Can a transit line transform South Los Angeles? (wattway.org)

Can a transit line transform South Los Angeles?

Posted on May 13, 2011 by anlittle

By Anita Little

Link: http://wattway.org/blog/2011/05/crenshaw-light-rail-provides-path-for-urban-development/

In the opening scene of the film Crash, one of the characters laments on how there is “no sense of touch” in Los Angeles. “In L.A. nobody touches you, we’re always behind this metal and this glass.”

The prevalence of driving in Los Angeles is one of its most identifying characteristics. Everyone here drives and in order to survive in the City of Angels, you need wheels to be your wings.

However, some low-income and minority segments of Los Angeles do not own cars. For decades, this has denied them access to goods and employment in other parts of the city. City planners and urban advocates have pushed for the development of more viable mass transit in Los Angeles and with the building of the Crenshaw Light Rail, disenfranchised communities are now on the verge of greater mobility and, perhaps, an enhanced quality of life.

At a relatively short 8.5 miles, each one of the route’s miles carries high expectations that go beyond simply providing people transit options.

“It will have long-term impacts on the community including improved accessibility to other parts of Los Angeles and a connection to the rest of the transportation network,” said Roderick Diaz, the Metropolitan Transit Authority senior planner for the light rail construction. “People who formerly couldn’t get to where jobs are will be able to reach those places and also have better access to recreation and possibility better health care through the new line.”

The Crenshaw Light Rail would run along Crenshaw Boulevard and connect with the already-existing Metro Green Line and the Expo Line. The rail is only one arm of the city’s master plan to make Los Angeles’ public transportation more cohesive. Though it will significantly benefit the neighborhoods and cities south of downtown specifically, this rail can affect everyone, according to Diaz.

“There is no one beneficiary to this new transit corridor,” said Diaz. “Communities in South Los Angeles and Inglewood, commuters trying to get to work without dealing with traffic, people trying to get downtown, to the West Side, to the South Bay, to LAX[...] This rail will mean a lot of things to a lot of people.”

The light rail is being primarily funded through Measure R, a voter-backed $40 billion initiative to fund traffic relief and aid transportation upgrades and also through an anticipated $20 million loan from the U.S. Department of Transportation. The Crenshaw Light Rail costs $1.7 billion and will stretch from the Baldwin Hills-Crenshaw area to Los Angeles International Airport. The high-price tag project faced fierce opposition from city planners who felt a Crenshaw bus line instead of a rail line would be more cost-effective.

“The rail was chosen as opposed to a less expensive bus option because of the connection it would make to other rail lines and the synergy it would have with the airport connection,” said Diaz in response to detractors. “More bus lines wouldn’t be as time-saving.”

The new transit corridor, a vision conceived shortly after the city’s 1992 riots as a way to serve transit-dependent residents in South Los Angeles, was the result of a nearly 20-year effort by urban advocacy groups like the Los Angeles Urban League, the South Los Angeles Neighborhood Council and the Urban Land Institute of Los Angeles.
View Map of Crenshaw Light Rail by Anita Little in a larger map

The project was then picked up city officials after studies found that there was a substantial loss to the Los Angeles economy stemming from the geographic mismatchbetween where jobs were available and where the unemployed or underemployed lived. The light rail has the potential to increase employment by putting people where the jobs are. Despite these studies, some experts doubt the Crenshaw Light Rail will ever live up to the lofty expectations set by the MTA and advocacy groups.

“There is no evidence that these system do anything for the community. The Blue Line, Green Line and Gold Line light rails have been in operation in L.A. for some years, and I’ve seen very little in the way of serious development impacts,” said Dr. Peter Gordon, a professor at the USC School of Policy, Planning and Development and an expert on urban economics.

“These systems are hugely expensive, and MTA has been shutting down bus service to pay for these rails. As a result, we barely have as many transit riders today as we had back in 1985. Could it be any worse?”

