GETTING THERE FROM HERE - Whether it’s light rail, parking policies, freeway widening, or any other transportation initiatives, courage and commitment and flexibility are necessary to proceed from the planning process to actual implementation, and (to their credit), Westchester and the leadership of Don Knabe, Bill Rosendahl and Ted Lieu are showing just that with their support of the Hindry station as part of the future Crenshaw/LAX Light Rail Line.
The ability of Westchester to show flexibility and courage in reconsidering the Hindry station, with all its flaws but also its eminent affordability, demonstrates the willingness of that community to have access to the growing LA County MetroRail network. Not all communities have been so open to the at-grade but cost-effective and necessary features that ensures this rail station gets built, and Westchester deserves credit where it is due.
There are some who claim that certain wealthy or politically-connected communities get better treatment with respect to public spending and grade separation, but to date this hasn't been the case with respect to Metro's projects. But don’t take my word for it—just feel free to ask Beverly Hills and Cheviot Hills residents if they’ve been given any sweetheart deals with respect to the future Wilshire and Exposition rail projects.
While the Crenshaw/LAX Metro team deserves our ongoing support in their efforts to build the Crenshaw/LAX Line Project (with all of its daunting political, financial and engineering challenges), it remains a disappointment that we did not know the full cost and challenges of building the station at Manchester/Aviation (not $40 million, but $80 million!) until 1-2 months before the final EIR was approved by the Metro Board.
I just hope that Mayor Villaraigosa, and the rest of the Metro Board, gives Westchester some credit and supports Supervisor Don Knabe’s motion to include the $18 million Hindry station in the bidding process for potential contractors to design and build the Crenshaw/LAX Project. The motion sailed through Metro’s Construction Committee, and deserves to sail by the full Metro Board as well.
It bears repeating that Westchester deserves credit where it is due: considering that Westchester was willing to give Metro a huge break and allow the rail yard to be built there without a fight (unlike other Westside and South Bay cities who promised a big fight were it to be built within their boundaries), it’s probably also true that Westchester would have thought things through and pushed for the Hindry station to be included in the final EIR had all the engineering and cost issues for a Manchester/Aviation station been sufficiently announced in a timely manner.
As it stands, only now do Westchester and the Westside know the full story of building a Westchester station, and it has quickly shown the same flexibility and cooperation as it did when it allowed Metro to build the controversial rail yard in Westchester. Whether it’s Supervisor Knabe’s motion, LA City Councilman Bill Rosendahl’s petition effort to support that motion, or any support from State Senator Ted Lieu at the state level, it is clear that both assertiveness and accommodation are the way things get done in the Westside to get rail closer to LAX.
Similarly, the CD11 Transportation Advisory Committee voted in favor of the Hindry station last week, merely 2-3 months after it voted to favor the elevated Manchester/Aviation station over the Hindry station because the Committee, as with the rest of Westchester and the Westside, did not know the full $80 million cost or the full engineering problems of building the Westchester station at Manchester/Aviation.
Does the Hindry station option have its own challenges? Certainly, but I have no question that the same Westside political and grassroots network can extend the transit-friendly environment at Manchester/Aviation to Hindry/Florence through rezoning, encouragement of development, and the creation of a Greenway to beautify the rail right of way near Hindry and make this station a first-rate, quality station to provide greater Westside access to MetroRail.
We cannot build a light rail line with a 3.5 mile gap between stations and deny Westchester and neighboring western Inglewood access to this taxpayer-funded public works project. Similarly, we cannot have a Green Line and a LAX People Mover to allow mass transit access to the largest international airport on the West Coast.
The Westside political/grassroots teamwork that helped plan and pass Measure R (including the efforts of the late state senator Jenny Oropeza and the Green Line Coalition to create a Green Line that accessed LAX and the Westside) will certainly be equally energetic in extending the Green Line and creating a LAX People Mover rail line to enhance the mobility and economic health of the LAX/Century Blvd. commercial corridor and region.
But it starts first with a quality, first-rate Crenshaw/LAX Light Rail Project, one that with future northern and southern extensions will connect the Wilshire Subway to the Mid-City, Westside and LAX regions to the South Bay and perhaps even San Pedro and the ports. And if Westchester and the Westside are willing to be accommodating and open-minded, then Metro deserves to be equally accommodating and open-minded.
It’s pragmatic and realistic for Westchester and adjacent communities to now fight for a light rail station at Hindry, and it’s equally pragmatic and realistic for the Metro Board to be show Westchester the respect and credit it deserves as we all work our way to building the best MetroRail system possible.
(Ken Alpern is a former Boardmember of the Mar Vista Community Council (MVCC), previously co-chaired its Planning and Outreach Committees, and currently is Vice Chair of its MVCC Transportation/Infrastructure Committee. He is co-chair of the CD11 Transportation Advisory Committee and chairs the nonprofit Transit Coalition, and can be reached at [email protected]. He also co-chairs the grassroots Friends of the Green Line at www.fogl.us. The views expressed in this article are solely those of Mr. Alpern.) –cw
Tags: Crenshaw, LAX, Crenshaw/LAX Line, CD 11, Westchester, Westside, Hindry Station
CityWatch
Vol 9 Issue 93
Pub: Nov 22, 2011
