Food fight for rail money

So many rail projects, so little money. That the conclusion of a CityBeat examination of the competition for federal and state money for projects. Everyone, it seems, is resentful that the other region is getting more attention. Here's the BB scorecard:

--San Gabriel Valley: Got the shaft on freeway funding. Now pushing for Gold Line extension to Ontario Airport (and 710 tunnel).

--Westside: Did well with 405 widening money, and Expo Line finally moving forward. But longer odds for $5 billion Wilshire subway and Expo extension to the Pacific.

--Valley: MTA loves the frugal Orange Line -- and the busway might be extended to Chatsworth. But opposition locally for 101 widening.

--Southside: Big priority is finally extending the Green Line to LAX -- and perhaps light rail down Crenshaw Boulevard.

Where do you stand? Which region deserve the most? It the COMMENT button and speak out!

Comments

[Anthony Fernandez]

The poor are affected by the fare hike, not just the blacks as you like to think. Is it Metro's fault if most of the poor of LA are Black and Mexican? Of course not. Let Metro do what it needs to do in order to operate.

We cannot depend on buses to get this city moving. There are too many vehicles and we need a better solution. We are crying for rail, and it is people like Sam who are holding us back!

Sam, the BRU is evil and it is because of them that we don't have the Green Line to LAX, the Gold Line to Montclair, the Green Line to the Norwalk Metrolink station, and the downtown connector. The BRU is holding back the working class and forcing them to stay on something which is inconvenient and slow. Let them have the advantage of rail. We need an organization to give them a real voice, not one to exploit them.

[sam]

google: curtiba
they've improved a smog congested city with Rapid transit buses... not costly rails for bougis tourists to go to the beach...
we need real clean energy buses to get us to work without tearing down houses and raising bus fares to do so...
this bus fare hike is a RACIST attack on the poor working class people of color of los angeles...

[Centinel]

Is there any talk of putting wireless on light rail, a la the Silver Streak line running from Monclair to Downtown? That would obliterate many of my concerns about how slow light rail tends to be.

http://foothillcities.blogspot.com/2007/04/sgv-misses-funding-boat.html

[Kenarch]

So the Westside gets its wish for a widened 405 over the Pass... and now we hear of threatened lawsuits, a recall campaign against Jack Weiss and the possibility of losing some homes... it is amazing that anything ever gets done! Bigger freeways continue to be Caltrans' pet projects, yet it is quite obvious that there are better ways to get people where they want to go. I said "want", not "need". Living in Northridge and commuting to Torrance is a choice, people...

[Clemente Sanchez]

I remember reading that it is possible to complete the subway to the sea in a year and a half. Every morning I see the Rapid buses on Wilshire going west too full to stop. Sometimes the new long buses stop working or for some reason are moving very slow without traffic causing it to. I would prefer the subway or more subways to be built. Yet we don’t have the money. :-(

[Mike]

Well, I guess this is all about IMBYism. I want all the cool new transport near me so that my neighborhood becomes hip and my property values skyrocket. So Expo Line and Crenshaw should be the most important, obviously.

[Cahwyguy - Daniel]

Of course, none of this does anything for the commuters living in the San Fernando Valley/Santa Clarita/Simi Valley and working in the South Bay. Rail Lines going through downtown just aren't a practical solution: the time savings from the rail is lost from the time lost dues to stops and the extra milage. People will just stay in their cars.

[Patrick McKinnion]

Hmmm......

I ride Gold Line to Red Line, Red Line to Blue Line, Blue Line to Green Line, then Green Line to connect with the Santa Monica "Big Blue Bus". (I work in Marina Del Rey)

So Expo Line should have priority, preferably all the way to the sea, based on how difficult it is to get to the Santa Monica / Venice / Marina Del Rey area on Public Transit. Gold Line to Ontario, and the Green Line spur to LAX should also have top priority, start the right of way planning to extend the Green Line to Santa Monica to link with Expo and Red Line to Sea. Red Line to the sea is next, with the blue line spur to Union Station along with it. Finally, consideration needs to be given to replacing that idiotic "Orange Line" with either a proper light rail system or a subway along that route, with a spur to Bob Hope Burbank Airport.

My three cents

[John Thompsen]

I say full speed ahead for the subway to at least Century City. It will have enormous impact for the region considering how large of a draw CC is employment wise. I am wondering if the Expo line would not be better running to the sea down Washington Bl. - then it would run past the Marina and Venice which are two densly populated areas.

[manuel]

Maybe we should cosider this 405 line to be extended north to Santa Clarita.

[movielocke]

Expo line to the sea along the right of way should be the top priority of all transit projects, hopefully beginning construction before the regular expo line has finished/opened.

The next priority should be the foothill expansion of the Goldline.

Third priority, Subway to the sea should be worked on, but in a manner that allows each stop to open as tunneling continues towards the sea. After construction begins, If they could have a stop open to Crenshaw in a year, La Brea in two years, Fairfax in 3 years, La Cienega in 4 years (etc) the emergent benefits and increased ridership would be immense from station to station. It'd be a way for the MTA to expand the promotion of the line, frow ridership, and create anticipation for each new stop to open which would probably heighten public awareness and support of a subway station. By the time it got to Beverly Hills and Westwood the former NIMBYs would be clamoring for a new subway branch to run from Santa Monica blvd/Wilshire towards Hollywood/Highland. (in our dreams, heh)

Next should be the Orange line expansion and Greenline to the Airport

divvy up the last of the money with a study for The Westside rail line paralleling Sepulveda/405 and another study connecting the orange line to the Gold Line and a third study, I suppose for a Crenshaw light rail line.

Westside Rail line could have four stages, 5 to the 101, 101 to the 10, 10 to the 710, 710 to the 5. Of all the rail lines in LA, this should probably be heavy rail (like an El or Subway) rather than light rail.

[Cahwyguy - Daniel]

I'm curious about the photo in this post,and it's date. Looking at it as close as I can, it appears that Route 60 and I-210 are not completed. It also doesn't show the Route 90 freeway, and based on the car, this appears to be sometime in the early 1960s, perhaps even before the "great renumbering".

Does anyone know where this photo came from?