3-Car Garages

I am pessimistic about relief from our smog. On the one hand, the Environmental Protection Agency and the South Coast Air Quality Management District are doing their best to reduce smog. On the other hand, the burgeoning number of automobiles tends to cancel out their efforts.

Today, I walked in the hills above my home. Scores of $1 million-plus homes are sprouting on the ridges. With a few exceptions, every new house had a three-car garage. In some cases, one or two extra cars were parked in the driveway or on the street.

I grew up in a one-family house with a one-car garage. After World War II, we started seeing two-car garages. It was no coincidence that smog increased in direct proportion. Now our “garage index” is slowly increasing by 50%. Despite cleaner car engines and lead-free gasoline, isn’t it realistic to predict that our smog, too, will increase?

JERRY COWLE

Pacific Palisades