Answers, Answers — Anyone Here Heard from the MTA?

Three light rail officials assured their miniature audience that their immediately unanswerable questions would receive replies within hours, days at the most. The Overland Avenue specialist is not alone in her plight.

“I don’t know of anyone else at the meeting who has received answers,” Dr. Anderson said.

The Way MTA Practices?

Turning skeptical, she added, “I believe this is par for the course.”

She and her neighbors are bothered by aspects of the so-called temporary light rail terminal on Westly Street, which may or may not be built instead of a more expensive Washington/National facility.

Reality is a separate consideration.

“No,” Dr. Anderson says, frankly, she does not think a Westly station will be built — but in case it is, she wants answers.

Counting the Reasons

“The temporary station is not a good solution, and there are a number of reasons for that,” she said. “We need a station that really represents Culver City, the gateway into Culver City.

“The elevated station (at Washington/National) that originally was proposed, from where the light rail would head off to Santa Monica, would achieve that with the development surrounding it.

Wrong Answer

“The temporary station, in my opinion, would not. And why would it? The MTA does not plan to invest many aesthetic qualities into the neighborhood.”

The proposed Westly station, Dr. Anderson said, does not come close to showing off Culver City at its best.

Besides aesthetics and safety concerns, parking is the third large problem with the temporary station, she says. “Parking seems to be the biggest problem city-wide, connecting with new developments,” she said.

Where to Put Cars

“When you ask the MTA, ‘How are you going to accommodate the parking, they answer cheerfully, ‘Oh, the parking will be on the Expo line right-of-way.’ And I said, ‘You mean the one where we are going to build the station later?’ And they say, ‘Yeah.’

“So I said, ‘Meanwhile, what do you do with the parking before you build (the elevated station) in 5 years?’ “

Simultaneously, Dr. Anderson’s eyes and facial expression widened as disbelief beckoned.

La Cienega an Option?

“That begs the question, What is MTA thinking? They complain about not having money. Yet they are going to spend millions of dollars on a temporary station?

“Come on.

“Either keep the light rail at La Cienega, which is not all that far, or do it right the first time in Culver City, the way it should be.”