Expo Line controversy

I'm headed out this morning to talk to Rick Thorpe, the chief executive of the Expo Line Construction Authority. And yesterday I spent some time with Damien Goodmon, who is leading the Citizens' Campaign to Fix the Expo Line. Thorpe and Goodmon's group are in the midst of a battle over two at-grade rail crossings on the Expo Line -- and how the dispute is settled could delay the opening of the line or possibly derail the project. The light rail line would connect downtown L.A. to Culver City, and the Metropolitcan Transportation Authority wants to one day extend it to Santa Monica. I'll be posting about this increasingly bitter fight later today and tomorrow.

--Steve Hymon

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Image: Expo Line Construction Authority

Comments

[Bob in West LA]

Beware the warnings of the Cheviot HIlls Homeowners' Association.

They are concerned that the light rail will pass too near to the Overland Ave. Elementary School -- a stellar, high performing school. They advocate that the rail be routed away from the now dormant right of way (used primarily as a toilet for Cheviot Hills dog walkers and the occasional homeless transient) and routed to Venice/Sepulveda Blvd....

....where it will pass right by the Charnock elementary school, a wretched, low-performing elementary school with a majority Lationo population.

Quite simply, it's a question of whose children the train places at risk...

[Bob Zwolinski]

This is so sad. We needed this rail line decades ago. Just what we need, an unnecessary delay. The line is incredibly safe as designed. If it wasn’t, both the Federal Transit Administration and the Public Utilities Commission would not approve it to be built. The entire right-of-way will be fenced in where it runs at-grade. All at-grade crossings will have 4-quadrant gates and full pedestrian gates as well. It’s going to take a complete idiot to get hurt by this light rail line.
In other cities, they’ve fought for rail lines to serve their schools. I guess L.A. is different.
I can’t believe the amount of political hell we have to go through to get a light rail line built in this town!