How Riding the Rails Can Change Cities and Lives
Don’t Judge L.A.’s New Train Lines by the Number of Cars They Take Off the Road. Their Potential to Nurture New Communities Is Incalculable.
What will the railroad bring us?
That was the question Henry George sought to answer for California in his famous 1868 essay, “What the Railroad Will Bring Us,” on the eve of the transcontinental railroad’s completion. The renowned political economist’s vision—that the railroad would help make California a global giant of business and trade—was so prescient, it was taught in California schools well into the 20th century.
Now the question is timely again for Californians, as Metro in Los Angeles County opens two new light rail connections—one through the San Gabriel …
