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ChineseExposing Expo Series Introduction
Damien Goodmon, transit advocate and founder of FixExpo.org, presents a series of articles defending his position on the controversy surrounding the Metro Exposition Line. The thoughts presented in this series are those of Damien Goodmon and Fix Expo and do not necessarily reflect the views of MetroRiderLA, its contributors, and/or readers.
The Expo Line controversy: At-grade rail. Dorsey HS. LAUSD. CPUC. Environmental racism. Fix Expo. Expo Communities United. And Damien Goodmon.
Many still don’t understand how or why I became the driver of the entity most critical of Los Angeles’ newest light rail line. And so for the next couple of weeks, I’ll write the Exposing Expo series, with the belief that by bringing to light the many interactions, information and uncovered documents, more can get a clearer picture of the 600 pound guerilla that is the Exposition Metro Line Construction Authority, an agent of MTA.
Because the process, fellow transit advocates, is very revealing and rather interesting. Indeed, what has become a tenacious brawl, began rather innocently and with the best of opinions of Expo staff.
“Work with staff,” I was told.
“Just ask questions and they’ll be honestly evaluated and fully answered,” I was led to believe.
Nothing could be further from the truth.
What will be illustrated is an arrogant and willfully ignorant Expo Board that continues to downplay the safety issues, mounting public pressure and pending legal actions that if unaddressed will derail the largest public works project in their districts.
What will be revealed is an unethical and snide Expo staff acting defensively and immorally under the crisis of transparency.
What will be exposed are actions of people who claim they’re transit advocates, which are more in line with that of agency apologists and public relations front men.
I will never disclose the contents of private conversations, and I legally can’t mention anything discussed in mediation, but pretty much everything public will be made available for the world to see.
Important questions will be answered, such as:
- Why did MTA really walk away from $320 million federal dollars for the project by withdrawing the Expo Line from the FTA New Starts application process?
- Why has Expo suddenly dropped their projected Phase 1 ridership from 43,400 to 27,000?
- Why does the Expo Authority continue to claim they’re building a line like the Gold Line when the majority of the design is identical to the Blue Line?
- Why is the Expo Line really designed 100% grade separated in the City of Culver City?
- Why are some Friends 4 Expo leaders really opposed to an overpass at Dorsey HS?
- What is Section 4f of NEPA and how is it applicable here?
- What is segmentation and just how illegal is it?
- Which City Council Member and State Senator were pressuring CPUC Commissioner Timothy Simon to expedite the Expo Line CPUC proceedings?
- Who did Friends 4 Expo Co-Chair Darrell Clarke assault at the Santa Monica Civic Auditorium to warrant repeated explicatives?
- How is the Expo Line design environmental racism?
The first installment will be posted right here at MetroRiderLA…tomorrow.
Discussion
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Please keep discussions civil: exercise Troll Controll.
Wow. I’m intrigued. Can’t wait til tomorrow.
• Who was predicting all this ten years ago?
Seriously the other thing you need to look at is true cost. Just because Darrel hasn’t updated the cost per mile for many years doesn’t mean that’s the case. This should be fun.
Maybe stealing a little thunder but Expo wasn’t really “withdrawn” so much as “disqualified” when it couldn’t meet minimum application completeness consideration.
As to ridership, no mystery there. There are always two ridership figures. 43k was never possible just a fantasy to sell. 27k is the new “number to beat” so that when initial ridership comes in at 30k they can declare success. Won’t happen. Maybe 22-24k guess until I look closer at the details.
Damien Goodmon - the only poster at MRLA who comes with a disclaimer.
I noticed Damien’s comments on Wad’s BART posting and was suprised that, in addition to praising BART’s grade separation, he didn’t also note how horrible grade separation makes BART’s upstairs neighbor, MUNI. My experience is mostly with the N Judah, which after emerging from the Market street tunnel has to share a lane with traffic and stops in the middle of the street in many cases. I would take any of LA’s light rail lines over that one, even the poor ol’ Blue Line. Damien also gets his digs in on that post:
Methinks this does not presage well for the MRLA community at large. Heh heh.
