Festival of Tail-Lights? Humbug!

Photo courtesy Chuck Soter Tough to make light of this irony: A sign announcing the 30 minute wait time for the driving tour of the Griffith Park Light Festival makes a stark contrast beneath a sign urging people to 'Run for a Green L.A.'

One wonders what the purpose of a park is. Los Angeles, as we all know, is park-poor. Open green space is a rare and precious resource. Should it provide yet another location for holiday kitsch? There are many places to see Christmas lights. Holiday music seems numbingly ubiquitous. Does it have to blare across the golf course and bounce off the trees and picnic tables? Even if those of us who mutter, 'Bah! Humbug!' are few, and the Festival of Lights is in Griffith Park to stay, it is time to turn off the engines. Some 156,000 automobiles chugged through the Festival in 2005.

The LADWP Board of Commissioners, in July 2006, adopted principles to reduce its generation of greenhouse gas emissions. In August 2006, Mayor Villaraigosa signed an anti-GHG pact with former President Clinton and Governor Schwarzenegger. Prohibiting automobiles at the Festival of Lights would show the public that Los Angeles is serious about its commitment to reducing greenhouse gas emissions. Redesigning the Festival to be an event encouraging walkers, bicycle riders and equestrians, and providing non-polluting shuttles for those who need them, could teach children environmentally sound ways to have fun and could promote healthy habits.

Despite the LADWP's acknowledgement of community concerns, and despite its avowed commitment to reducing greenhouse gas emissions, this year's Festival will once again be a festival of tail-lights. However, the DWP has agreed to stage a pilot pedestrian event 'in order to work out logistical needs and learn from visitor behavior.' Before the Festival opens to vehicles, just before Thanksgiving, there will be some days when it will be open only to pedestrians and bicycles (possibly horses too). Check the DWP website for updates. And, please join other Sierra Club members and community groups to walk or pedal down Crystal Springs Drive to enjoy the lights without getting a snoot-full of car exhaust. Let's demonstrate to the DWP that a pedestrian-centered event will work, that we can walk or cycle through the lights without fainting, getting lost, or vandalizing the park. Let's encourage the beginning of a new and beautiful tradition.