Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, in his yearly “state of the San Fernando Valley” speech Thursday, predicted a taller, denser Los Angeles where residents live in high density apartments along public transport routes. He envisioned a city more like San Francisco and New York, where walking and a vibrant street life make up for the loss of large homes and three car garages.

He has a tough road ahead of him. At a recent block party here in Van Nuys, opponents of the Busway described how much they hate the line. They complained of everything from toxic soil left behind by the original Southern Pacific line to the unsafe route of the bus that crosses 33 intersections at grade level. One resident said her girlfriend works in Pasadena and could ride the Orange Line to the Red Line to the Gold Line easily, but chooses to drive on freeways because she feels safer.

The possible construction of hundreds of multi-family homes along the bus route will no doubt bring many lawsuits from single family homeowners who rightly fear that the apartment dwellers will each have cars that will eventually clog the roads. “Who is going to ride the bus to pick up their groceries?” asked one person at the block party.

Development is not helped by the perception that large companies, such as Costco and Target, continue to build and expand while doing nothing to integrate their enormous box outlets and parking lots into existing neighborhoods. Retail stores are the single worst contributor to weekend congestion and make our entire life traffic hell seven days a week. Some of these retailers should construct housing on top of their 200,000 square foot behemoths.

Mayor Villaraigosa should study the idea of putting a streetcar line down the center of Van Nuys Boulevard and rezoning the street for 8-13 story apartment buildings above retail stores. They were doing this in New York in 1920. It may just work in LA in 2020.