Expanding light rail in LA means developing "complete streets" for local communities (nrdc.org)

Expanding light rail in LA means developing "complete streets" for local

Posted May 13, 2011

Link: http://switchboard.nrdc.org/blogs/jwall/expanding_light_rail_in_la_mea.html

Once fully constructed, the Expo Light Rail Transit line will offer a crucial alternative to freeway gridlock and service an estimated 64,000 daily riders by 2030, allowing residents to travel from Santa Monica to Downtown in approximately 46 minutes.

Already mostly constructed, Phase I of the line is slated to open in early 2012. Phase II’s final environmental impact report was certified in February 2010, and now the Exposition Construction Authority is soliciting community input for the design process. Public meetings were held on Monday, May 9th in Santa Monica and Wednesday, May 11th in Los Angeles to kick off the design process.

The design and construction of the second phase of the Expo line provides a valuable opportunity to redesign portions our city streets to create “complete streets,” enhancing public health and reaping numerous environmental benefits.

Adding some of the following elements would not only make the project more environmentally friendly, but would also increase the quality of life for those using and living near the project:

• Green infrastructure components: With all the construction that Expo will require, there are countless opportunities to reduce impervious services and encourage the use of innovative stormwater management practices. The current design already calls for the planting of street trees, which will help improve the air quality and mitigate the effects of urban heat islands. To further manage periodic wet weather, bioretention swales and pervious pavement could be built in to the design so that stormwater can infiltrate instead of running off into our waterways. Especially in parking lots, typically vast areas of impervious surfaces where water pools when it rains, low impact development can filter pollutants and control runoff volume far better than traditional methods.

• Expo Greenway: By creating the Expo Greenway, there would not only be additional recreation space available to residents and users of the rail system, but it would also aid in cleaning Ballona Creek by filtering stormwater.

• Native, drought tolerant plants: Not only will planting native species save money by reducing irrigation needs (some species require no additional water once established), but they also require less maintenance and are a proven way toreduce pesticide and fertilizer runoff into local watersheds. These plants also provide habitat for local wildlife, which would make the greenery surrounding the transit line even more vibrant.

• Wide sidewalks utilizing high albedo pavement: Light, reflective pavement could be used for surfaces to minimize the urban heat island effect further. “A recent study of the City of Los Angeles indicated that increasing pavement albedocitywide could be worth $90 million a year in energy savings, smog reduction, and related public health benefits.”

• Traffic calming elements: To help pedestrians get to and from stations unharmed, traffic-calming elements like chicanes could be combined with plantings to make the stations not only safe, but sustainable.

• A well-lit and fully connected bikeway: As anyone that has rode down the crumbling Venice Boulevard bike lanes at 2am can tell you, having a safe and dependable cycling artery from the Westside to Downtown would be a tremendous improvement. The proposed bikeway that would accompany the Expo line could make this a reality, enabling all community members to enjoy the health benefits of cycling while transporting themselves across the city.

• Safe and adequate bicycle storage facilities at each stop: For those that want to jointly use light rail and a bicycle, secure bike parking should be a priority at each station. This would allow riders to commute to and from the stations via bicycle, knowing that their bike will still be there when they return.

Adding these suggestions will make the Expo line an even more important transit addition to our city, helping to decrease air pollution, vehicle miles traveled, and greenhouse gases while providing a form of transportation accessible to all income groups and mobility levels.

Studies gives state, L.A. region good marks for transit systems (La Times)

Studies gives state, L.A. region good marks for transit systems

May 12, 2011 | 11:30 am

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lanow/2011/05/studies-gives-state-la-region-pretty-good-marks-for-transit-systems.html

Two transportation studies released this week offer an unexpected view of California and the Los Angeles area, a state and region known for snarled freeways and ever-present smog.

Researchers at the Pew Center on the States said California was “leading the way” in how transportation investments are spent. And the Brookings Institution ranked the Los Angeles-Long Beach-Santa Ana area 24th among the top 100 metropolitan areas for how well its transit systems serve residents and connect them to jobs, beating out regions such as Boston-Cambridge-Quincy, San Diego-Carlsbad-San Marcos and Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington.

The Brookings' study, titled “Missed Opportunity: Transit and Jobs in Metropolitan America,” found that 70% of the nation's metro-area residents have access to some kind of transit and that coverage is highest in areas on the West Coast and worst in the South.

But the study cast a gloomy view of overall transit access to employment, saying a typical commuter using transit can only reach 30% of metro-area jobs in 90 minutes or less.

