Link: Los Angeles MTA's Leahy charge to change region's transit landscape
Los Angeles MTA's Leahy charge to change region's transit landscape
by Angela Cotey, associate editor
Art Leahy remembers when passenger-rail service didn't exist in Los Angeles County, when L.A.'s Union Station was all but abandoned and downtown emptied out at 5 p.m. It was the early 1970s, and Leahy was a bus driver for the Southern California Rapid Transit District, a predecessor to the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority (LACMTA).
But during the past 30 years, and especially the past 15, downtown L.A. has undergone a major revival. New and renovated high-rise buildings now are filled with apartments, condos and lofts. A slew of new restaurants and bars, as well as movie theaters and performing arts centers, keep the city active well into the night, says Leahy, who now serves as LACMTA's chief executive officer.
"It's become a mature, urbanized area," he says.
L.A.'s transit system has matured right along with it. In 1990, LACMTA opened its first rail line — the Blue Line, a light-rail corridor running between 7th Street in downtown L.A. and a Transit Mall station. The agency since has expanded its network of light-rail and subway lines to total 79 miles. The most recent addition? The six-mile Metro Gold Line Eastside extension, which opened Nov. 15, 2009. The line connects downtown L.A. with Pasadena, Little Tokyo, Boyle Heights and East Los Angeles.
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