Expo line hires public relations team

Damien Goodmon, who is heading up the Citizens' Campaign to Fix the Expo Rail Line, recently sent an e-mail blast accusing the Expo Line Construction Authority of hiring a PR team to gather signatures in support of the downtown-to-Culver City light rail line under construction.

Well, it's true. The Expo Line Construction Authority has hired Dakota Communications -- a longtime player in political circles in Los Angeles.

"We've been brought on to help set the record straight," said Rick Taylor, a partner in the firm. "We're trying to remind the community what this is about."

The Citizens' Campaign alleges that the Expo Line, as planned, would pose a danger to neighborhoods in South Los Angeles because the line is going to run at street level down Exposition Boulevard. Goodmon, in particular, has said that this will result in numerous accidents and be especially problematic for the two schools -- the Foshay Learning Center and Dorsey High (a rendering of the Dorsey crossing is above) -- that are adjacent to the line.

The dispute takes on added relevance because the Construction Authority still needs to receive approvals from the state Public Utilities Commission for two crossings in South L.A. outside of those schools. Hearings are scheduled to begin Tuesday.

"I can't believe anyone in the African American or Latino community would be against this," Taylor told me yesterday. "It's amazing after all these years that Tom Bradley's vision for the community is finally being realized. They [critics of the line] should just say we're against transit for the community."

In particular, Taylor said he wants to set the record straight concerning the disputed crossings. He accused the Citizens' Campaign of neglecting to tell community members that trains will slow to a crawl near the schools and that sheriff's deputies will be posted to keep kids off the tracks.

"I think the kids at Dorsey High are smart kids and aren't going to walk in front of a train," Taylor said. "The last thing that the Expo Line wants is for a kid to get hurt by the train. It would be a disaster."

I spoke to Goodmon earlier today. "This is [the] corruption of manipulation of public opinion," Goodmon said. "Their specialty is to create false community support when the community is 100% opposed to something that is not safe."

In his e-mail blast, Goodmon pointed to a well-documented episode from last year when a strategy memo from Taylor on how to create support for a proposed Home Depot store in Sunland-Tujunga was leaked to Kerry Cavanaugh of the Daily News. (A nice summation of that episode can be found at the Huffington Post.) In the memo, Taylor talks about finding five individuals in the community to advocate for the store -- and providing them with talking points.

"The Expo Authority will say anything they can to get the crossing built at street level," Goodmon added. "Sheriff's deputies were posted on the Blue Line and then taken off. They reduced speeds on the Gold Line and then brought them back up. The only permanent guarantee for students' safety is a grade separation."

Of course, there are a lot of moving parts in the Expo Line controversy. Trains run at street level across the U.S., often without incident -- although accidents certainly do happen. And, no one really knows where the entire community stands on the street crossing issue because there hasn't been an election or even a comprehensive poll.

It also remains to be seen whether the PUC gives a hoot about PR efforts by both sides and decides the dispute on technical issues.

--Steve Hymon

rendering: Expo Line Construction Authority

Comments

[Gokhan]

There are two things about Damien Goodmon's arguments. One of them is he is all for subway (see his getlamoving.org site) and refers to light-rail as "being railroaded" when he talks in the public meetings. That's why I pointed out that the most affluent city in the US had light-rail but they didn't complain about being railroaded.

The other one is environmental racism. There his arguments circle around Culver City. But, in many of my posts, I explained why his arguments are false. There are at least three major falsehoods in his Culver City argument, which kill his argument entirely.

The first is that the Southern Pacific right-of-way, unlike in Mid-City, had a very few crossings in Culver City: in fact only two -- Hayden/National and Washington/National.

The second is that the Hayden/National crossing had to be got rid of for the design to make sense, since National Blvd was zigzagging around the right-of-way at the western foot of the Ballona Creek light-rail bridge. And, a simple, 50 ft realignment of National Blvd allowed the elimination of this zigzagging. Such a realignment is not possible anywhere else along the right-of-way. Then, the Washington/National crossing had to be elevated because there is an adjacent elevated station. His arguments about the temporary station makes no sense because the temporary station was never really meant to be built but it was proposed so that Culver City would meanwhile donate some money for the permanent elevated station.

And third and last, that part of Culver City around the right-of-way is mostly Hispanic, as well as low-income.

[marcotico]

Hey Gokhan, please see my last note below..

[Gokhan]

Just in the news today that Plano, TX, was named the most affluent city in the US:

http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/census/2008-08-26-income-side_N.htm

And guess what: the city is at the end of the Dallas Red Light-Rail Line with two stations, Downtown Plano and Parker Road:

So, apparently, even the most affluent city in the US somehow got "railroaded." But, hey, don't even think about railroading South LA because then you are "racist!" ;)

[David Bradley in SoPas]

So that means all of us in South Pasadena can now sue Metro and the Construction authorities because the community around Farmdale recieved a grade separation without strong justification?