The researchers at Brookings argue transit systems need to do more to affordably connect residents with jobs.

But the L.A.-Long Beach-Santa Ana area was near the top of several of the study’s measures, ranking second in the share of working-age residents with access to transit and second in areas with 500,000 or more jobs accessible in 90 minutes via transit. The study says the L.A. metro area has 225,838 jobs accessible in 45 minutes using transit, 542,196 within one hour and 1,544,990 accessible within 90 minutes.

The L.A. area scored 96% in coverage of working-age residents near a transit stop. There is a median wait of 6.2 minutes for any rush-hour transit vehicle, according to the study, and 26% of jobs are reachable in 90 minutes or less.

The Pew study, titled “Measuring Transportation Investments: The Road to Results,” looked at how states spent an estimated $131 billion in taxpayer money on transportation in fiscal year 2010. California was ranked as one of 13 states leading the way in safety, mobility, access, environmental stewardship and infrastructure preservation.

Redistributing High-Speed Rail Dollars: Still Useful! (Time))

Viewpoint

Redistributing High-Speed Rail Dollars: Still Useful!

By MICHAEL GRUNWALD Thursday, May 12, 2011 | 66 COMMENTS

http://swampland.time.com/2011/05/12/redistributing-high-speed-rail-dollars-still-useful/

President Obama’s high-speed rail program has taken a lot of abuse because it isn’t just funding true high-speed rail; it’s also accelerating and improving service on moderate-speed trains. OK, guilty as charged. The program’s actual name is “High-Speed and Intercity Passenger Rail.” And now that Obama has redistributed the cash that Florida didn’t want — have I mentioned lately that my state is insane? — even a perennial critic of the program admits it looks “useful,” although he still says it doesn’t live up to its hype. OK, again, guilty as charged.

But it seems to me that usefulness is a good standard to judge a government program. And this last $2 billion round of funding really does look useful.

The biggest chunk, $795 million, went to upgrades in the Northeast Corridor, Amtrak’s most traveled and most profitable route. Most of that will replace an outdated electrical system to allow speeds up to 160 miles per hour over a 24-mile segment north of Philadelphia. Amtrak will also eliminate bottlenecks that slow down trains in New York, Rhode Island and Maryland. This made a lot of sense. And it had bipartisan appeal; House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee Chairman John Mica, a Florida Republican, has clamored for more investment in the Northeast Corridor.

Did Mica thank the administration? No, he issued a scathing press release complaining that Amtrak — “our nation’s Soviet-style passenger rail service” — is sure to screw up the project. I like Mica, but he has a weird way of showing gratitude when it comes to high-speed rail.

The next biggest winner was the Midwest, which got $670 million for new trains and upgrades to various routes, including a Chicago-St. Louis corridor that I happened to ride last week down to Normal, Ill. This isn’t a classic high-speed rail project, because it’s only increasing speeds from 79 m.p.h. to 110 m.p.h., but it will still reduce overall trip times by more than an hour, and dramatically improve reliability. The number of passengers traveling between Chicago and Normal has already doubled over the last few years; the higher speeds should send demand through the roof.

The final big winner was California, which is trying to build the only true high-speed rail project now that Florida has bowed out, and it faces more political, logistical and financial challenges than the other 30 states in the program combined. It received another $300 million for its ambitious 220-m.p.h. route between Los Angeles and San Francisco, which thestate has chosen to begin in the middle of the Central Valley. California had already vacuumed up more than $3 billion in federal funds for the route, enough to connect Fresno to Bakersfield; this additional chunk will extend the route 20 miles north to a junction where trains could either head north to Merced or west to San Jose.

Of course, all of that will depend on future state and federal funding. The entire project is supposed to cost $43 billion; a California legislative committee just issued a brutal report, and Obama’s recent call for $53 billion for high-speed rail fell on deaf ears in Congress.

So yes, it’s true. High-speed rail has not yet lived up to its hype. Obama has not yet delivered high-speed service to 80% of Americans. On the other hand, he has laid the groundwork for invigorating our pitiful passenger rail service. And even if this Congress and future Congresses abandon his vision, the money he’s spending now will still help improve service in the Midwest, the Northeast and other key corridors, reduce some oil consumption, relieve some congestion in highways and airports, and give some commuters and travelers a much better experience. That’s useful!

There’s a larger point here about how to judge Obama, who has not bridged the partisan divide or halted the rise of the oceans or fulfilled some of the other messianic promises he made on the campaign trail, but has achieved some very big things that will be very useful to many Americans. But that’s a story for another day.

