First of two parts
Under the no-nonsense baton of young entrepreneur Damien Goodmon, black South Los Angeles Advocates for a Sensible Light Rail Line — organized for a change — have issued a warning to the sometimes-swaggering, always unwieldy, supremely confident Metro transportation board:
Fair treatment in revisiting and sharply enhancing the Crenshaw Light Rail Line- to-LAX — or they will sue to gum up, or at least stall, the works.
Specifically, they declared at their organizing meeting last night, they demand to be treated as favorably as the perceived Midtown/Westside clientele of kingmaking board members Zev Yaroslavsky and Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, who flamboyantly deserted the Crenshaw cause at the pivotal May 26 Metro Board meeting.
The South Los Angeles group has two objectives:
• To restore the underground tunnel through Park Mesa Heights’ school/business-lined district, and
• A light rail station in Leimert Park, the bosom of the “last African-American corridor in Los Angeles.”
(In the next installment, safety distinctions between above and below ground rails, and years of virtually ingrown racial bias against South Los Angeles will be examined.)
At the rousing introductory meeting at a Crenshaw Boulevard bank, Mr. Goodmon brought together about 75 advocates who resolved vocally, and they said fiscally, to correct the asserted two grievances slapped on their community at the stormy May Metro meeting.
The fiery tone of the evening was that the needed funds to accomplish their two goals — $400 million — are definitely findable. The problem: Will is deliberately lacking, especially in what members believe are the conniving hearts of Mr. Villaraigosa, who controls four of the 13 votes, and Mr. Yaroslavsky, the board’s powerful chief wand-waver.
During a spirited but tightly run, closely focused 90-minute meeting, Mr. Goodmon, who has spent the past four years on South Los Angeles grievances with the Expo Light Rail, emphasized discipline and urgency in this newest campaign.
This was no pep rally or cheerleader tryout.
The agenda was snug, and the speaking tightly knit, aimed only at the calendar, the clock and the community.
Time was quite short, said Mr. Goodmon, the community organizer.
With the Final Environmental Impact Report on the Crenshaw corridor line due on Sept. 22, and the 30 days thereafter allotted for public response, Mr. Goodmon briefed his troops on the fundamentals of countering the anticipated unfavorable news with a lawsuit.
They would like to challenge the FEIR by hiring the state’s No. 1 attorney expert team on CEQA law, the California Environmental Quality Act.
Mr. Goodmon calculated the lofty price will be in the half-million-dollar neighborhood, with at least $25,000 down. That means creative and nonstop fundraising, he said, starting with the moment a gentleman named Ted, toward the rear of the room, stood and pledged $100 immediately and monthly until their goal is achieved. Donors will be honored and listed as “Friends of the Crenshaw Coalition.”
After a dozen fundraising and outreach ideas were identified, a woman asked Mr. Goodmon about structure of their group, evidently looking for a pacesetting committee to join.
“Rosa Parks did not wait for a committee to be formed,” said Mr. Goodmon, who was not even born until a quarter-century after her bus-sitting turned her into a worldwide heroine.
Looking into the separate, excited faces of his audience, he sought to empower them individually and collectively to make the underground tunnel and Leimert Park station a history conquering campaign.
