First in a series
[img]1929|right|Mr. Goodmon||no_popup[/img]On this fourth morning after the MTA Board’s darkly disappointing decision last Thursday to daintily skirt a showdown vote on an 11-block light rail tunnel at the southerly end of the Crenshaw Boulevard-to-LAX line, leaders of the Crenshaw Subway Coalition and their allies remain dazed but unbowed.
They say they are just as grittily determined to pursue their longtime target as they were before the Metro Board again dashed their hopes for underground tracks through a key portion of Crenshaw Boulevard.
Construction of the line – that will take five years – is scheduled to start next year. Crenshaw leaders passionately want to have the mile-long stretch of light rail placed underground for the safety of nearby elementary school children and because of the interminable disruptions of the businesses that line both sides of the densely traveled boulevard.
There is no doubt that Damien Goodmon, Executive Director of the Crenshaw Subway Coalition, and the tier of leaders in the 300-person pro-tunnel party that turned out at Metro – from the NAACP, the Southern Christian Leadership Conference and the business world – felt most let down by Board member Mark Ridley-Thomas, along with Board CEO Art Leahy. Mr. Ridley-Thomas represents their section of South Los Angeles on the influential County Board of Supervisors and the MTAS Board. More than almost anyone else, the Crenshaw neighborhood’s years’ long tunnel dreams have been pinned brightly to Mr. Ridley-Thomas’s lapels.
How Could This Happen?
Mr. Goodmon, the most visible South Los Angeles leader on the project, was unstinting in his reaction and in denouncing the Board’s refusal to act on one bidder’s contention the tunnel could be built within budget, contrary to claims.
“What the people witnessed on Thursday was a total abdication of the Metro Board’s responsibility to hear the concerns of the community of the South L.A. elected officials – and to hold for 11 months and fail to ask the hard questions of staff,” he said.
Months ago, Mr. Goodmon and his allies learned that – contrary to public posturing by the Board – one of the four contractors bidding to build the line told the Metro staff that the tunnel could be included within the allotted budget.
“For 11 months,” Mr. Goodmon said, “staff has known that at least one of the four bidders said this could be done. “At least one. It might be two. But at least one.
‘Of Course Metro Knew’
“The only way we had fleshed that out was that we had privately learned about it through an MTA whistleblower a few months ago. If we knew about it that long ago, you know that certain Board members were contacted about it.
“We finally got to the point where Metro’s staff report admitted, admitted three of the four (contractor) finalists requested to bid it. We have confirmed that at least one of the three put a number to it.”
One haunting mystery of this scenario is that the equally hard sought Leimert Park Village Station, approved in May by the Board, will cost twice as much to build as the tunnel, $120 million to $60 million.
What is going on? The question not only remains unanswered but, typically, ducked.
At 9 o’clock on the morning after the Leimert Park Station was approved, there was a civic celebration in the park, and two of the smilingest faces belonged to Mr. Ridley-Thomas and former Mayor Villaraigosa, spending his first full day as a termed-out mayor.
But on that May morning, both officials were hailed as heroes. They took bows. Last Thursday, Mr. Villaraigosa, the most powerful member, controlling four votes, and Mr. Ridley-Thomas made it clear that given presumed fiscal constraints, they saw no need to go underground for the 11-block stretch.
(To be continued)
