Link: Santa Monica Dispatch » Blog Archive » Council, Residents at Odds Over Maintenance Yard Location
Council, Residents at Odds Over Maintenance Yard Location
By: Peggy Clifford
Published: July 16th, 2009
Expo Light Rail officials and City consultants told the City Council Tuesday night that the only possible location for the proposed Expo maintenance yard is in the Pico neighborhood in Santa Monica.
The proposed line will run from downtown Los Angeles to Culver City and from Culver City to Santa Monica.
A majority of the proposed line is located in West L.A. and West L.A. is far larger than Santa Monica. Yet, according to the officials, the only suitable site is In the smallest and most beset neighborhood in the smallest community on the line.
We find that impossible to believe – especially since Expo has the power to take whatever property it wants, including the proposed Santa Monica site. Indeed, an Expo official suggested that if it didn’t have its way with us, we might lose the line. “It could be a deal-breaker,” he said,
The site is a patchwork job. Located on both sides of the 1800 block of Stewart Street, it would include a busy, multi-track crossing. The land is owned by Verizon and the City. Verizon leases some of its land to Santa Monica College for student parking. The City has a 30-year lease with Lionstone, which plans to build a cancer research center on the site. Lionstone partner Dan Dubrowki told the Council that his company would fight any effort to break the lease and dislodge it from the site.
Most of the 30-plus residents who opposed the proposed location of the maintenance yard live in the Pico Neighborhood.
Several of them described the plan as “environmental racism.” Recent studies show that air pollution from the 10 freeway, which cuts through the neighborhood, lingers longer than previous studies showed. Several people noted that the City Yards, including recycling and waste management facilities, are located in the neighborhood, too.
Many of the speakers have lived in the neighborhood all their lives and are now raising their own children there. They recalled one of most shameful events in the town’s history when, in the early 1960s, City Hall allowed Caltrans to drive the new freeway through the Pico Neighborhood and demolish several blocks of handsome houses.
After a long discussion, four of the six City Council members took a staff recommendation that it approve the site, and directed staff “to continue to explore other possible sites…and ensure community involvement.”
Mayor Ken Genser, Mayor Pro Tem Pam O’Connor, and Council members Richard Bloom and Gleam Davis voted for approval. Council members Bob Holbrook and Bobby Shriver voted against approval, in the belief that belief that better sites were available in West L.A.
Council member Kevin McLeown was absent.
Ironically, earlier in the evening, Planning Director Eileen Fogarty described plans to create “conservation districts” in residential neighborhoods.
This entry was posted on Thursday, July 16th, 2009 at 2:34 am and is filed under Daily.
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