[Editor’s Note: Mr. Goodman is Executive Director of the Crenshaw Subway Coalition.]
[img]1823|left|Mr. Goodmon||no_popup[/img]After a detailed examination of the candidates, including closed-door interviews with both Eric Garcetti and Wendy Greuel, the community group that has led the advocacy efforts for a Leimert Park Village Station and 11-block Crenshaw Boulevard tunnel on the Crenshaw-LAX light rail line has released their scorecard of the two mayoral candidates ahead of Tuesday’s runoff.
The Crenshaw Subway Coalition grades both Mr. Garcetti and Ms. Greuel “A-” on the Leimert Park Village Station.
On the 11-block Crenshaw Boulevard tunnel, Mr. Garcetti receives a “C” and Ms. Greuel a “B+.”
It is important to note that the MTA Board is scheduled to decide the fate of the Leimert Park station at their June 27 meeting, which is before the next Mayor takes office (on July 1).
Their positions on the station may be moot. The more revealing question regarding the candidates’ willingness to put their political capital on the line for the Crenshaw community is where do they stand on the 11-block Crenshaw tunnel.
If the MTA does not fund the station on June 27, the issue falls into the lap of the next mayor.
Both appear committed to making the Leimert Park station happen if it doesn’t in June. But there are key differences in Ms. Greuel’s and Mr. Garcetti’s written positions on the tunnel.
Plenty for Next Mayor
Regardless of the June decision, mayoral leadership will be needed to make the Crenshaw Boulevard tunnel a reality to prevent MTA’s current street-level plan, from 48th Street to 59th Street, from going into effect.
The current MTA/Mayor Villaraigosa plan would remove over 308 parking spaces, turn Crenshaw Boulevard into a four- or five-year construction zone, chop down all the mature median trees, erect prison-like fences along the corridor, close several streets and left turns, and impose a severe safety hazard with 225-ton trains operating at 35 mph down the boulevard, directly in front of community schools.
The Coalition asserts that the street-level plan would irreparably harm L.A.’s last black business corridor, jeopardize community economic revitalization plans that are decades in the making and imperil the lives of schoolchildren.
The mayor has a seat, three appointees and considerable clout on the 13-member MTA Board. In May 2011, despite the unanimous support of local black elected officials, thousands of petitions and letters, and the presence of 600 community, clergy, civil rights, and labor leaders, Mayor Villaraigosa used his four votes to oppose a motion that would have added funds to the line to underground the 11-block section, generating the ire of the black community. The measure failed to pass by four votes.
Flipping the four mayoral votes from No to Yes is critical to the success of our effort to protect and enhance Crenshaw Boulevard. On that front, Ms. Greuel states she will “champion the effort,” while Mr. Garcetti, who has provided vocal support in public forums, has equivocated in writing.
Mr. Garcetti has said in multiple community forums that he “supports undergrounding the line,” but when the Coalition requested he put his verbal statements in writing, the candidate added several conditions that he did not include in his previous statements at forums.
Going Wobbly?
In a letter sent to the Garcetti campaign in response to the candidate’s May 1 letter, the Coalition stated Mr. Garcetti’s conditions on the Crenshaw Boulevard tunnel read as “out-clauses” that are particularly concerning because they are “identical to the unfounded excuses our Coalition has received for nearly two years by Mayor Villaraigosa.”
As we clearly articulated, this is solely an issue of political will – nothing else.
The Coalition said Mr. Garcetti’s hesitation to champion the cause for the tunnel is particularly concerning in the context of the candidate’s broader transportation agenda, which calls for putting a transit tax on the ballot again, similar to recently defeated Measure J, with a reduced passage threshold.
We feel strongly, as we did with respect to Measure J, that if South L.A. residents are going to be asked to pay additional taxes to improve and expedite tens of billions of transit and highway project dollars in every other part of the county, at a minimum, Crenshaw should receive an 11-block tunnel and station at Leimert Park Village that would cost far less than one-half of 1 percent of the tax revenue.
Both candidates sat down separately with 20 of the core leaders and advisors of the Crenshaw Subway Coalition, key people who have endorsed one of the candidates and remain neutral, yet are united on the community’s demand for a station and 11-block tunnel.
The group included former elected officials, former candidates, economic development professionals, transit development professionals, business leaders, civil rights leaders and activists.
The candidates' letters, along with the Coalition's response to Mr. Garcetti's May 1 letter, are downloadable at www.crenshawsubway.org/docs/mayoralcandidateletters.pdf
The candidates' verbal statements are viewable at www.youtube.com/crenshawsubway
For information about the Crenshaw Subway Coalition, see www.CrenshawSubway.org
Mr. Goodmon may be contacted at dg@crenshawsubway.org
