German
Spanish
French
Italian
Portuguese
Japanese
Korean
Russian
ChineseWestside subway … umm, transit alternatives meetings
[tags]los angeles, mta, beverly hills, santa monica[/tags]
Pick any one of these three lines to be built as a subway. Hell, go for all three why not.
Metro invites the public to validate the obvious — extending the Purple Line to the sea — and give token consideration to other multibillion-dollar investments for Westside projects at a series of meetings in October.
By law Metro has to consider from several alternative modes in order to receive funding. These can include, subway, bus-only lanes, subway, surface light rail, subway, aerial light rail, subway, elevated Purple Line extension, subway, the do-nothing alternative or subway. Metro set up a web site for this study. The study area boundaries are the subway stations at Hollywood/Highland and Wilshire/Western to the east, Pico Boulevard to the south, the sea to the west, and more or less the Santa Monica Mountains to the north.
For those too busy or lazy to attend one of the meetings in person, Metro accepts e-mail and letters and as public comment. Send e-mail to WestsideExtension@metro.net. To leave a message, call (213) 922-6932. For snail mail, send to:
Mr. David Mieger, AICP
Project Manager and Deputy Executive Officer
Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority (Metro)
Mail Stop: 99-22-5
One Gateway Plaza
Los Angeles, CA 90012
The deadline for receiving comments is November 1. Remember that.
The list of meetings follows the jump.
All meetings are 6 p.m. to 8 p.m.
Tuesday, October 9, Emerson Middle School, 1650 Selby Avenue, West Los Angeles
Transit access: Metro Rapid line 704, Local line 4 and Santa Monica’s Big Blue Bus lines 1, 8 and 12/Super 12.
Thursday, October 11, Pan Pacific Recreation Center, 7600 Beverly Boulevard, Los Angeles, CA 90036
Transit access: Metro Rapid lines 714 and 780, and Local lines 10, 14, 16/316, 217 and 218; and LADOT DASH Fairfax.
Tuesday, October 16, Wilshire United Methodist Church, 4350 Wilshire Boulevard, Los Angeles, CA 90005
Transit access: Metro Rapid lines 710 and 720, and Local lines 20 and 210.
Wednesday, October 17, Beverly Hills Public Library Auditorium, 444 N. Rexford Drive, Beverly Hills, CA 90210
Transit access: Metro Rapid lines 704 and 714, and Local lines 4, 14 and 16/316.
Thursday, October 18, Santa Monica Public Library, 601 Santa Monica Boulevard, Santa Monica, CA 90401
Transit access: Metro Rapid line 704, and Express line 534; and Santa Monica’s Big Blue Bus lines 1-10 (except Line 6).
Discussion
Both comments and pings are currently closed.
Please keep discussions civil: exercise Troll Controll.
Everyone should read the MTA’s Westside Extension webpages for some backup information. I’ve already written my sugestion letter in case I cannot attend one of the public hearings.
http://www.mta.net/projects_programs/westside/default.htm
The Purple Line is most likely to take the following route west from Western/Wilshire based on what I read:
Crenshaw/Wilshire
LaBrea/Wilshire
Fairfax/Wilshire
LaCienega/Wilshire
Beverly Dr./Wilshire
Santa Monica/Wilshire
Century City
Westwood/Santa Monica
Westwood/Wilshire
Veteran’s Hospital
Barrington/Wilshire
Bundy/Wilshire
26th St./Wilshire
14th St./Wilshire
4th St./Wilshire
Santa Monica Transit Terminal
I was heartened to see the possibility of extending the Red Line west from Hollywood/Highland.
There has to be some sort of connector to Santa Monica Blvd. running from Hollywood/Beverly Hills through West Hollywood.
Possible stops from Hollywood/Highland would be:
Sunset/LaBrea
Santa Monica/Fairfax
Santa Monica/LaCienega
Santa Monica/San Vicente
Santa Monica/Canyon
Santa Monica/Wilshire
Century City
I suggested an alternative for that “connector” which is being informally referred to as the ‘Pink Line” by more people now.
If it went from Hollywood/Highland to Sunset/LaBrea to Santa Monica/Fairfax to Santa Monica/La Cienega, but then headed south to Beverly/La Cienega to Wilshire/La Cienega to Olympic/La Cienega to Pico/La Cienga to Venice/La Cienega and ended at the Expo line, it would allow for a convenient north/south line connecting the city alongside the 323/310 split. This connector could eventually be extended down LaCienega to LAX from the north.
Connectivity is very important. Each connection and possible transfer increases the value of the line exponentially.
I chose La Cienega over Fairfax because La Cienega is more of a half-way point between Vermont and Sepulveda and I think more people would be served by it.
I chose Santa Monica over Sunset for the Fairfax and La Cienega stops because I think more people would be served by it, and West Hollywood would lobby to be fully included in the system.
Assuming the Purple Line and the connector through West Hollywood are finished and the Green Line is extended to the airport, then the Green Line should be extended further north up Sepulveda to UCLA and into the Valley, connecting with the Purple (w/Pink), Expo, Orange Lines and Metrolink, numerous Rapid Bus lines, and dozens of local bus lines. This would be the creation of a system.
The BRU will fight it because the Purple Line would mean the end of their socialist, bus-riding utopia. Single-occupancy motorists trying to hold onto the past will fight it because they cannot brings themselves to acknowledge that the golden age of single-occupancy motoring is behind us forever.
We who support Southern California’s economic and environmental sustainability will have to keep advocating to our elected officials until it is completed. No more balancing the state budget on the back of needed transportation projects.
Please also consider attending one of Southern California Transit Advocates’ community meetings to learn how to help lobby for the funding for the subway extension.
I guarantee that it will be hard enough to get the money to build the Wilshire extension … if you have any hopes for the second branch extension, we are going to have a lot of work to do.
Details are at the SO.CA.TA website, which you can get to by clicking on my name.
See http://lavisions.blogspot.com/2007/10/october-transit-meetings.html for more public meetings in October on Expo Line phase 2, Santa Monica’s Transportation planing, and the Crenshaw-Prairie Corrdior.