The disclaimer is there because this has been discussed to death before. It’s obvious that most in the MRLA community disagree with Damien, including the “boss” of MRLA, which is me. So although I’m giving Damien the chance to defend his position and tell his story on MRLA, I don’t want the random reader to think that this is MRLA’s official position, since it’s not.
Time to go drink my Kool Aid.
Fred, I didn’t mean to imply that you should not have placed the disclaimer. Far from it. My intent was to briefly remark that the disclaimer gives a pretty good indication of how volatile this series promises to be. I have a gift for stating the obvious, but unfortunately it seems to be coming off as snarky rather than innocuous. My apologies for not clarifying to begin with, and major props for giving a voice to all sides, even if it means more work for you.
I find the disclaimer funny too. It is inaccurate as well.
1) I am not the founder of Expo Communities United. ECU found me. It’s been around about a year longer than I’ve been involved in the issue.
2) The issues with the Expo Line are not limited to safety.
3) As I explain through the intro the purpose of the series isn’t just to discuss the safety issues but the overall problems and politics that surround the design of the line, the current state of the line and Metro and Expo.
The safety issues are blatant for anyone actually willing to take a look at the alignment, design and surrounding environment and compare it with the Blue Line. That’s been explained, but the way the Expo Board has attempted to downplay the safety issues is a much more interesting story.
Part I of what I see to be at least a 10 part series over the next month or so today.
I’ll edit out ECU. I was under the impression that was you .
I will try to provide the real answers to Damien Goodmon’s questions:
Question: Why did MTA really walk away from $320 million federal dollars for the project by withdrawing the Expo Line from the FTA New Starts application process?
Answer: Why postpone the Expo Line for years by waiting for federal funding, especially when you have local and state money to spend? Time is critical for the rail network to be extended. Nobody will live forever, not even the younger transit advocates and the lost time is the lost money. The people who want this to be postponed are the people who don’t want to see it built and hope that they could derail it by putting it off.
Question: Why has Expo suddenly dropped their projected Phase 1 ridership from 43,400 to 27,000?
Answer: The Expo Authority has been working on a new ridership model, which they are applying to Phase 2. The model has been developed in cooperation with Federal Transit Administration (FTA). This model is crucial for obtaining federal funding. Due to the complexity of the transit modes and patterns in Los Angeles, they have only recently been able to get the model to a successful level, acceptable by FTA. They haven’t provided their ridership estimates yet, either for Phase 1 or Phase 2. We will have to wait and see, rather than speculate on these numbers.
Question: Why does the Expo Authority continue to claim they’re building a line like the Gold Line when the majority of the design is identical to the Blue Line?
Answer: No, it’s not. The median-running section of the Expo right-of-way ends just west of Western. Besides, the Expo right-of-way is a former Pacific Electric railroad right-of-way, superior to the former Gold Line Santa Fe railroad right-of-way. Even along the median running section of the Expo right-of-way, there are only a very few crossings. In fact, Vermont, Normandie, and Western are the only thru crossings in the median-running section. Then, what difference does it make whether it is median-running or not?
Question: Why is the Expo Line really designed 100% grade separated in the City of Culver City?
Answer: This statement is plain false, and it shows how misleading the campaign by FixExpo is. The Culver City alignment is almost 100% at-grade. After the Ballona Creek bridge, where you enter Culver City, the line immediately goes at-grade and stays at-grade until the Washington/National/Venice/Robertson aerial structure and station. The reason why there are no crossings there is because it’s just the way it is now, with the existing Southern Pacific tracks! (Note that the only existing crossing, which was National/Hayden, was able to be eliminated by a simple realignment of National Blvd.)
Question: Why are some Friends 4 Expo leaders really opposed to an overpass at Dorsey HS?