Read more: http://swampland.time.com/2011/05/12/redistributing-high-speed-rail-dollars-still-useful/#ixzz1MUCqnAX9

EXPO, Bus Changes to Reshape Public Transportation in Santa Monica ( Santa Monica Mirror)

EXPO, Bus Changes to Reshape Public Transportation in Santa Monica

POSTED MAY. 12, 2011, 7:47:00 AM

ART COURTESY OF THE CITY OF SANTA MONICA

Concept art for the Exposition Light Rail coming to Santa Monica.

PARIMAL M. ROHIT / MIRROR CONTRIBUTOR

http://www.smmirror.com/?ajax#mode=single&view=32196

With the Exposition Light Rail Line plowing into town and the Big Blue Bus (BBB) planning significant changes to its service area, Santa Monicans got a peek into the future with a community meeting and a pair of city council agenda items on upcoming changes to public transportation in the city.

The council approved various adjustments to BBB’s service hours, routes, and stops when it voted on the issue just before midnight at its May 10 meeting. One day earlier, the Exposition Construction Authority hosted a community meeting with design-builder Skanska/Rados at the Civic Center to gather up local support for the planned light rail coming into Santa Monica. Although no official actions were taken in regard to the Expo, the community meeting reflected the drastic changes soon coming to Santa Monica.

With construction work starting in the next six weeks, the Expo Construction Authority provided a generalized sneak peak at its plans moving forward with the rail line, which will connect Santa Monica to Downtown Los Angeles. As the Expo’s first phase prepares to open later this year, planners are now looking forward to executing the rail line’s second phase in Santa Monica.

During the next few weeks, and heading into summer, Expo officials say they will be performing mostly transitional work along the light rail’s planned route. The more extensive street improvement and utility work will begin in the fall, according to the design-builder. It was also announced that as many as 400 track workers may be working throughout the city during the peak of construction.

Yet before construction reaches a fever pitch, both the Expo Authority and the designers said they hope to hold more community meetings throughout the design build process. With notices of community meetings expected to be sent to the City’s residents during the summer, Exposition Construction Authority CEO Rick Thorpe said it was vital to involve locals as early as possible.

“We’re coming in trying to put in an improvement that is going to be there for 100 years,” he said. “We need to make sure that it works within the community that we’re bringing it to.”

The following evening, the council considered the BBB’s three-year service improvement plan, a line-by-line analysis of the transit service and service area market conditions, and alternatives analysis for transit connections to Expo stations in Santa Monica.

As part of its public hearing, the council ultimately approved the service changes recommended by the BBB. The issue will be revisited.

“On August 28, 2011, the first of an anticipated series of transit service changes are recommended for implementation on Lines 1, 2, 7, Rapid 7, 10, 11 and 13, and include the implementation of the new interim parking shuttle,” Stephanie Negriff, the outgoing director of Transit Services, told the council in her staff report. “These proposed service changes will result in an increase of 7,619 annual service hours at an incremental cost of $419,000.”

Lines 3 and 14 were included in the BBB’s suggested changes for August, as the proposed changes for both lines have been subject to controversy, Negriff said. Part of the BBB’s report and suggested changes included an “alternatives analysis” aimed to “evaluate options to improve transit connections to the three planned Expo rail stations in Santa Monica.”

In sharing its three-year-plan with the council, BBB officials said their planned process includes feedback from community outreach, and the possibility to make future strategy revisions, public hearings, and reviews with the council.

Through its proposed alterations, cuts, and plan changes, BBB hopes to improve traffic circulation in Downtown Santa Monica while also preparing for Expo’s second phase, supporting the Land Use and Circulation Element (LUCE), and maintain a balanced budget. To achieve this, BBB made several recommendations to “move resources to the most productive services” while balancing “community needs with resource constraints.”

Specifically, BBB suggested several alterations or cuts to certain lines. As Negriff pointed out, changes would be made to Lines 1, 2, 7, 10, 11, 13, and Rapid 7. For example, BBB’s plan called for reducing duplicative service between Lines 1 and 2; improving performance and subway connections for Line 7 and Rapid 7; reducing the “unproductive service” of Line 13; improving the on-time performance of Line 10; and improving downtown circulation through Downtown Ride. Additionally, the Rapid 7 service would be extended to the Metro Purple Line’s Wilshire/Western station.

Several students from Santa Monica College and UCLA attended the public hearing. Liza Taylor, a graduate student at UCLA, was concerned about the service changes to Line 2 in the Ocean Park area.

