Third in a series
Re “Horowitz Examines What Was Wrong with the Shuttle Plan”
[img]2021|right|Seth Horowitz||no_popup[/img]Speaking as chair of the Downtown Business Assn.’s Transportation subcommittee, Seth Horowitz said the 9-month experimental shuttle concept the City Council voted down last week “was too centric upon Downtown. It did not deal enough with the whole city,” circulating only to the light rail station, the Hayden Tract and then back Downtown.
“The most important consideration (to the DBA) was, once it was finished, how was it going to continue? Who would do the funding?
“These are issues we (at the DBA) talked about from the beginning,” said the general manager of the Culver Hotel.
“It was my firm belief by myself, as a (DBA) board member, that this would be a successful shuttle if marketed correctly.
“I really believe the outreach we already had made to the employees (within the Hayden Tract), that they are coming to the Downtown anyway.”
Mr. Horowitz said that by turning to the Hayden Tract, he was dipping into familiar waters.
“A tremendous amount of the businesses in the Hayden Tract are clients of ours,” he said, “meaning
that they have people staying with us (at the Culver Hotel) whenever anyone needs to, and we are the best hotel in Culver City.
A Relationship in Place
“I have sales calls to them, and I have personal relationships with those people. Whether it is management or the employees,” said Mr. Horowitz, “what was conclusive to me – though not scientific – as an individual intimately involved in this issue, the employees in the Hayden Tract come Downtown anyway.
“By providing them with a shuttle, we would be increasing the business (for Downtown restaurants) because they would come more often. It really is difficult finding parking at lunchtime on weekdays.
“Try and get into any of the (three city-owned parking garages, and you can’t. If you come out late, you hardly can get out, the traffic is so bad.
“Having that shuttle,” Mr. Horowitz said, “would reduce the amount of traffic because they are coming anyway, and increase the amount of times they would come because it would be much easier for them.
“It was very clear from the point of view of the Downtown businesses that we wanted this, and we believed it would be successful.
“It would be a precursor for a more extensive discussion of a shuttle service that would take people, at reasonable times, from the Expo line to their work, whether it was to Sony, to Jefferson Boulevard, to the Hayden Tract, to West Los Angeles College, to the Westfield Mall.
“This,” said Mr. Horowitz, “is a much bigger question.”
(To be continued)
