes from acknowledging how difficult things are.
And I need to also recognize that I’ve—so far—had the privilege to exist as a somewhat-normally functioning human in this time and find ways to be “the lightness” for others in my life and community that are carrying a heavier burden.