“I use the bus to commute to work and I can think of, off the top of my head, nine other people who use it regularly to commute to work. We’re all UCLA graduate students, and because of that, we are low-income. It is our only way of getting to work,” she told the council. “When I get on the bus, there are other people waiting in that stretch between Hill and Pico, so it is used by the community.”

Valerie Griffin, chair of the Wilshire/Montana Neighborhood Coalition, told the council she believed the proposed line changes, while ideal for long haulers, did not make much sense to locals who frequently use the BBB.

“We are very concerned that routes are shifting away from neighborhood service and (are instead being) optimized to serve students. We realize that providing bus service to students does help the community, but there are other transit needs which remain unserved,” Griffin said. “The larger trend of switching more services to Rapid and cutting local services is a matter of concern. The problem is … short community bus trips are less convenient (for locals).”

The service changes, which are for the short term and not for the entire three-year period before the next scheduled BBB internal analysis, would be implemented in August. With community meetings set for October, the service changes will be considered by the council again in November.

“I am willing to try this for a few months to see what happens,” council member Kevin McKeown said, addressing the concern about bus noise expressed by residents.

Mayor Pro Tem Gleam Davis complemented McKeown’s backing, saying that while the proposed changes are not permanent, the council is not recommending BBB to experiment with service changes in the interim process.

“I don’t want anyone to think we’re going to try this for three months and see how it works,” Davis said. “I think it does make sense to revisit it … and (in three months) you can tell us how it’s working, if you are still receiving complaints.”

The council also adopted an ordinance authorizing City Manager Rod Gould “to negotiate cooperation agreements with the Exposition Metro Line Construction Authority and with the L.A. County Metropolitan Transportation Authority for the construction and operation of a light rail transit system” in Santa Monica.

Council members Bob Holbrook and Pam O’Connor were not present at the May 10 meeting, while council member Bobby Shriver excused himself prior to the conclusion of the BBB public hearing, leaving the governing body to barely operate at a quorum

BHUSD Seeks Court Order for MTA Documents (Patch )

BHUSD Seeks Court Order for MTA Documents

The school district says the Metropolitan Transportation Authority is dragging its heels in releasing requested subway information regarding contested expansion route for Century City.

Link: http://centurycity.patch.com/articles/bhusd-seeks-court-order-for-mta-documents

By Laurie Lande | Email the author | May 11, 2011

The Beverly Hills Unified School District filed a petition Monday seeking a court order compelling the Metropolitan Transportation Authority to release technical information on tunneling and station locations related to the Westside Subway Extension.

In a petition filed with Los Angeles County Superior Court, the BHUSD alleges that MTA officials have violated the California Public Records Act by improperly withholding public documents requested by the BHUSD over a period of several months. As Patch has reported, the BHUSD opposes an MTA proposal to possibly tunnel under Beverly Hills High in order to place a Century City subway stop on Constellation Boulevard.

“[The] MTA has not been forthcoming with a full production of documents or copies of the ongoing studies which MTA promised it would produce in response to BHUSD requests,” the 36-page petition says in part.

Metro is considering several locations for the Century City stop, and the MTA board is scheduled to make a final decision by August. The BHUSD and most city officials favor a subway route that would go underneath Santa Monica Boulevard to a stop at Avenue of the Stars in Century City, while an alternate Metro proposal would tunnel under BHHS to arrive at Constellation Boulevard.

“We tried to work with the MTA, but they chose to ignore or reject our numerous requests for information,” Board of Education President Lisa Korbatov said in a statement posted oncenturycitysubway.org, a website organized by the BHUSD.

SPECIAL REPORT: Higher gas prices create boon for Gold Line ridership (I Will Ride.org.)

SPECIAL REPORT: Higher gas prices create boon for Gold Line ridership

Link: http://www.iwillride.org/?p=1017
Posted by Rodrigo

People make use of the Metro Gold Line at Lake Station in Pasadena Tuesday morning, April 26, 2011. Metro officials say 3,000 more people per day rode the Gold Line this March as compared to March 2010, a 10 percent increase as gas prices topped $4 a gallon in Los Angeles County. (SGVN/Staff Photo by Sarah Reingewirtz)

By Hector Gonzalez, Staff Writer

05/01/2011 06:05:31 PM PDT, Whittier Daily News

Gold Line riders at a glance

Average daily ridership (weekdays) on the Gold Line has steadily increased during the past five years, reaching a new high of more than 35,000 riders last month, according to Metro ridership figures:

• 2006: 16,778
• 2007: 18,776
• 2008: 20,514
• 2009: 23,681*
• 2010: 31,829

*The Eastside Extension opened in November 2009. Metro officials believe the opening helped spike ridership.