Friends 4 Expo is not opposed to an overpass. In fact Damien Goodmon is opposed to an overpass. (He is opposed to anything but a below-grade alignment.) Friends 4 Expo is recommending proceeding with the original gated at-grade alignment at Farmdale, because the engineering studies have proven its safety. Any other alteration on the original design will (1) delay the line for years at the least and (2) possibly potentially kill the project by creating a political mess by reopening the environmental study. Any alterations at Farmdale would reopen the environmental study. Opposition knows it very well and they know they could kill the project by creating a political chaos and demanding grade separation everywhere, and they have been using Damien Goodmon to achieve this. And Damien Goodmon has been using the opposition, in fact some of the most extreme NIMBYs, such as Colleen Mason Heller of Cheviot Hills, to achieve his goal of the Expo Line being buried in a trench. But the opposition knows well that this will not only bury the line in a trench but it will bury it in a grave, given the political chaos, doubling cost, and the loss of prestige of LACMTA in the eyes of the FTA.
Question: What is Section 4f of NEPA and how is it applicable here?
Answer: Section 4(f) is how Damien Goodmon is playing Johnnie Cochran as in the OJ case. If you believed Johnnie Cochran and think that OJ is innocent, you should also believe Damien Goodmon. In my opinion both Johnnie Cochran and OJ deserve the warmest spots in Hell. I won’t comment on Damien.
Question: What is segmentation and just how illegal is it?
Answer: Expo was divided into Phase 1 and Phase 2 segments to overcome the Cheviot Hills opposition by getting the line started and then solving the Cheviot Hills extreme NIMBY problem. Now that the Cheviot Hills problem has successfully been solved, the line will be built to Santa Monica. There is nothing illegal about it. Most rail lines are built in phases, just like the Expo Line.
Question: Which City Council Member and State Senator were pressuring CPUC Commissioner Timothy Simon to expedite the Expo Line CPUC proceedings?
Answer: Damien Goodmon hates Bernard Parks and thinks he is highly incompetent, but this is entirely personal. Senator Sheila Kuehl is opposed by all the NIMBYs, who think that they could stop the Expo Line and similar light-rail projects by using the California Public Utilities Commission processes. All she did was to remove the usual government red tape to make these processes more efficient.
Question: Who did Friends 4 Expo Co-Chair Darrell Clarke assault at the Santa Monica Civic Auditorium to warrant repeated expletives?
Answer: Wow, what a shame on Damien! I was standing right next to him and Darrell while they were arguing their views. Darrell said nothing wrong to provoke Damien. On the contrary Damien accused Darrell of killing children (!) Then, when Darrell asked Damien why he was accusing him of killing children, Damien started yelling the F word to him at the top of his lungs. He also yelled the F word to the Expo CEO Rick Thorpe. Darrell, a fine gentleman and intellectual, naturally got very upset and stopped talking. This was not the very kind and polite Damien I had met two years ago. Something happened to Damien, something bad.
Question: How is the Expo Line design environmental racism?
Answer: It is not. It’s being built to improve the neighborhoods it’s being built through, regardless of race and color, and to connect all these neighborhoods of different race and color together. On the contrary most of the NIMBYs who call the line ugly, inefficient, and unsafe are racist people, regardless of their own race or color. They just don’t want people of other races, whether black or white, to use their neighborhood to pass through or access it through a train station.
Trying to have said all the truth, I know very well beforehand that this post of mine on this blog will draw all the insults from Damien and therefore, I will not reply to him as a result.
As long as it takes to get the creaky wheels of government rolling, the wheels of the Expo project, at least Phase One, are now rolling. The money is in place, and the political support is in place.
You will never stop the wheels of bureaucracy from continuing on. The people in South Pasadena thought they could stop the Gold Line from being constructed. Thankfully, they did not.
But, they did get some compromises. They got sound walls. They got train horns pointed downward. They got quad crossing gates. They got pedestrian gates. All these things have helped. Exactly how many deaths have there been since the Gold Line started, almost five years ago? I thought so. The NIMBYs in So. Pas even took down their whining yellow signs about “no horns!” At this point, any resistance to the line in So. Pas has evaporated.
The Expo Authority has made these same compromises. Crossing gates, even human crossing guards. These should work. The EXPO line will become part of the city, and nobody will be able to imagine how we ever got along without it.