Transportation Chief Drives a Hummer?

In perhaps the greatest irony of ironies, the transportation chief appointed by Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa drives a vehicle too large to ignore given the scope of his position.

In a case that may be deemed sheer hypocrisy, the man appointed to solve the problems of traffic congestion in Los Angeles County drives a Hummer.

Transportation Chief Jaime de la Vega drives one of the largest vehicles on the road, and granted it's the smaller of the Hummers in the Hummer family it doesn't negate the fact that the car is a gas guzzler and a gross sight on L.A.'s narrow road lanes.

Although large vehicles do not necessarily cause traffic, they certainly do not make matters better. Larger vehicles have a tendency to have a hard time getting around the narrow, one-way roads in L.A. County. In addition, they obstruct the views of other drivers and consume a ridiculous amount of gas.

The gas factor is not necessarily what is being debated here since it is up to the discretion of the individual whether they want to waste large quantities of money on gasoline for their vehicles.

What is being questioned in this article is why a man who is promoting public transportation and who also represents an administration that is promoting public transit and less single-person commuting, could be driving the biggest eyesore on the road today.

Why should any resident from the county listen to someone telling them to take a bus, ride a bike or ride the Metrolink if this same person is out zipping around town in his own car? The debate over traffic has been an ongoing one for those in Los Angeles County with more people suggesting that the only way to ease the problem is to start investing in carpooling or other forms of group transportation.

The most distasteful part of this story is that Los Angeles Times columnist Steve Lopez recently went to talk to de la Vega about his Hummer and the traffic situation at de la Vega's office. Lopez carefully relayed to readers in his column how de la Vega has a quote from Rosa Parks on his wall reading "Every person must live their lives as a model for others."

It is hard to interpret how this quote should be put into action given that de la Vega is clearly separating his personal life from his public, political life. What does this mean for those in the county? Do what de la Vega does: rant about the merits of public transportation on the outside but secretly continue commuting to work alone in your own car.