A greenway for the Expo line?

Attentive readers know there are battles raging over both phases of the Expo Line light rail project between downtown L.A. and Santa Monica. One of the disputes involves which route the second phase of the line may take: Should it use an old rail right-of-way that slices through several Westside neighborhoods (including part of Cheviot Hills) or should it be placed on Venice and Sepulveda boulevards?

Because Metro owns the right-of-way, it's obviously going to get a good look. Whatever happens rail-wise, something should happen with the land, which in its current form is mostly vacant and under-utilized. In the meantime, a group (Light Rail for Cheviot) pushing for the right-of-way to be used for Expo are also pushing for the corridor to be turned into a long park to filter storm water flowing toward Ballona Creek -- which, by the way, the federal government has ordered local governments here to clean up.

I think it's an intriguing idea. Jonathan Weiss, an attorney, has been pushing hard for it, noting that several major underground storm drains converge on the area, including one that is the modern substitute for the old creek from Stone Canyon in the Santa Monica Mountains. He envisions perhaps that creek being "daylighted" -- that is, brought back to the surface -- and Overland Boulevard going over both the park and the rail line on a bridge.

"If the train doesn't happen, or all the funds get poured into the subway, this still needs to get done," Weiss said.

The proposal has a website that's worth checking out. There are a bunch of poster boards from Dean Howell, who put some ideas to paper for the park for his UCLA thesis.

--Steve Hymon

Comments

[JW]

I like the whole idea of the greenway with creek too, but there's no space shown for a station that Metro is proposing on Westwood Blvd as well this greenway assumes that this line is below grade something that this line couldn't do physically because of a deep storm sewer line.

[Alan Fishel]

Jonathan’s ideas and proposal do look achievable and would be a great advantage for the neighborhood and the city in general. My main concern is that Jonathan’s acceptance that this line may not get funded or built. His proposal is good but the Expo Line is urgently needed and must get built with or with out the Subway to the sea or his proposal. It should not cost that much more than just a simple at grade line, but because it is west of La Cienega any extra funding to improve the lines surrounding or environment may be considered “economical racism” .

Lets hope that politics get set aside and build the Line and greenway biased on its merit. Hopefully this line and the greenway get built or at least started in the next 5 years.

[Paul]

If Light Rail for Cheviot wants it, they can pay for it.

[Tony Fernandez]

It would be great to have that and would set a precedent for cleaning up our many other waterways. We could save a lot of water instead of just dumping it into the ocean with programs like this.

But let's just hope that using the ROW prevails over the Venice/Sepulveda detour.