PASADENA – As the price of regular gas broke above $4 a gallon in Los Angeles County in March, ridership on Metro’s Gold Line reached a new high, climbing 10 percent compared to March 2010, transit officials said.

Not surprisingly, that’s been the trend almost since the $859 million, 13.7-mile rail line from Pasadena to Union Station opened in July 2003: Each spike in gasoline prices since then has corresponded with jumps in the Gold Line’s average daily ridership.

This year ridership increased from 31,544 in March 2010 to 35,544 in March 2011 – 3,000 more riders per day on average than in 2010, and 10,000 more than in March 2009, Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority numbers show.

For the first time, the Gold Line has consistently surpassed its original daily ridership projections of 26,000 to 32,000.

And it follows the gas/ridership correlation. In March, the average gallon price for self-serve regular passed $4 in Los Angeles County for the first time since June 2008, when it hit an all-time record of $4.63 a gallon.

In June 2008, Gold Line ridership spiked – from around 18,000-20,000, where it had hovered throughout 2006 and 2007, to about 26,300.

It’s riders such as George Cabado, who was taking the Gold Line home recently from his job in Pasadena to Boyle Heights, who have helped boost ridership by opting to ditch their cars for the train, transit officials said.

“No comparison,” Cabado said, displaying the $1.50 fare he paid to board the line at the Lake Avenue Station. “In my van I was spending $20 a day.”

At the same time, Cabado said, work in his construction field has dwindled, leaving him with mass transit as his cheapest commuting option.

MTA officials believe Gold Line ridership numbers would be much higher if not for the county’s pervasive 12percent unemployment rates, spokesman Jose Ubaldo said. Ridership on Metro’s still-forming rail system tends to reflect the number of people out of work, he said.

A look at ridership on Metro’s other rail lines shows it fell last month compared to March 2010, and that includes the Red Line, one the most heavily used. It saw a drop from 155,463 in March 2010 to 144,093 last month. Green Line and Blue Line ridership also decreased last month, MTA figures showed.

Those lines traverse areas of high unemployment, at or above the county average of 12 percent, including downtown and South Los Angeles. Pasadena’s unemployment rate, meanwhile, stood at about 9 percent.

“It’s a different story now than in 2008,” when sticker shock at the pump sent drivers in droves to mass transit, Ubaldo said. “Now, people are more used to the higher gas prices, but with the recession, a lot of people are not working. There are fewer people now who need to take the bus or train to work.”

But the Gold Line differs from Metro’s other rail lines in ways that have helped shield it from the impacts of the recession. The median yearly income of Gold Line users, for example, is about $42,500, compared to $11,250 for Red and Blue line transit users, according to a 2004 study by researchers at UCLA.

Regional Connector Testing Continues (LA Downtown News)

Regional Connector Testing Continues

Geotechnical Study Means Lane Closures, Noise

http://www.ladowntownnews.com/articles/2011/05/10/news/doc4dc9837b40439398713388.txt

Published: Tuesday, May 10, 2011 11:28 AM PDT

DOWNTOWN LOS ANGELES – Various lane closures and other traffic controls will be in place this week as the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority continues its geotechnical testing along the two-mile Regional Connector route this week.

The agency is locating utilities and performing soil borings, and noise and vibration tests as part of an ongoing environmental analysis for the project.

The test samples and data collected will provide information on subsurface conditions, allowing engineers to determine optimal excavation and construction methodologies of the planned underground tunnel and three stations.

Part of the testing will include “Sonic Core Drilling,” which measures noise and vibration in relation to geotechnical conditions and existing infrastructure.

The planned locations of the testing activities are:

May 10, 2011: Second Street at Main Street, Olive and Spring streets; and Gen. Kosciuszko Way between Hope and Flower streets.

May 11, 2011: Second at Los Angeles, Spring, and Olive streets; Alameda between First and Temple streets; Gen. Kosciuszko Way between Hope and Flower streets.

May 12, 2011: Second at San Pedro, Spring and Olive streets, and Gen. Kosciuszko Way, between Hope and Flower streets.

May 13, 2011: Second at San Pedro Street and Central Avenue; Flower at Third, Fifth and Sixth Streets; and at Second and Olive streets.

The project’s final environmental impact report is expected to be adopted by the end of 2011, with the possible initiation of construction in 2013. The project will provide three new stations, serving approximately 90,000 transit passengers daily. For more information about the Regional Connector, the public can leave a message at (213) 922-7277 or visit metro.net/regionalconnector. For day-to-day testing location updates, visit twitter.com/metroconnector.