Correct me if I'm wrong here. So that would mean that this line from end to end would not be build as a tunnel to create equity?

Hell, we might as well continue the Wilshire Subway if we would use an available railroad and build a subway underneath it.

[Marcotico]

Oh yeah and most importantly...

Environmental racism (environmental injustice) is no the same things as racism. It is defined by the Trans. Research Board as "as any community receiving unequal benefits or incurring unequal costs from the provision or transportation facilities or services".

To say that something is environmentally unjust does not mean that everyone who supports that thing is a racist or a bad person, it just means that there is an imbalance of positives and negatives that need to be examined and addressed.

[Marcotico]

Since I'm a recently recovering academic I think there are two important distinctions to make:

The Expo Construction Line Authority is not the same thing as Metro.

Portland has a light rail system and a streetcar system, and they are not the same thing in terms of speed, noise disturbance, and carrying capacity.

Okay, participants...please resume your bickering. Thank you.

[cph]

I think MTA set themselves up for claims of "environmental racism" when they decided to put overpasses on La Brea, La Cienega, Venice, etc. but not at Crenshaw...

Having said that, if the PUC says we need a grade separation at Farmdale, so be it. Just make it the minimum design possible (perhaps a slight rise, just high enough for a short pedestrian-only tunnel)....

[Morgan Wick]

"aaron" has an opinion at MetroRider LA:
http://metroriderla.com/2008/08/27/metro-expo-line-fights-a-land-war-in-asia/

[Alek F]

Hey, more people die from Car accidents than from Rail accidents (check the statistics!)
So... to support Damien's "environmental racism" theory, we should make all Public Roads grade-separated as well - if they run near a high-school, otherwise - it's discrimination and racism!
Yeah, let's grade-separate everything because it's next to high-school! No more at-grade roads. No more at-grade sidewalks. No more at-grade buildings or shopping districts. They all have to go underground. Or else - it's environmental racism.
The bottom line is - Damien, get a life!

[Gokhan]

Damien Goodmon, please stop passing around misleading and false information. This is becoming ridiculous:

No, Venice/Robertson Station couldn't be built over Venice Blvd. That's because (1) it would be too far from Downtown Culver City; the current location lets people use both Venice and Washington Blvds; (2) it wouldn't allow a possible branch along Venice Blvd, and (3) it would be too far from the transit and development zone between Washington and Venice Blvds.

And, no, the locally preferred alternative in the final environmental document has no relevance. That's because it was for the temporary station and the temporary station was never to be built anyway, and now they are designing and will build the permanent Venice/Robertson Station, instead of the temporary Washington/National Station.

[Lisa]

Damien says "It's disappointing that despite the advice of international rail safety experts the MTA still insists on building this and other clearly problematic crossings at street-level."

Hey, it's a matter of money. Most crossings are going to have to be at grade if this is going to be built in our lifetimes -- and even then, it's going to cost a fortune.

I live near the Gold Line and sure, it can drive me crazy -- try driving cross town on California Blvd in late afternoon. The crossing arms seem like they're down forever, the lights still aren't synced well, and the whole area can freeze up. But you stop, and you wait -- sometimes through 2-3 stoplight cycles.

Yes, there have been accidents, but to my knowledge, the car drivers have been at fault. And yes, the Gold Line runs right by a High School -- but those students must have figured it out by now since Blair HS is also right next to the fricking 110 fwy.

The Red Line is underground because it runs through some of the most densely congested parts of the city, like Koreatown and Hollywood. You just can't make that argument about the areas the Expo line runs through.

"Environmental racism" is so real, and so prevalent, that it is just cruel that it is being used as a lightning rod here, where it really doesn't apply.

[BOB2]

Everybody who opposes Damien Goodman and his schill campaign to stop the Expo Line for a minority of nimby's in Cheviot Hills is an environmental racist? Evil forces are secretly conjuring a racist plot. Is Jan Perry a racist? Is Bernard Parks a racist? Everything that is done to build a reliable and effective transit system is a plot against Damien's self appointed status in representing "100%" of the "community" and "racist"? Thank god for Saint Damien, he's here to save us all from the evil black "racist" elected officials who are plotting to destroy the "community"?

[Tony Fernandez]

David Bradley, that's exactly right. People in that community have been bombarded with anti-transit propaganda which all has now culminated in Damien's campaign to scare families. Farmdale has very little traffic outside of when school lets out, so a grade-separation would make no sense. There will be crossing gates and pedestrian gates.

