Upcoming fall subway extension meetings

Another day, another announcement about a Metro planning adventure. If you’ve enjoyed the meetings about the Crenshaw Corridor, the Wilshire Boulevard bus lanes, and the upcoming Regional Connector series, you’re sure to love the magnum opus of the next 30 years of public transit planning: the extension of the subway.
This time, Metro has changed the formats of the meeting. Now, instead of a general overview of the project, each meeting will focus on a minimal operating segment specific to the community. You’ll see what we mean, and as a refresher, the Census profiles for each segment will be included as something to keep in mind before heading to these hearings.
If you support the extension and are into the social networking thing, be a friend to the Metro Westside Subway Extension on Facebook.
All meetings are from 6 to 8 p.m.
Thursday, October 22
Santa Monica Public Library Multipurpose Room
601 Santa Monica Bl., Santa Monica
Transit access: Big Blue Bus lines 1, 2, 3/Rapid 3, 4, 5, 7/Rapid 7, 8, 9 and 10; and Metro lines 4, 20, 704, 720 and 920
Relevant stations: Wilshire/Bundy, Wilshire/26th, Wilshire/16th and Wilshire/4th
Study guide: Census profiles for Purple Line MOS-5 stations
Monday, October 26
Los Angeles County Museum of Art Terrace Room, fifth floor
5905 Wilshire Blvd., Los Angeles
Transit access: LADOT DASH Fairfax; and Metro lines 20, 28, 217, 720, 728, 780 and 920
Relevant stations: Wilshire/Crenshaw, Wilshire/La Brea and Wilshire/Fairfax
Study guides: Census profiles for Purple Line MOS-1 stations and the one that started it all: MetroRiderLA’s unimpeachable research that conclusively shows the merit of making the optional Crenshaw station a must-add. You can also see the representative buildings on Flickr.
Tuesday, November 3
Pacific Design Center
8687 Melrose Ave., West Hollywood
Transit access: LADOT DASH Hollywood/West Hollywood; Metro lines 4, 10, 14, 105, 220, 305, 550, 704, 705 and 714; and West Hollywood City Lines 1 and 2
Relevant stations: Hollywood/Highland II, Santa Monica/La Brea, Santa Monica/Fairfax, Santa Monica/San Vicente and Beverly Center
Study guides: Census profiles for Pink Line MOS-4 stations
Wednesday, November 4
Beverly Hills City Hall
455 N. Rexford Dr., Beverly Hills
Transit access: Metro lines 14, 16/316, 20, 714, 720 and 920
Relevant stations: Wilshire/La Cienega and Wilshire/Beverly (MOS-2)
Study guides: Census profiles for Purple Line MOS-2 stations
Thursday, November 5
Wadsworth Theatre
11301 Wilshire Blvd., West Los Angeles
Transit access: Big Blue Bus lines 2 and 3; and Metro lines 20 and 720
Relevant stations: Century City, Westwood, VA Hospital and Wilshire/Barrington
Study guides: Census profiles for Purple Line MOS-3 stations
Discussion
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Please keep discussions civil: exercise Troll Controll.




It’s nice to see that the plans are coming along for the Westside, but I noticed a GLARING omission: there is no proposal for a subway under Vermont Avenue South of Wilshire Boulevard. I was in Los Angeles for Labor Day weekend, and had some time to look at the 204/754 combo on Vermont Avenue on a Saturday-the buses were going past Vermont SB packed to the gills. If this is a normal occurence, then it may be well past the time to think,and start to plan for a Vermont Avenue subway line, which may be operated either as a north=south line from North Hollywood, or something originating from one of the West Side alternate routes for the Purple line. If you want more commentary from me on this, e-mail me at
How about a subway on Broadway? I think the heavy traffic is proof enough that the corridor would be a success.
Michael, you are right about the Vermont subway. Unfortunately, the wealthier African Americans in the Crenshaw corridor have pressured the politicians to move their light rail line up Crenshaw Blvd. as a top priority at the expense of the Vermont subway. Vermont is the second highest bus ridership corridor after Wilshire with Western the next major street to the West being the third busiest corridor.
On the Westside subway, I noticed on Metro’s site for MOS #3, they did not list Barrington as a possible station and instead just had the VA Hospital. I hope they did not already make a decision to go with the VA at the expense of Barrington. This is a huge mistake as the VA has little built in ridership (the hospital would provide a few riders I suppose). Barrington would serve the dense neighborhood of office towers and apartment buildings while still being close enough to the VA to walk there in about 10 minutes or less. If the station is at the VA, you are missing out on all of the population of that neighborhood, although I suppose a few people at its Eastern edge would walk to the VA station.
Matt: The VA location is ideal because the land is available and there will be plenty of parking. This is important because MOS#3 will be the western terminus of subway for a LONG time (MOS#4 is the West Hollywood leg). Basically, Metro is (correctly) predicting that people from Santa Monica and large swath of LA west of 405 will use the park & ride lot at VA hospital station.
When MOS#5 is completed, there will be a station between Bundy and Barrington, which will take care of the need of the Brentwood adjacent (aka “condo hell”) neighborhood. And even after MOS#5 opens, parking demand will still be significant as people will probably drive in from the Valley and park at the VA. Basically, Metro looked at how people will get to the subway station near the 405 and concluded that they will drive… which is not that surprising.
bzcat,
VA parking may be nice, but there are a few problems. One, this is VA land, not MTA land. The VA must have land uses that serve veterans, which a parking lot for a subway station does not. There is a possibility of using the corner at the SE intersection of Federal and Wilshire, which does not have this deed restriction.
The other big problem is that Wilshire is completely jammed in this area, especially when you get close to the 405 and the VA. Not saying it is the wrong choice, but it isn’t so simple. Even if there is parking here, I’m sure it will not be free as the VA would have to be paid along with any type of structure.
If it is the VA, I would say that the SE corner would be ideal with a multi-portal entrance across federal so the neighborhood and high rises on Wilshire can be served effectively as well.