©Los Angeles Downtown News. 

Expo design process gets going (Santa Monica Daily Press)

Expo design process gets going
http://www.smdp.com/Articles-c-2011-05-10-71791.113116-Expo-design-process-gets-going.html

By Ashley Archibald

May 11, 2011

CIVIC CENTER — Exposition Construction Authority and design-builder Skanska/Rados representatives played to a packed crowd at the Civic Center Monday night to describe the project and elicit community input for the second phase of the Expo Light Rail line, which will terminate in Santa Monica.

It wasn't clear if they achieved their goal.

"I was going there expecting to hear more about what was being proposed, and not really getting that," said Planning Commissioner Gwynne Pugh, who attended the meeting as a civilian.

Expo CA advertising billed the meeting as a kick off to meet the contractor, Skanska/Rados, and learn about the design process and timeline.

The meeting began with a presentation that sketched a vague outline of the process moving forward, beginning with a design phase that's expected to take 18 months.

Construction will begin before the design is complete, said Mike Aparicio, project manager for Skanska Civil USA.

advertisement

Skanska is part of a joint venture with Steve P. Rados, Inc., which will build the project.

"We will be getting the design done as we work," Aparicio said.

The builder committed to regular meetings with the community to get feedback, as well as to forming two groups — the Urban Design Committee and Bikeway Advisory Committee — with representatives from the public to make sure residents' voices get heard throughout the process.

Elements of the project that community members can have meaningful impact on are few and far between, however.

The alignments of the project, physical aspects of the structures and station locations have all been mostly determined, Aparicio said.

"In the summer, there will be meetings for landscaping, the color palettes and finishes," Aparicio said. "As other issues demand attention, we'll be making sure the community and builders have a partnership."

City Hall, Expo CA and Skanska/Rados are still in negotiations about several elements of the route, said Kate Vernez, assistant to the city manager.

While city staff were able to secure a second entrance to the Fourth Street terminus, things like side platforms at Bergamot Station — which would allow passengers to cross through the station rather than walk around it past 26th Street — are still in discussion.

"We started meeting with them in late February, and they got the contract in March," Vernez said, referring to Skanska/Rados. "We've been meeting every Monday since that. Along the way, the city requests certain aspects of the design be looked at."

Then, the design team negotiates with City staff about the cost of the requested changes, and whether or not the alterations can be included in the base cost of the light rail line, or if City Hall needs to pony up the extra.

How much City Hall is willing to spend to secure its preferred designs hasn't been determined yet, Vernez said.

"First, we have to understand what the costs are," she said.

City Councilman Kevin McKeown attended the meeting, and expressed concern that some aspects of the design and process may not please Santa Monicans who are used to getting more involved in large projects.

"Santa Monicans are used to responsive local control over local issues, but with the construction of the Expo line, we're working with a regional entity whose mandate is budget and schedule," McKeown wrote in an e-mail Tuesday. "The stations and right-of-way that Expo proposes might not live up to local expectations, and I hope we schedule a full public hearing at the City Council soon to discuss improvements to the baseline plan, and how to fund them."

Also of concern were questions about the bike path that will run alongside the light rail line from 17th Street to Downtown Los Angeles.

Bicyclist Eric Weinstein noted that the supposed bikeway next to the Bergamot Station stop was now being billed as a "multi-use pathway," which accommodates both pedestrians and bicyclists.

"The multi-use pathway ceases to be an effective solution when you're going 20 to 25 miles an hour," Weinstein said. "We'd like the design to bring the bike path separate from pedestrians."

The light rail train is still expected to arrive in 2015. Utility work will begin in the fall, with major construction beginning somewhere around Feb. 1.

ashley@smdp.com

In Crenshaw, Overwhelming Enthusiasm for Leimert Park Station

In Crenshaw, Overwhelming Enthusiasm for Leimert Park Station

For Residents of the Crenshaw Corridor the issue has nothing to do with
Measure R Funds, they just want a station at Leimert Park. Photo: Waltarr/Flickr

by Damien Newton on May 5, 2011

A recent motion by Supervisor Mark Ridley-Thomas calling for grade
separation for nearly the entire Crenshaw Corridor and a second station
at Leimert Park, has become one of the most controversial Metro
proposals in recent memories.  Transit advocates across the region worry
about the impact on other Measure R projects, especially because the
motion wants to look at moving funds for expansion of the Green Line or
Expo Line to fund the additional projects.  You can read more details
about the proposal, here.

