The 405... don't bother

At about this time about half of us are sitting on that concrete monstrosity known to all as the I-405 freeway. At this time of day it's more like a parking lot than a freeway. You probably have the radio turned on, and since we're in LA, those radio folks are nice enough to provide us with a traffic report-- so you can know just how screwed you are after a long day's work. Have you noticed, however, that traffic reports no longer mention the 405 freeway?

I realized this yesterday. At around 5:30pm, the height of rush hour, I had the horrendous task of attempting to get from the Jefferson Blvd on-ramp to the 101 freeway. I tuned in to KNX 1070 to hear more bad news about our economy. What better way to distract yourself from bad traffic than to listen to bad news about the economy?

5:35pm. My tires finished one complete rotation. Basically, I moved a couple inches in five minutes. I turn the radio up when the traffic report starts, hoping to find out why the 405 was so jammed. The reported went down the list. The I-5, the 605, the 10, and some freeways I've yet to loathe. The report ended with no mention of the 405. Then I realized, that's not the first time they failed to report the 405.

My first conclusion was maybe they just don't bother reporting traffic on the 405 since it's pretty much a given. The 405 is synonymous with traffic, wasted time, and misery. I'm surprised they don't just say, "The 405... don't bother. Ask the person in the car next to you to shoot you; because you're not going anywhere."

In all honesty, that was the only conclusion I came to. If you happen to know why the radio announcers don't report the 405 traffic, please leave a comment! I'd really like to know.

Until next time!

Only in LA.

Be Careful What You Wish For

Remember that blog post I wrote a while back? On January 24, 2007, to be exact. It went something like, "Houses in LA are so expensive. I mean really expensive! Seriously, what's going on? How am I supposed to buy a house in LA when it's so expensive? I wish houses weren't so f-in expensive." Sound familiar? Scroll down if you need to refresh your memory... or read it for the first time.

Over a year later, I got my wish. In March of this year the LA Times reported that house prices in LA dropped 26% from a year ago, bringing the median house price to $409,240. "On a percentage basis, the California price meltdown is more than three times as severe as the national decline of 8.2% (Viles)

So translation: houses are no longer so expensive! I can even entertain the idea of jumping in the market. This is good news until you start to think about what had to happen to get to this point. You don't even have to think about it. It's on the news everyday: Zero percent interest rates, soaring house prices, greed all around, then reality kicks in. People's mortgage payments jump, they can't keep up, they default on their mortgage and the market is flooded with foreclosed houses. The law of supply and demand makes its appearance and house prices go back down.

So yeah, houses in LA are more affordable but at the expense of thousands of severely cash strapped homeowners. 

Hiatus

Indefinitely.