Our own Bill Boyarsky, writing at the L.A. Times Op-Ed page, says the crashing economy and the voters' approval of so many funding measures on the November ballot provides an opportunity to emulate the Depression era and speed up work on projects such as the L.A. subway and the California high-speed train.

There should be some appreciation of the historical significance, even the majesty, of the task. During the Depression, the unemployed got real jobs building the schools, bridges, libraries, dams, highways, city halls and courthouses we use today. The water that supports Southern California was delivered through the labor of workers on Hoover Dam on the Colorado River. Or, as Woody Guthrie wrote of another Depression-era dam on another river, Grand Coulee on the Columbia, "Your power is turning our darkness to dawn. So roll on, Columbia, roll on."

Related: What Measure R buys in terms of transportation projects. L.A. Visions