But in news papers up and down the Crenshaw Corridor, there is
unanimous support for the ideas of both grade separating the line and
especially for the Leimert Park Station.

An editorial in the L.A. Sentinel
asks the question, “why isn’t there a station planned for Leimert
Park?”  The park and businesses surrounding it is viewed by many as the
cultural center of South Los Angeles, and seems to be a natural fit for a
rail station, above or below ground.  The editorial is full of
supportive quotes from politicians and advocates, but this comment by
the Michael Jones of the Crenshaw Chamber of Commerce captures the
argument for both Leimert Station and a grade-separated Crenshaw Line:

There are two things involved here. One is Metro is
saying they don’t want to do it because it cost too much money; so
that’s a concern that they have.

However, when you look at Leimert coming up … the Vision Theater,
the renovated shops and the businesses that will follow, for that train
NOT to stop at Vernon and Crenshaw, will be a travesty to the
community. The other part is that the train must run underground
between 48th Street and 59th Street. Why? Because the time it will take
to build two train tracks in the middle of Crenshaw, the businesses
will be affected in a very, very bad way.

Our Weekly has published Opinion pieces in each of its last two editions by a pair of Ph.D.’s promoting the Station and grade-separation.  Last week, Dr. Anthony Asadullah Samad makes the same point slightly more succinctly.

Urban centers are designed around two things: schools and
mass transit. Business comes where the transit stops, and homeowners
come where the schools are. The money then follows both.

Until our community understands that mis-designing mass transit is a

detriment to the economic development prospects of our community, we
will never see the change we desire.

When we get it, they get it.

This week,
David Horne calls for the Corridor’s black community to come out and
support the Ridley-Thomas motion at this month’s meeting of the Metro
Board of Directors.  He notes that the early morning schedule for the
meeting makes attendence difficult, but this may be the community’s only
chance to get the station, and separation, they want.

But the board will have to be convinced to do so. In
order for that proposal to be successful, we all need some real booties
in the balcony. Black folk need to be seen in the aisles, halls and in
the seats to demonstrate our sustained interest in the supervisor’s
proposal. No people, no pressure, and no positive vote. That’s how it
works. So get there.

Last, but never least, Damien Goodmon writes in The Wave that building the Leimert Station isn’t just good for the Crenshaw community, but the entire city:

The plight of the Crenshaw business community should
concern us all. If Los Angeles is a salad bowl filled with a mixture of
cultures from throughout the world, Crenshaw must be the dressing. Our
region should no more welcome the destruction of the Crenshaw business
community than it should Little Tokyo or Chinatown. Crenshaw is as
much a part of our unique identity as a multicultural city, as any
other ethnic center. We must both preserve it and enhance it with the
Crenshaw-LAX Light Rail Line.

One thing that doesn’t appear in any of these opinion pieces is a
broader discussion of Metro finances or an analysis of whether the
Crenshaw Line is more or less important than the Expo Line or Green
Line.  The issue isn’t about the larger Measure R picture, its just
about an effort to get the rail line that they feel makes the most sense
for the community.

A Royal Event for the Expo Line

Joel Epstein

Communications and public affairs professional, urbanist

Though my invitation to the royal wedding appears to have gotten lost
in the mail, I was pleased to have received an invitation to the recent
tour of the Expo Line station at Western and Exposition. And at the cost of a Metro Day Pass,
the amount I spent on travel to the event sure beat the airfare to
London and the price of all the special clothes I would have had to have
bought for the wedding.

True, the intersection of Western and Exposition is hardly
Westminster Abbey or LA's most inviting corner for that matter. A gas
station, a donut shop, a couple of bodegas or whatever they're
called in LA, and now, a gleaming new Metro light rail line. That is
what greeted me last Monday when I got off the bus at around nine in the
morning to join the festivities. I was there for a press event with
the local politicians who on the whole have supported the project. And
in spite of the gray sky and cool weather, it was a great occasion.
Here is what I saw: a train waiting on the east side of the intersection
to roll into the westbound station, newly planted trees along
Exposition Blvd and a for-now graffiti-free train platform that every
day is looking more and more like the working station it will soon be.

Expo, for those who may not know, is LA Metro's latest addition to a
growing network of subways, light rail lines and Rapid buses designed to
make getting around this congested city easier. Aided by Metro's
recently rolled out real-time NextBus
app, which tells you when the bus will actually arrive at your stop,
getting to the event (three buses), was no biggie. Since my travel
around LA generally involves a transfer or two, NextBus has dramatically
improved my transit experience. Anyhow, for the chance to see Expo on
track, this was one occasion I would have endured delays and even twice
the number of potholes we rumbled over.

