In the land of interstates, subdivisions and shopping centers; A romantic-traditionalist such as myself is always hoping to see a return of the American train. Not that passenger rail ever went away completely in the states. There is still the rolling tin can of clickety-clack Amtrack. But what is missed are the great mainline passenger trains that saw their peak sometime between the 1940s and the 60s. And then their retreat began. The equipment fell into disrepair. Vital right-o-ways were pulled up and frequently built on in the quest for short-term profits. The great terminal buildings were demolished, or simply let go to seed. Great depots of iron and stone became unofficial shelters for skid-row dwellers. The stations were often left in the no-man's land of massive demographic shifts in the American scene. Invariably, a small town's Railroad Street would display the pen-ink tattoos of boarded up pharmacies and abandoned bowling alleys, and the blood-crusted bandages of the employment center and the Salvation Army. They are the ruins of mid-century American civilization. I only came around in '69. It was all over by my time.

Every few years they start talking about restoring the great American rail network. We recently passed a ballot initiative in California to begin the study, of the application of a massive bond funding to be applied to some future high-speed train connecting Sacramento, San Francisco, Los Angeles and San Diego. Everyone's crossing their fingers, but no one's holding their breath. 

In the meantime, rail enthusiasts can catch a ride on restored short-line, such as the Virginia & Truckee RR in Virginia City, NV. Local volunteers and rail buffs, aided by state and federal grants have put "the Queen of the shortlines" back into service for tourist runs. I rode it myself yesterday, from Virginia City three or so miles to Gold Hill. I have to say it's pretty cool. The train I was on was not drawn by one of the V&T's restored steam locomotives, but instead by a 1950s center-cab-diesel purchased from the U.S. Navy. The line passes through two marvelous old tunnels. A volunteer dressed in cowboy gear gives a lighthearted commentary on the history of the comstock lode and then the train is "robbed" by a gang of buffoons. The take is given over to the Shriner's Children's hospital. 

The hope is that the line will grow a little bit more every year. Eventually they may be able to restore service to Reno. A train doesn't have to go 300 mph to turn me on. If it's got steel wheels and an unusual view, and I can rest my head against a window and drift away in the train's steady, certain movement, then it's headed in the right direction.

June 19, 2009

Attorney General Edmund G. Brown

State of California DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE

Dear Mr. Dow,

Thank you for your correspondence to Attorney General Edmund G. Brown Jr.

We have reviewed your correspondence and determined that the following law enforcement agencies are in a much better position to render assistance to you in this matter. If you wish to pursue the matter further, we suggest you contact:

Los Angeles Police Department

150 N. Los Angeles Street

Los Angeles, CA 90012

877/275-5273

California Highway Patrol

2901 West Broadway

Los Angeles, CA 90041

323/259-2000

We hope that our effort to help you identify the correct government office to address your concern will be beneficial to you. 

Again, thank you for contacting the Office of Attorney General Edmund G. Brown Jr.

Sincerely,

C. Hallinan

Public Enquiry Unit For EDMUND G. BROWN JR. Attorney general

************************************************************************************

They say that when you write letters, you get responses. I have to admit that I'm really just figuring out the whole institutional-interaction thing. The above reply from the Attorney General's office is something of a milestone in my process.  I wrote a letter to several government agencies addressing the issue of unlicencsed vehicles on the streets of L.A. The attorney General's office replied and politely informed me that I was barking up the wrong tree. Or in their words...

We hope that our effort to help you identify the correct government office to address your concern will be beneficial to you. 

I had to laugh at that line. I'm like; Okay okay, clearly I don't shit. I write to the Attorney General to complain about psychotic maniacs in Los Angeles who remove their vehicle's liscence plates in order to get away with mischief. And those guys come back to me and say it's police business and I should go bother them. And it makes sense now. You have to work your way up the chain of command. As Attorney General, Edmund "Jerry" Brown is the top-cop in the state. I figured all the police chiefs answered to him, but that ain't the order of things. So I'm learning as I go along.

