German
Spanish
French
Italian
Portuguese
Japanese
Korean
Russian
ChineseL.A. Sniper takes shot at Rep. Waxman
[tags]los angeles, red line, purple line, public transit, henry waxman[/tags]
Alan Mittelstaedt, known better as L.A. City Beat’s L.A. Sniper, has in his cross hairs Rep. Henry Waxman. While commending Waxman’s work on environmental legislation, the Sniper doesn’t forget and doesn’t forgive the congressman for helping to stop subway construction before it got a chance to tunnel through his district.
From this week’s Sniper piece (no pun intended):
… So here’s a proposal to consider until we get the leaders who will stay focused on the fight for a subway running the full length of Wilshire. Let’s rename Line 720 the Henry Waxman Limited Vision Line. … Seizing on the methane eruption [at the Ross Dress-for-Less in 1985], you got your colleagues in Congress to ban the use of federal dollars paying for any tunneling west of Fairfax; a ban tinged with your constituents’ racism that, to your credit, you finally lifted this year.
Waxman represents Hancock Park and the Fairfax District, wealthy and historic areas that were bubbling tar pits of opposition to rail. Residents were worried about “crime” (read: poor, dark-skinned transit riders) coming to the neighborhood. However, serendipity in the form of the Ross Dress-for-Less methane explosion in 1985 provided Waxman with a cover story — public safety — that gained bipartisan support for a federal subway tunneling ban.
It was after 20 years that Waxman reversed his opposition to subway tunneling after a study showed construction through methane zones can be done safely. Also, the steam rising from motorists’ and bus riders’ frustration over having to endure congestion could no longer be ignored.
The Sniper has taken another shot at a transit critic a few weeks ago, this time a Los Angeles Times staffer who left for another job. It was about the poor performance of the Gold Line. Also sprach Mittelstaedt:
… But let’s torch a car on Spring Street every time reporters continue to unfairly bash the Gold Line light-rail line from Pasadena-Union Station. … Three years ago, there were 14,000 one-way boardings. In 2003, the MTA made a public-relations gaffe with its original projections of 26,000 riders a day. But get over it. The line is a tremendous success and its popularity will keep growing once economics and government regulations make it less appealing to take the traffic-choked Pasadena Freeway.
See also:
- LAist: Congressman Henry Waxman - Subway enemy No. 1
- The Overhead Wire: The Limited Vision line
- MetroRiderLA:
Discussion
Both comments and pings are currently closed.
Please keep discussions civil: exercise Troll Controll.
Good, someone ought to publically lampoon that horse-toothed, four-eyed jackass. If we can do that to Zev and other politicians then somethings can get done.
In addition to Waxhead, I mean, er Waxman, don’t forget Zev “Shithead” Yaroslavsky and Jackass Tom Hayden too.
Thow in the asinine “Bus Riders Union” for good measure.
I hate and despise all three of them (plus the Bus Riders Union) for what they have done to slow down and retard growth of Metro Rail in Los Angeles.
I wish them nothing but ill will.
Fuck Waxman, the buck-toothed, pig-nosed, bald-headed excuse for a congressman. The Militant once lived in his district but apparently Wack-man only gave a damn about those in the upper income areas.
Waxman’s got a fairly strong anti-transit past that undermines his otherwise very green voting record. He’s changed his tune, but he’s still responsible for decades of delay.
In the interest of steering this thread towards a more productive line of discourse (and away from these very personal attacks), let me pose a question:
If you were to see him at some sort of “town meeting”, or called in to a radio show where he was a guest, what would you ask him? Or tell him? What kind of response would you want from him?
The responses I know he’ll say are lies, it’s his action I’m more concerned with. I want to see him talk to those senators who are holding up the show on repealling the ban. Yeah Boxer and Feinstein are our Senators but they can only do so much.
Are there any senators in particular who are holding the legislation up? A nice big write in would feel pretty good now, though i doubt it would make a huge difference.
I thought the headline was literal with Henry “Pig Face” Cigarette Taxman pissing off Blackwater.