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Assemblyman Sebastian Ridley-Thomas, with Metro Board Chair Diane Du Bois, Lakewood City Councilperson.
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Mr. Ridley-Thomas, second from left, is next to Yvonne Brathwaite Burke, whom his father, Mark, ninth from left, succeeded on the Board of Supervisors. U.S. Rep. Karen Bass (D-Culver City), 14th from left. Photos, Fred MacFarlane.
The hour between 9 and 10 yesterday morning, at the intersection of Crenshaw and Exposition boulevards, bulged with intensely personal ironies.
Getting the jump on City Hall and federal politicians a few feet away celebrating, with clean minds, the groundbreaking for the Crenshaw-to-LAX light rail, Damien Goodmon – to wide media coverage led his Crenshaw Subway Coalition members in a stinging litany of protests that he hoped singed the reddening ears of the nearby pols.
The 31-year-old Mr. Goodmon left no doubt where he placed the main blame for the Crenshaw District’s failure – so far – to win approval for putting 11 blocks of the light rail underground for safety and to spare disrupting or ruining black businesses along this corridor in Park Mesa Heights.
He unequivocally faults County Supervisor Mark Ridley-Thomas.
“This is his district,” said Mr. Goodmon. “He has had five years on the Board and has done nothing to help us.”
His withering critique of Mr. Ridley-Thomas is familiar to followers of the executive director of the Crenshaw Subway Coalition. Mr. Goodmon has done everything but sink to his knees to convince Mr. Ridley-Thomas, as a member of the powerful Metro Board and of the Board of Supes, that his influence and assistance are desperately needed by his old neighbors.
How ironic, then, to walk one block south on Crenshaw, to the Rodeo Road intersection where state Assemblyman Sebastian Ridley-Thomas (D-Culver City/Crenshaw) was crossing the street with his new senior deputy Vincent Harris.
Mr. Ridley-Thomas was en route to the groundbreaking, where he joined his father, other members of the Board of Supes, Mayor Garcetti, U.S. Secretary of Transportation Anthony Foxx, U.S. Reps. Karen Bass (D-Culver City) and Maxine Waters (D-Southwest Los Angeles) among dozens of others.
Shrugging off protests a block away by members of the Young Black Contractors Assn., Inc., that they were being bypassed for 100 promised construction jobs, the upbeat Mr. Ridley-Thomas told the newspaper:
“I am here to celebrate the jobs that are coming along the Crenshaw corridor, to make sure we have a first class, world-renowned, well-regarded, decently functioning transportation system that links the airport to the rest of the city.”
Mr. Ridley-Thomas was asked if the sought-after 11-block underground rail will happen.
“The construction will happen,” he said, “and we will make sure we have jobs in this community and begin the jobs renaissance I promised during my (recent) campaign.”