I'm also learning that there is a language accepted among gentle people, and I need to brush up on mine. The words need to be non-accusing, no matter how pissed off I am about something evil that's going on in my town (and there's a lot). But no matter. You still keep your voice down, address everyone as Mr. or Missus, and be a model of composure. Anything else is counter-productive, not to mention dangerous. Writing official letters is an interesting process. It makes me think of the notes that a solitary researcher or scientist would keep on an ongoing experiment. It's the document. It's in writing. You have to look at what you thought then versus what you think now. You can't hide from yourself. All the false and egotistical stuff will grow bolder, darker, smellier and harder to deny. I love it.

My conclusion is this. The old-fashioned letter is the primary tool for interacting with government. It's quiet and it's slow - almost imperceptible in its advance of progress. But street protests and demonstrations unsettle me. They offer little in the way of reflection or self-examination. Instead, the crowd with its banners and drums elicits a kind of mob catharsis, full of sex and romance and power. Not so good for me. I think it's better I write letters, so at least if I'm wrong I'll have a left a paper-trail from which to embarrass myself down the road. From embarrassment springs the desire for change!

NEXT STEP will be letters to LAPD and California Highway Patrol about the glaring problem (in my opinion) of unliscenced vehicles on the highways and by-ways of Southern California. I'll work on my wording a bit; Try to be less accusing and antagonistic. Maybe I'll learn something new about why the way things are the way they are. But we have to do something in L.A.

8^th June 2009

California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, State Capitol Building, Sacramento, Calif. 95814

California Attorney General Edmund G. Brown, P.O. box 944025, Sacramento 94244-2550

Director of DWV George Valverde, Department of Motor Vehicles, 2415 1^st Avenue mail station F 101 Sacramento, CA 95818

Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, mayor@lacity.org

 

Dear Sirs,

            I’m writing to express concern over what I think is a dangerous situation on the streets of Los Angeles. There is an astonishing number of vehicles being operated without license plates. And by that I mean they have no visible temporary plate or piece of paper in the window. I’ve seen many cars with Oakland Raiders plates, as well as DUB Motorsports plates, and often plates with the name of a car club. At night, driving in Hollywood I’ve witnessed groups of four or five black SUVs, driving fast together, none of which have any visible markings.  

            This reminded me of a story a friend recounted. While he was fueling up his vehicle in Long Beach, a black SUV with tinted glass pulled up next to him, and out jumped two men, one with a semi-automatic handgun and the other with what appeared to be a detective’s badge hanging from a chain around his neck. The two men yelled POLICE! Show me your hands! They shoved him face down against the hood of his car, as he tried to protest that they were making a mistake. The two men removed his wallet from his pocket, ran back into the SUV and drove off. The vehicle had no license plate, so the fellow who got robbed never knew who or what hit him.

It’s always been my understanding that any vehicle operating on the streets or highways of California had to have an identifying, clearly visible license plate. And yet I see numerous vehicles operating without plates. It is disturbingly common. Today I was waiting at a traffic light on Riverside and Figueroa. The car next to me in the turn lane had no license plate. I saw a police car in my rearview mirror, and I wondered if the cop would notice the absence of a plate on the car next to me. The officers drove right by. A visitor to Los Angeles from Canada was sitting next to me in the car, and she was completely astonished that a car with no plate would get a pass like that. And she’s seen it everywhere in L.A.

Driving in Los Angeles can be very stressful. I avoid taking my car on the road as much as I can. But this proliferation of unlicensed vehicles gives me the sense that anyone could crash into my car, and just split. Or worst still, hit me when I’m on my bicycle, and just leave the scene rather than face an infraction. And there’s nothing anyone can do. I cannot afford to carry an uninsured driver policy on my insurance. I don’t think this state of affairs should be continued for one day longer. Police should pull over any car that doesn’t have a license plate, and of those vehicles, any one without insurance or registration should be impounded.  If someone’s plate has ostensibly been stolen, then the vehicle owner must report it to police on the day, and acquire a temporary, visible document which identifies the vehicle to others. It’s the same rules we all have to follow. To allow unlicensed vehicles to continue operating in a city like Los Angeles would constitute a complete failure of government to carry out the basic functions of public order and security.

I hope I have expressed my concern in an intelligible way, and the individuals and agencies which deal with vehicle registration and enforcement can work together and get all the undocumented vehicles off the road. We stand to gain from the increase in transit ridership and carpools, as well as from the improvement to air quality and urban congestion.

 

From a concerned Californian,

Ian Vincent Dow