Also, anyone who thinks that the west part of the Expo line will get it sooooo much better should take a look at what is going to be planned over there. A lot of at-grade crossings in places you would expect to be grade-separated. The environmental racism claim is bunk (even though Damien will say that Phase 1 breaks environmental racism laws).

[David Bradley]

What is the matter with Expo hiring a PR firm? Does that mean there will be someone who can argue against the false misleading and manipulative claims that are being thrown around.

[J in Pasadena]

MTA J-O-K-E again. They are spending our tax dollars on this crass spin campaign instead of just building the needed safety measures. Hundreds of people have died on MTA rails since the agency began running its grade level rail lines. Mostly, they have died due to the MTA's poor planning and its plainly callous disregard for safety. I would venture to say the MTA has the worst death rate per mile of any transit system in the United States. Yeah, let's trust their judgment. Folks, this is just the same corrupt bureaucracy that put together shoddy plans 20 years ago. Why, why are you trusting them again when the record is consistently making the absolute worst decisions???

[Spokker]

Though I agree with Goodman that the line should ideally be grade separated, it isn't because of any safety issues or that kids are too stupid to know how to traverse a rail crossing.

I am concerned about the amount of light rail projects in Los Angeles and fear that they won't be able to create a truly transit-friendly region and buckle under future demand. Maybe, maybe not.

But light rail is better than no rail at all. So I'm conflicted on the issue.

[Damien Goodmon]

Marcotico:
"Environmental racism is a difficult issue, because it is rarely intended. nobody sat around saying "How can we mess up this neighborhood?" But I'm sure people thought, "Well we don't have to spend as much over there, because they don't have the clout to cause problems.""

Thank you Marcotico for UNDERSTANDING what we mean by "environmental racism" and why we're specific to Expo Phase 1.

Of course light rail is at-grade in other parts of the city and world. That's not why Expo Phase 1 breaks environmental justice laws.

The design of the line became a violation of environmental justice laws, when MTA bowed to Culver City's justifiable pressure, despite the fact THEY KNEW they could cross Jefferson/National and Washington/National at-grade in phase 1. They also knew that by building the Venice/Robertson station OVER Venice (instead of between Venice and Washington) they could keep Washington/National at-grade and elevate in time to cross Venice.

So as a result from La Cienega to Robertson no car will ever have to drive across tracks, no child will ever have to walk across the tracks, no train horn will be blown, no residential community will have the adverse noise/privacy impacts, etc. because National Blvd is being realigned and two overpasses (Jefferson/National and Washington/National) that were NOT in the original locally preferred alternative were added because the City of Culver City stood up and said, "NO AT-GRADE CROSSINGS WILL BE ALLOWED IN OUR CITY!"

Culver City backed it up with studies, staff time and intense lobbying that totaled in the hundreds of thousands, if not millions of dollars.

When you build a project to a low standard and expect communities/cities to fight for a better product it always - always, always always, puts poorer, minority and less politically powerful communities at a disadvantage.

South LA never had a chance against the MTA prior to volunteers like me devoting 100% of my VOLUNTEER time to bring light to this issue and find the law firm to take us on for free (took me 5 months to find attorneys willing to take on our case pro bono). And Culver City only had a chance because they're an independent city.

You can't use public funds that way. You can build a project (Expo Phase 1 is a singular project) to one standard through a majority Caucasian and most affluent community and then build it to a lower standard through black/brown communities and/or poor communities.

A design that impacted all *RESIDENTIAL* communities equitably along Expo Phase 1 would keep the Expo Line underground from the Figueroa trench to La Brea. The La Cienega overpass would be shifted a little west and intense landscaping would go around that overpass to protect the residences east of La Cienega.

That's our desire, our request, but we're willing to negotiate. We always have been. But MTA...well you see what their response is.

[David Raether]

Damien shouldn't cite the Green Line as a model for anything. Most of the Green Line goes along the 105 Freeway, so having it "at-grade" is ridiculous.

Plus, why doesn't he take a look at the Gold Line, which is majority "at grade".

People aren't stupid (well, most people). They know not to cross railroad tracks when a track is coming. This happens hundreds of times everyday along the Gold Line.

Sure, every once in a while a car tries to sneak under the crossing arms or stops past them or something stupid like that.

But that's what it is: stupidity.

It's not "environmental racism"

[Damien Goodmon]

Who is Dakota Communication?

Their PRODUCT, if you will, is manufacturing support for private companies in communities where there is opposition.