In the face of criticism, the project has still been funded and approved and is now in a stage of environmental review, meaning that the MTA is doing a full environmental analysis of the upcoming project to ascertain what impact the construction could have on the surrounding community. Once the review stage is over, the MTA can break ground on the new line, which most likely will occur in late 2011.

“It’s part of a broad approach to increasing quality of life in South Los Angeles and stabilizing communities,” said Carolyn Hull, the South Los Angeles regional administrator for the Community Redevelopment Agency of Los Angeles.

“Over the next twenty years, South Los Angeles will have a completely different transportation system. The light rail will allow people in communities without cars to connect and turn South Los Angeles into a more walkable community.”

Just the mere construction of the rail will create more than 7,800 jobs, according to the MTA; officials expect even more job creation as a result of the economic boost the rail will provide.

“Not only will it create jobs and provide long-term accessibility along with new opportunities for people to get around, it will continue to be an economic asset after its completion,” said Diaz, who studied urban planning and transportation efficiency at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

“Projections show that additional development would also accompany the new lines. Residential and commercial development occurred along other lines like the Hollywood line and we expect a similar effect here.”

The new rail has a projected completion date of early 2016, and MTA officials expect an initial ridership of 13,000 to 16,000 people a day. The ultimate goal is increased mobility in South Los Angeles; some residents expect that will happen.

“It has the power to make my life easier and the lives of my neighbors easier,” said Danita Blanco, a hairdresser with no car access who lives in Greater Crenshaw with her five-year-old son, De’Ante. “I’ll have more choice of where I want to work, what food I want to buy and where I want my son to play. He needs to know a world exists beyond this block.”

Light rail line raises concerns in local city (Source: /www.intersectionssouthla.org)

_{Link: http://www.intersectionssouthla.org/index.php/story/light_rail_line_raises_concerns_in_local_city/}

Light rail line raises concerns in local city 
Amanda Smith | 5-24-2010 

The Crenshaw Transit Corridor, a proposed 8-mile, $1.7-billion light rail line that will pass through five cities as it runs from the Crenshaw District to Los Angeles International Airport, is raising concerns about crime and pedestrian safety among Inglewood residents. Plans call for the light rail line to run at-grade, or street-level, through the city, which worries some residents and rail safety advocates.

“There are safety issues with intersections, schools, and pedestrians,” said resident Stephen Brooks. “And with it running around the suburbs and through the community, our crime rate will go through the roof.”

Damien Goodmon, coordinator of the Fix Expo Campaign, said light rail trains weigh about 225 tons, travel at speeds of 40 to 55 miles an hour and cross some intersections as often as 24 times in an hour. 

“This isn’t your San Francisco trolley,” he said. “They take about a football field to stop. They’re like subways operating at street level.”

Areas immediately surrounding at-grade light rail lines tend to have higher crime rates than areas surrounding underground rail lines, according to the Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department.

In 2009, the Metropolitan Transportation Authority's Blue and Green light rail lines logged 550 crimes combined, 157 of which were robberies. Over the same time period 129 crimes – 33 of them robberies – were reported along the heavy-rail Red Line that runs from Union Station in Downtown Los Angeles and branches into Wilshire/Western and North Hollywood, according to Lt. Rick Craigo, the Lt. Chief of Staff at the Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department.

The level of crimes on rail lines reflects the crime rates of the areas the trains traverse, he said. Most robberies occurred when passengers were distracted, and the suspect was able to steal property, then exit the railcar as the doors closed, Craigo said. 

At a recent MTA workshop, residents gathered at St. Mary’s Academy in Inglewood to learn about the line that will run through their city. They also worked with simulations of the station that will be placed in Inglewood. A light rail uses electric railcars and carries more passengers at higher speeds than a traditional tram system. In fact, the light rail is heavier than the heavy rail. However, the term refers to the light rail’s ability to carry light loads at a fast pace.

Because of its speed, weight and potential danger, Crenshaw Corridor’s crossings would be equipped with traffic signals, pedestrian and motorist gates, and warning devices. Station pedestrian crossings near schools would be monitored, and a crossing guard would be provided if necessary during construction, an MTA report said.

