Seriously, I like the Light Festival and think it is fine the way it is. Why does everything have to be some over-produced, Hollywood spectacle? Yeah, it’s hokey. But there is a lot of charm in those old-school displays.

That aside, the City of LA could have a much greater, civic minded event by turning this over to pedestrians. Besides the current walk through, they could turn an extra profit by selling hot chocolate along the path, create specialty nights with booth space for local merchants – evening Farmers Markets of sorts, and more.

We need more excuses to get people out of their cars, especially around the holiday season, and this seems like a natural place to do it.

1. On those “bike night” and “ped nights” that Will is referring to, how was attendance? Good enough to convince the DWP that if they banned cars, people would still come?

2. Did the visitors who drove in on the ped-only nights find easy enough parking, or was it a huge mess just to park? You get my gist: Visitors who couldn’t walk to Griffith Park from their homes would have to drive there, so I wonder how many traffic congestion problems would really be solved by forcing people to find parking instead of just letting them drive through.

Frankly, I’d be happy to scrap this thing entirely, because it sounds like a total waste of energy. But again – I’ve never been, so I’d never miss it. I’m just wondering if anybody who has been on the non-car nights can truthfully say that, from their observations, this alternative might work.