The Crenshaw Subway Coalition — a community group that filed a lawsuit against the MTA last month for allegedly failing to appropriately plan the $1.7 billion Crenshaw-LAX Light Rail Line – held a standing-room-only meeting last night.
The crowd of 150 residents, merchants, property owners, parents and stakeholders were drawn by the theme of the evening, How to Win the Battle for Crenshaw, the largest public works project in the history of South Los Angeles.
Also in the audience were deputies of U.S. Rep. Karen Bass, Assemblyman Mike Davis and Los Angeles City Councilman Bernard Parks.
For the Crenshaw Subway Coalition, the future of Crenshaw Boulevard is heavily dependent on two changes in the current plans for the line:
Adding a station at Leimert Park Village, the African-American cultural center of the region, and undergrounding the planned 11- block street-level segment on Crenshaw, from 48th to 59th Street in the Park Mesa Heights community. The street-level segment would travel through the last African-American business corridor in Southern California, requiring significant roadway changes that would have severe impacts during construction and jeopardize long-term revitalization opportunities.
At the May 26 MTA board meeting, board member Mark Ridley-Thomas, a County Supervisor, offered a motion to make the two changes to the project, but it failed by a vote of 10 to 3.
The Day It Fell Apart
Blame for its failure has been placed primarily on Mayor Villaraigosa, who controls four votes on the MTA board. Seven votes were needed for passage.
“Over 600 people, including all of the major clergy, civil rights, business and community leaders in black Los Angeles, were united in our request for a Leimert Park Village station and tunnel in Park Mesa Heights at the May MTA meeting,” said Winnifred Jackson.
She is the president of Hyde Park Organizational Partnership for Empowerment (HOPE) and a Crenshaw Subway Coalition board member. “All of the elected officials of South L.A. were on board — except Mayor Villaraigosa.”
Since the May meeting, the Crenshaw Subway Coalition has publicly expressed two major components of their strategy to achieve their objective: suing the MTA, and requesting elected officials be held accountable for identifying more resources to add to the project. Last night’s meeting was held to reveal the third component of the coalition’s strategy— directly engaging the contractors to encourage them to submit a bid for the project that includes both the Park Mesa Heights tunnel and the Leimert Park Village station, and asking MTA to make the tunnel an option in the current environmental document by adopting “The People’s Motion.”
Station’s Future Is Hazy
With respect to the contractor's bids, we believe that in this very competitive construction environment there are reputable firms that are willing to submit a responsible bid for a Crenshaw-LAX Line that has both a Leimert Park station and a Park Mesa Heights tunnel.
Regarding the tunnel being an “option,” right now the Leimert Park Village station is in limbo. The door still is open for it because it is an option and contractors are submitting bids on its cost. The Park Mesa Heights tunnel is not in such a position. Because the tunnel is not an option and bids are not being requested, even if additional resources are identified or construction bids come in extremely low, it could not be integrated into the project. The People’s Motion changes that.
“MTA shut the door on the Park Mesa Heights tunnel when they approved the project without having it as an option,” said Linda Ricks, secretary of the Crenshaw Subway Coalition and chair of the Crenshaw/Slauson CRA Community Advisory Council. “That is a big part of the reason we’re suing them.
“We are asking the elected officials of South LA who sit on the MTA board — Mayor Villaraigosa and Supervisor Ridley-Thomas — to re-open that door right now by pushing for the People’s Motion.”
At last night’s meeting the audience listened to excerpts from the Mayor’s statement at the pivotal May 26 MTA meeting. His comments seem to indicate the Mayor may support the People’s Motion. While the Mayor stated and voted against additional resources being added to the Crenshaw-LAX Line that would guarantee a Leimert Park Village station and Park Mesa Heights tunnel, generating a strong outcry in the South L.A. community, he did say he would support the tunnel if it could be built within the project budget:
“Now with respect to the undergrounding, I do not believe that undergrounding, as proposed here, is an appropriate policy decision to do. I do not believe that. But if we could do that within the amount of money here, given that we’re looking at maybe 25 to 30 percent lower bids over the last few years, although I’m not supportive of it as a public policy decision, not every decision we make is based on public policy. So Mr. Ridley-Thomas, if you would accept that as an amendment, hopefully friendly, I would be willing to get behind it.”
As I said earlier, this is the first of several necessary steps needed to protect and enhance the future of Crenshaw with respect to this project. We hope that as Mayor Villaraigosa considers supporting the People’s Motion, he will remember that he stands on the shoulders of Tom Bradley.
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The excerpt of the Mayor’s quote can be heard at: www.crenshawsubway.org/multimedia/mrt-motion-mayor-friendly.mp3
The full excerpt of the Mayor’s opening statement can be heard at: www.crenshawsubway.org/multimedia/mrt-motion-mayor-opening.mp3
The text of the People’s Motion is available along with this release at: www.crenshawsubway.org/2011/11/peoples-motion
Crenshaw Subway Coalition began as a part of a coordinated effort with the Citizens’ Campaign to Fix the Expo Rail Line (Fix Expo) and it branched out to become an independent nonprofit in mid-2011.
Mr. Goodmon, journalist/community organizer, may be contacted at dg@crenshawsubway.org
