ULI, the national nonprofit of real estate professionals and others interested in downtown development, reviewed my book Railtown to find out just what is going on with rail in Los Angeles:

Railtown chronicles the latest chapter in the Los Angeles saga—the city’s transition from a smoggy, car-loving, freeway-dominated megacity to an emerging cluster of walkable urban centers linked by public transit, including light and heavy rail as well as buses. This saga resembles a Greek tragedy. The central figure’s fatal flaw—the political geography of metropolitan Los Angeles and the inability to agree on a plan—drives the narrative while optimistic local leaders who view rail as the solution to the region’s traffic and environmental problems struggle to convince politicians, 88 self-centered cities, and the county electorate to accept yet another reinvention.

The review is not all positive, as the reviewer seems to have challenges with what he calls a “dense” read, but he says “for those wanting to understand the details of Metro Rail’s checkered history, this is the book to read.”