[RWebb]

I thought LA had started a light rail line that ran downtown??

High oil prices will help reduce the money differential that Porsche-O-Phile noted.

Also, since it's Yike, Ike season, and also fire season here out west, disasters can help us to remodel our urban centers. Next time there is an earthquake or a large chaparral fire, people get to re-think whether they really want to rebuild in that spot.

This has happened in SFO (the bay fill "shaky" zones were not rebuilt nearly so much as the rocky parts, and IIRC some were made into parks), and in NoLa (some parts of the city will likely not be rebuilt - the lowest lying parts).

After last year's fire season, I saw the head fire mgmt. guy say that the real culprit was the pattern of land use. Eventually, others will get the message. It may take a few more fires tho.