MetroRiderLA

Reports are coming in about a horrible Metrolink crash in the SFV.  As of 9:10pm, reports are that the outbound 111, departing Union Station for Moorpark at 3:35pm, had a head-on collision with a freight train in Chatsworth.  Injured passengers are being taken as far as the UCLA hospital in Westwood.  Mayor Villaraigosa is reporting “at least 10 fatalities” but all authorities are anticipating that number to rise.

It’s too early to figure out what happened, but I was honestly shocked to see that the tracks are single-tracked through that section - there was a local community member being interviewed on saying that Metrolink wanted to double-track through the area, but the neighborhood opposed it.  I truly hope to G-d that I misheard that.

I was having coffee in Silverlake after it happened and saw numerous fire trucks and ambulances heading west down Sunset; presumably, they were heading to Chatsworth.

This incident is being reported internationally: LA Times, New York Times, Boston Globe, BBC, ha’Aretz, Xinhua.

I’ll try to update this as more knowledge becomes available.  Right now the news is showing the search dogs coming onto the scene and is otherwise recycling the already-known information.

[Update 9:27pm] KABC is reporting that residents did, indeed, oppose the double-tracking of this area of the tracks because “more train tracks mean more collisions.”  The illogic of that statement is just astounding, and I find myself hoping that they never get a good night’s sleep again.  If KABC’s reporting is accurate (they’re speaking somewhat imprecisely), NIMBYs have gone from simply opposing rail lines to killing people.

[Update 9:40pm] Metrolink is providing information for people who may be looking for those who may have been involved in the incident:

Family Assistance Center for families of passengers at Chatsworth High School 8538 De Soto Avenue. The hotline number at the Chatsworth High School Family Assistance Center is (818) 678-3422. 

Family members of passengers on board train 111, please call (800) 371-LINK for information.

Tonight at the lovely Santa Monica Library, Metro formally revealed the plan for the Subway to the Sea.

Of the alternatives examined in the previous round of scoping, Alternatives 1 and 11 survived.  The BRT option was killed for lack of capacity, all non-subway options were killed for lack of capacity, cost, or lack of local support, and the diversion up to the Grove was killed because, in their analysis, the increase in travel time would create a decrease in ridership.  I speak for myself alone when I say that I tend to agree, based on what they showed us.  They’re correct in saying that a long train can’t turn on a dime, and the difficulties inherent in trying to make the sharp turns onto Fairfax, Beverly, and then back onto La Cienega, add time and cost an otherwise easy route.  Follow below the flip for a lengthy report.

Note that they didn’t yet have handouts for the project, so I may be in error here, and will update tomorrow if so. (more…)

With all apologies to General Douglas MacArthur.

[Note: This post in no way reflects the opinion of Fred of MetroRiderLA, of Metro, of Build Expo, of the Expo Construction Authority, or of my parents' dog.]

The LA Times’s Bottleneck Blog reports today that the Build Expo people (Metro Expo Line Construction Authority) have been forced to hire Dakota Communications, who is apparently a long-time player in Los Angeles politics.

Translation: An over-inflated “community activist” in the proud line of people like the BRU’s Eric Mann (need I even start?) has forced the Expo Line to waste money debating a point that in any other city would not be debating post-EIR and scoping.

The arguments have been rehashed endlessly.  I think the majority of readers on this site understand why the Expo Line isn’t a danger, why it isn’t going to be a lean, mean killing machine, and why every other city with LRT is happy to have LRT running through populated areas.  So I’m not going to flog that poor, dead horse.

To quote the illustrious Damien Goodmon:

“The Expo Authority will say anything they can to get the crossing built at street level,” Goodmon added. “Sheriff’s deputies were posted on the Blue Line and then taken off. They reduced speeds on the Gold Line and then brought them back up. The only permanent guarantee for students’ safety is a grade separation.”

That paragraph struggles to be comprehensible.

“Sheriff’s deputies were posted on the Blue Line and then taken off.”

Huh?  Do you mean because of “crime?”  Well, that’s what you do - you rotate law enforcement officers where they are needed.  I think everyone who rides the Blue Line realizes that it’s safe.

“They reduced speeds on the Gold Line and then brought them back up.”

Huh?  Do you mean the Marmion Way stretch?  I’m working from the fact that Goodmon’s sentence was incomprehensible, so you’ll excuse my confusion, but from what I can understand, that’s because they identified a way to get some improved speeds there without causing problems.  That’s a bad thing… why?  Metro takes a problem, identifies it, throws resources at it, and then solves it?  Am I to understand that Damien Goodmon opposes the concept of a government agency actually being effective?

