South Bay leaders push for light rail line: Harbor Subdivision that starts just south of downtown L.A. and loops around Inglewood, Redondo Beach and Torrance, before coming to an end on the border of Carson and Wilmington.

South Bay leaders push for light rail - The Daily Breeze

South Bay leaders push for light rail
By Gene Maddaus, Staff Writer
Posted: 05/14/2009 07:11:41 PM PDT

In a test of the South Bay's regional clout, local officials are lobbying for continued funding for a train line that could someday link Torrance to the county's passenger rail network.

The Metropolitan Transportation Authority has been gauging local support for the project over the past year and plans to complete an initial report by November.

But the South Bay is still far from getting its own commuter train. Under the timetable for Measure R, the countywide sales tax voters approved last fall, the South Bay extension of the Green Line will not open until 2033 to 2035.

Given that, the MTA is not planning to spend any money in next year's $3.9billion budget to study the idea. That dismays local officials, who argue the South Bay is underserved and who want to keep the project's momentum going.

Several South Bay officials appeared at the MTA's budget session Thursday to lobby for $5 million to proceed with an environmental analysis of the line.

"To not move forward with this is ludicrous," said John Parsons, a former Redondo Beach councilman who now chairs the city's Chamber of Commerce board. "It becomes a game of who has the most political pull."

The South Bay has not traditionally been as aggressive about lobbying the MTA as have other regions. The San Gabriel Valley, for instance, has long been well-organized and highly vocal about extending the Gold Line east from Pasadena.

The county's suburban areas must also contend with the argument that transit dollars would be better spent in higher-density corridors, such as Wilshire Boulevard and the Regional Connector in downtown L.A.

The Harbor Subdivision is a 26-mile freight line the MTA bought in the early 1990s. It starts just south of downtown L.A. and loops around Inglewood, Redondo Beach and Torrance, before coming to an end on the border of Carson and Wilmington.

It's not clear how much of it could be used for a light rail service, but South Bay officials want to at least use it to extend the Green Line from its current terminus at Marine Avenue to the South Bay Galleria and to Crenshaw Boulevard in Torrance.

Some even hope it could go all the way to San Pedro or to the Blue Line in Long Beach.

Alan Patashnick, the MTA staffer who oversees the Harbor Subdivision project, said that given the long time horizon, funding an environmental report at this stage might be premature.

"The environmental document could easily get stale," he said, if there is a long gap between the completion of the report and the beginning of funding.

In that case, staffers might have to redo the environmental report, which would mean any money spent now would be wasted.

But Pam O'Connor, a Santa Monica city councilwoman who acts as the South Bay's representative on the MTA board, argued that it's best to keep moving forward to position the line for success.

"We don't know when it would be funded but that doesn't mean you sit back and wait," O'Connor said. "Let's give this project a chance."

O'Connor offered a motion Thursday to include the $5 million for the Harbor Subdivision in next year's budget. The motion was joined by Supervisors Don Knabe and Mark Ridley-Thomas, and it will be taken up again at a subcommittee meeting May 20 and by the full board May 28.

gene.maddaus@dailybreeze.com