Click on the link on Huffington Post and read about what they've done on the Home Depot in Sunland:

"The PR firm also promised to recruit 150 local area residents to attend tomorrow's hearing, provide them with transportation, and "food during meal times." Dakota Communications said it would bus supporters in by 9p.m. "to ensure that they are prominently seated in Council Chambers." "Finally, we will order orange t-shirts with a positive message about The Home Depot for all supporters to wear and so Council members can easily identify." The PR firm also promised "free media support" in the form of an op-ed for the Los Angeles newspapers, "a wonderfully sincere and compelling story about The Home Depot's commitment to Los Angeles in the aftermath of the 1992 riots and one that has yet to be told." The price tag for all this activity? $24,100, including $17,000 to hire "recruitment/organizers.""

Why do you need 17,000 for recruitment/organizing 150 people? They're literally paying people.

These signature gathers are PAID by the signature, just like the folk who register you to vote or put things on the ballot. They tell people anything to get them to sign.

And the petition they're signing reads "DO YOU SUPPORT EXPO AS PROPOSED?"

They're collecting signatures in places far away from the controversy where people haven't a clue that there is a controversy.

All the other activities I know of Dakota's been engaged in in the past - as ugly as they are - were services for PRIVATE companies. Expo is a public agency.

I don't care how you feel on this issue, using public funds to manufacture false community support against the community is an egregious abuse of government funds, and manipulation of the process.

As a person who has been profiled twice by the LA Times for the Get LA Moving plan (www.getlamoving.com) of course I support the Expo Line in concept, but definitely not as proposed.

Read the LA Times archives and you see endless number of reports of people killed and in accidents. And those are the ones that make the papers.

People - smart people - get caught in difficult or unfortunate circumstance, people who crossed and drove across tracks successfully hundreds of times have been involved in accidents. It only takes once.

They're called ACCIDENTS for a reason.

It's disappointing that despite the advice of international rail safety experts the MTA still insists on building this and other clearly problematic crossings at street-level.

Light rail's greatest asset is it's flexibility to run either at-grade or grade separated. Lots of cities - all with less traffic problems than Los Angeles - grade separate their lines partially and completely at problematic crossing for traffic, safety and other environmental reasons.

Heck even the MTA's Green Line is 100% grade separated.

We can have light rail and have it grade separated in it's most problematic areas.

[BOB2]

Damien Goodman's ludicrous claim that 100% of the "community" is against the Expo Line iis belied by the support of Jan Perry, and most of the students from Dorsey, who think he is 100% wrong about them being too stupid to stop and wait for the train to cross. This was confirmed in several recent television and print interviews with the students and with Ms Perry.

This 100% of the "community" that Damien Goodman claims to have should rise up and recall Jan Perry immediately. Damien Goodman is now nothing but the tool of Cheviot Hills nimby's and has about 0% credibility left on transportation issues

[Darrell Clarke]

From the beginning of Expo Line planning the choice has been between mostly-at-grade light rail -- following the safe standard of many cities -- and a busway. If popular support hadn't tipped the political balance to light rail in 2001 a clone of the Orange Line would probably be roaring along Exposition Blvd. and past Dorsey High today.

Community concerns about light rail impacts were heard and addressed in the Expo Line's Draft and Final EIS/EIR. Appropriate mitigations were specified, especially for traffic, safety, and noise.

They just didn't provide the fully-below-ground alignment that a couple of people have demanded, which was never an option for the Expo Line, despite "corruption of manipulation of public opinion" claims to the contrary. Just as USC didn't get the line underground to Vermont.

[Mike]

How do i sign the petition to get the Expo Line built already?!! We need to prove the the community WANTS it and that Damion needs to shut up already!

[Marcotico]

Oh wow, this is going to get ugly... i have always been torn between political expediency and taking the time to build the best solution, but lately I've been coming around to Damien's groups way of thinking. I've read his writings, and I've also read Darell Clarke's. I truly think they are both working hard for what they feel is in the best interest of the city. I don't think people are going to be dieing if the crossing stays at grade, at the same time it is an unfortunate fact that all the points west were able to secure better alternatives. Environmental racism is a difficult issue, because it is rarely intended. nobody sat around saying "How can we mess up this neighborhood?" But I'm sure people thought, "Well we don't have to spend as much over there, because they don't have the clout to cause problems."

However I really think the Expo Line is throwing good money after bad. This is like when you read about how much money car companies spend in fighting mileage requirements. It just makes you think "Couldn't they spend it on re-designing the crossing, and just building it?"

[C S]

I like the part when Goodmon said the community was 100% opposed to something that is not safe. You sure its 100% and not 98.7%. Even survey can't get 100% on any topic.

Also what stretch of the Gold Line are we talking about here, where they lower the speed and then jack it up? Because I know that they still go slow on the stretch where there are no crossing gates and I notice that they hit the brakes before they cross Glenarm, where Blair high school is located.