But some residents at the meeting said that is not enough, and asked for the train to be built underground. 

According to Keith Lockard, Inglewood’s principal transportation engineer, grade levels are based on what is most suitable for the line and should change if they run into an existing structure, like a freeway.

“It depends where above-grade, at-grade, and below-grade rails are appropriate for the design,” Lockard said. “We want to ensure that the structure of the facilities occurs in the best manner possible to be compatible with our existing infrastructure and also with our existing and future ranges.”

Lockard also said at-grade levels are the least costly rail option. But Brooks said that Inglewood residents pay the highest sales tax in the South Bay, at 10.5 percent, and are therefore entitled to the safer, more expensive underground rail that seems to be reserved for more affluent areas.

“In the richer neighborhoods, they accommodate them,” Brooks said. “They’re treating us like the urban 'hood.” 

Funding will come from Measure R, which voters in 2008. This measure increased sales tax by half a cent. The cost of the portion of the line that runs through Inglewood has yet to be released.

“The Crenshaw Transit Corridor…would potentially generate 880 new jobs to the local economy, increase economic output by an estimated $73.2 million and add $42.4 million in household earnings by year 2030,” according to a letter written to the city from Inglewood’s Planning and Building Department.

Existing MTA staff would have priority for some of the jobs, and some would be set aside for Inglewood residents, according to the MTA. Inglewood and other communities served by the rail line will benefit from increased spending at local businesses, according to the MTA. 

MTA’s other proposed option was to add more buses to the system, but city officials said the light rail is a much better option.

"Buses in this area are fully saturated in terms of ridership,” said Wanda Williams, Inglewood’s Acting Planning and Building Director. “We don’t need more buses. We’re going to need alternative means of travel that carries a higher percentage of riders and the light rail does that. It takes carbon dioxide off the road, reduces green house gas emissions, reduces noise and pollution, getting there quicker than a bus.”

In fact, the light rail system will cut travel time between the Expo Line at the intersection of Exposition and Crenshaw Boulevards and the Green Line at Aviation Station, by an estimated 21.6 minutes and will carry nearly 30 percent more passengers on a daily basis compared to the No-Build Alternative, which would expand the use of buses and improve highway conditions, according to the MTA.

With those numbers, it is no surprise Inglewood City Council adopted a resolution to support the Crenshaw Transit Corridor.

The line will reduce Inglewood’s carbon footprint by taking people out of their cars, improve access to downtown Inglewood, relieve congestion and cut travel costs for commuters, said Councilman Ralph Franklin.

“Where there is public transit, there is economic development,” Tabor said. “People come downtown and [then] regional and national companies move in.”

And for a city that has plunged nearly $10 million deep in a budget deficit, perhaps the Crenshaw Corridor is the answer to its troubled economy.

Some residents question the viability of the claims of economic improvement the project promises.

“What would be your reason for coming here?” asked Inglewood resident Victor Smith. “When tourists come, they want to see an attraction, and Inglewood doesn’t have that.”

Transportation Planning Manager Roderick Diaz said he is confident that once residents understand the reach of the project, they will recognize the opportunities it brings with it. 

“Obviously there is a big concern about impact,” Diaz said. “I think for a lot of people, this is a new thing. So we have to introduce this and kind of explain that we are studying all the impacts…and hopefully [with] more and more [community involvement] we’ll get the word out…and get them to think about the big picture vision.”

The 8-mile line is designed to run from the intersection of Century and Exposition boulevards to Aviation Boulevard near LAX, where it will connect to the existing Green Line. The goal is to accommodate the high densities of population, employment and transportation-dependent individuals in the area.

At the workshop, one attendee, Chris Mercier, an independent architect and Inglewood resident, said he has high hopes for the line and thinks it will make a positive impact on the city.

“I support it because it draws people into Inglewood,” Mercier said. “If you ask people if they’ve been to Inglewood, they [most likely] say no, but when you remind them of the Forum and Hollywood Park, then they get a picture in their head. Downtown [Inglewood] needs an identity.”