Er, I owe sincere apologies to that dead horse I just whipped.

Having said that, in the political environment in which we sit, where Gov’nah Ahnold has promised to veto all bills until a budget is passed, it’s past time to stop fighting about this.  The future of transit in Los Angeles is at stake.  Goodmon has already muscled the County into giving more process than is required, and this is going to the PUC next week.  Let the PUC hear this case and move on.  Los Angeles needs to focus its advocacy on getting Measure R to the County ballot and developing transit plans for the 21st century, plans that should have been drafted 50 years ago, but are at least better late than never.

Mediation is generally a private matter, but I think it’s telling that apparently the Federal Court mediation has failed - Damien Goodmon isn’t trying to protect the “children” at Dorsey and Foshay; Damien Goodmon is trying to kill this project.

Who needs the BRU, when we have someone willing to act as a voluntary spokesman for Cheviot Hills NIMBYs?

I’ll never understand LA. Not that it’s a bad thing - there’s a lot of things I’ll never understand, like why Ben & Jerry’s Phish Food is just that good. But really, some things just don’t make sense. The big “this makes no sense” in LA is the fact that people seem to forget that this is a major city. I’m sorry, guys, this ain’t Des Moines. With all apologies to Des Moines.

The LA Times this weekend had a couple of articles that you could only describe as “idiotic.” The best one: Letting Gridlock Loose on LA. Money quote:

During the hour-and-20-minute ride, she reads, sleeps or stares out the window, watching miles of motorists stuck on the freeway. Then, she becomes one of them.

At Union Station, Reliford heads for a parking lot where she has left a second car. She ventures onto the freeways for the final 15-mile, hourlong journey to Santa Monica, where she manages library services for MTV Networks.

My first response: What the fuck?! Why not take the BBB#10?! The fare would HAVE to be cheaper than keeping a second car at Union Station! I’m stunned!. And even if she’s going to respond “The #10 doesn’t run late,” well, the #720 runs until after your last Metrolink train, no matter what line you’re on!

My second response: Live closer to your job, for chrissakes!

My third response: This is the only city that I’ve lived in that is consistently opposed to economic development! Anywhere else would be happy to have more jobs, more opportunities, more revenue, a more prosperous city. But in LA, because people are obsessed with being able to drive their car at all times, at any speed, at no cost, we strangle our own economy.

It’s crazy and infuriating. Honestly, I sometimes think that SoCal voters are, on the whole, idiots. Between Proposition 13 and preventing money from being spent on subway construction, people seem to think they can have it all - they can have good jobs, a good economy, a major city with all of its benefits, and yet have no traffic and perpetually subsidized highways, all while refusing to tax themselves. Frankly, you get what you pay for, and SoCal, up until recently, has chosen to pay nothing - in response, we get nothing.

If you want to have a major urban city, be prepared to pay for it, to pay for transit improvements, to deal with non-stop construction, to deal with traffic, to pay to live closer to your job. On the other hand, if all of that annoys you, well, I hear Des Moines is nice

Photo courtesy of redpopaccidents.

The Metro Board has formally approved new Metro fare gates in order to discourage new ridership and confuse current riders.

New Metro fare gates will require prospective muggers, terrorists, and other unwashed patrons to buy a ticket before descending upon defenseless commuters. Al Qaeda, flush with oil revenue from Iraq, decides that LA’s subway fare is too expensive to warrant terrorism and decides to barbecue pork rinds instead.

(sorry, I couldn’t even try to be serious with this one, the logic is too ludicrous.)

Eric over at blogdowntown has posted the various models for the Downtown Connector, as well as readable images.

Most alternatives run at grade through Downtown on 2nd Street, with 2 and a half of them largely or entirely subway operations. Metro says that a full subway route would require losing the Little Tokyo station, which seems to be somewhat deleterious. The “compromise” plan seems to be Alternative #5, which would run underground until the last moment at Alameda Street. It’s not perfect, but speaking personally and not for this site, I have to say that #5 is the best alternative, although Alternative #6 appears to create a “compromise” station near Astronaut Onizuka, which may be a suitable replacement. That, and my paycheck will suffer severely due to easy access to Kinokuniya, but thankfully Metro isn’t my accountant.Either way, it sounds like a fairly big mess.

(hat tip to Eric Richardson - thanks for posting this information for those of us who were/are unable to attend the meetings.)