Standing together on the platform with a ratio of 1.5 reporters to
every politician, the event was a sweet taste of what will hopefully
start running for real in November. Aptly named Thanksgiving is when
Expo Phase 1 from downtown LA to just shy of downtown Culver City starts
operating. That will be a great day, but already Exposition Blvd with
its new rails and stations is looking better than it has in years.

While most of the politicians used their few minutes at the mic to
offer a sound bite about how exciting it is to see this much-fought-over
line almost operational, I spent the morning thinking about what Expo's
arrival says about how far LA has come it its thinking about public
transit. The Gold Line extension to East LA, Expo to Santa Monica, a
Crenshaw light rail line, the subway extension to west of the 405 and a
bus rapid transit (BRT) line on Wilshire Blvd, all speak to Angelenos'
recognition that there has to be an alternative to sitting in traffic on
the freeway and on LA's clogged surface streets. With the wind at our
back, America Fast Forward, the patriotically renamed 30/10 Initiative,
is where LA is going, and for more and more of us, Metro is taking us
there. Now, to speed that ride, if we can just pair the aggressive
transit-building initiative with bus boarding improvements like a TAP
reader on the left-hand side of the boarding area we'll be all set. A
repositioned or added TAP reader will speed boarding especially on busy
routes like the Wilshire 720 Rapid. Hey, San Francisco already does this. Maybe we should too.

Yours in transit,

Joel

Metro's Constellation Blvd Station, Donald Trump and the Truth

Joel Epstein

Communications and public affairs professional, urbanist

With Kate and William finally off somewhere alone and Osama Bin Laden gone from the scene it is time to bring the conversation back to the circus at home. And what better freak show to start with than the P.T. Barnum of our time, The Donald.

Watching Donald Trump as he plays and replays the non-story of President Obama' birthplace and pretends that he is anything other than an apprentice preening for the presidency, I can't help but think of another effort to obfuscate the community's judgment. And as opposed to whether or not the president needs to show us his birth certificate, this issue actually matters.

Unlike the birther fiction, spun by the Obama haters into a deadly twister, it is important to this transit rider and to all Angelenos that Metro choose the best location for the Wilshire subway station in Century City. And just when we thought we might actually get one, along comes a campaign of lies and half-truths custom-made to hold up the train.

With the local Beverly Hills press little more than a mouthpiece for the handful of Beverly Hillbillies hellbent on stopping the line short of Constellation Blvd, it is critical that residents of Beverly Hills as well as the rest of LA County know the truth about the best station location.

Though Constellation would attract the most riders, opponents of the station are shameless in their ongoing voodoo engineering campaign about the danger of tunneling under part of the high school property and a few homes in the southern part of 90210. The Beverly Hills School Board, which is leading the charge against the best station location, is spending scarce education dollars that should be going to the three Rs to line the pockets of the three Ls -- the Board's shameless lawyers, lobbyists, and PR lackeys. So far, the Board has somehow funneled north of $400,000 into their wrongheaded drive to show Metro who is boss.

How and why the good citizens of Beverly Hills have let the Board get away with this is beyond reason. If it were my tax dollars at work, I'd have long ago used Google, Facebook and Twitter to assemble a crowd in front of City Hall calling for the School Board's exile to Sharm el-Sheikh or somewhere uninviting out in the Mojave.

To the Beverly Hills taxpayers and to others following this ugly fight, I say don't believe what you read in the Beverly Hills Courier and on the website the School Board has created to deceive the public about Constellation Blvd. The Board and their PR flacks seem to live by the credo, who needs the pesky truth when you can blind them with falsehoods and heated personal attacks on Metro staff? And who doesn't love the Board's favorite canard that Metro is doing the bidding of the Century City developers in proposing a station at Constellation? Like the TV ads for gas-sipping muscle cars and hybrid SUVs, why focus on facts when you can spin a web of deception that makes for an effective clog in the wheels of the train?

As for the Hillbillies' preferred alternative, Santa Monica Blvd. and Avenue of the Stars, there's no there there. Plain and simple, it is a less desirable station location.

For the sake of all Angelenos and the overdue subway to the Westside, it is time to mute the misguided School Board. Only then, when the Board has lost its city-issued credit card, will we see how far their broken megaphone carries. Constellation Blvd is the best choice for the Wilshire Subway Station in Century City.

Yours in transit,

Joel