Hacker Cinema
Bikes vs Cars
2015 · Film · documentary · 90 min
Directed by Fredrik Gertten
Bikes vs Cars depicts a global crisis that we all deep down know we need to talk about: Climate, earth's resources, cities where the entire surface is consumed by the car. An ever-growing, dirty, noisy traffic chaos. The bike is a great tool for change, but the powerful interests who gain from the private car invest billions each year on lobbying and advertising to protect their business. In the film we meet activists and thinkers who are fighting for better cities, who refuse to stop riding despite the increasing number killed in traffic.
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What happened was; an auto-industry was born and lobbied the government to tear down a lot of the tram, bike and rail infrastructure you guys had. Especially in LA.
A similar thing happened in Sydney, Australia, the city had one of the largest tram systems in the world, the director of the motor trade authority was elected into government and made sure that all the tracks were literally tared over, they are still under the roads. The excuse used was that the network was over congested / too popular, and cars would solve the problem, guess what? Sydney is in the middle of putting the tram network back in to solve the car problem :) Melbourne, Australia was spared because it built it's network in the 40's and 50's and it was difficult to persuade the working class that putting in such a newly built system was a good idea. People literally move to Melbourne because of the convenience they provide.
If you're interested Bikes vs Cars (http://www.bikes-vs-cars.com/) is an awesome documentary, it shows that LA even had things called "Bike Highways" at one stage. You will see how people were so negatively influenced by big business lobbying, and from memory outlines why New York was somewhat spared from the fate.
Sounds like you're being told the same stories again either way.