These days, in Koreatown, high-rise apartments are popping up everywhere.

In the past, there were only old buildings of 2 to 4 stories, but at some point, cranes started hanging in the sky, and 20-story apartments appeared out of nowhere.

They look shiny and cool, like a futuristic city. It must look even more so to those who have left Korea.

When I hear things like, "LA is developing!" or "Housing prices in Koreatown have gone up!" I feel a sense of pride and satisfaction.

However, there is one thing I don't understand. The buildings are getting taller, but the roads remain the same. On a two-lane road where four cars can fit side by side, during lunchtime, Ubers are circling around, and when the traffic light changes, the horns start blaring. Are they really going to cram hundreds of apartment units onto this narrow road? Honestly, it just doesn't add up.

As the number of apartments increases, the number of people increases, and as the number of people increases, the number of cars increases...

Even a middle school student knows that more cars lead to traffic hell, but does the city of LA not know this? Or do they know and just pretend not to?

Our neighborhood is getting luxury apartments too~! While we enjoy that, a problem is arising where it takes 15 minutes just to escape the parking lot during commute times.

Even now, during peak times, you have to pray just to get through Wilshire, Oxford, Hoover, and Vermont, and I wonder what it will be like in the future...

Of course, apartment development isn't a bad thing. Old buildings are being remodeled, crime is decreasing, neighborhoods are getting cleaner, and many people are happy that housing prices are rising. But building high-rises without infrastructure is truly foolish. If 500 more apartment units come in, there will be at least 300-400 more cars, but if the roads remain the same, what then?

These days, even in Koreatown, you have to pay parking fees diligently to park.

However, since only resident parking is allowed in new apartments and there is no visitor parking, when someone comes over, there's nowhere to park, and it just adds to the stress.

What's even funnier is that LA has an ambiguous walking culture and public transportation is also lacking. They say there's a subway, but when you actually use it, you wonder, "Why am I taking this?" The connections are not as dense as in Seoul, and it's inconvenient to live without a car. So in the end, a car is necessary, and since the roads remain the same, there's only one answer. The congestion will only get worse.

"What have the people who only raised the apartments and didn't widen the roads really done?"

The sky in Koreatown has risen, but the roads are still narrow. For a city to develop, it's not enough for the buildings to just look nice. Roads, public transportation, parking, infrastructure... that comes first.

Policies that build high-rises without taking care of these basics are frustrating and foolish to anyone who looks at them.

I hope LA hears the saying, "Don't just paint the vase gold, fill it with water first."