Influential community groups, stakeholders and rail safety advocates are cautiously optimistic about news that MTA has secured a $546 million loan from the federal government to accelerate the construction of the $1.6 billion Crenshaw-LAX light rail line.
Concerns are centered on the one-mile segment of the line on Crenshaw Boulevard currently planned at street-level across major intersections and near Crenshaw High School and View Park Prep School, plus the absence of a Leimert Park Village station.
As Coordinator of the Citizens’ Campaign to Fix the Expo Rail Line (Fix Expo), we welcome the additional rail transit investment along Crenshaw Boulevard.
But MTA should not repeat the mistakes of the Expo Line with the Crenshaw Line.
Fix Expo has generated significant discussion, legal action and heat on local politicians and MTA for building the Downtown L.A.-to-Culver City Expo Phase 1 Light Rail project at street-level through South L.A. despite the safety warnings of international rail safety experts.
The group has expanded its organizing efforts along the Crenshaw Corridor communities.
On the Crenshaw Line, the Fix Expo/Crenshaw Line Subway Coalition has successfully convinced MTA to underground two of the three miles of the Crenshaw Boulevard portion of the Crenshaw-LAX Line. However, controversy remains regarding the remaining one mile between 48th Street and 59th Street, known as the Park Mesa Height segment. Currently MTA wants to build the train at street-level, citing cost concerns.
Separate and Unequal Policies
To date, Mayor Villaraigosa and other elected officials have focused their efforts primarily on the Wilshire Subway-to-the-Sea, which has ballooned in cost from a projected $4 billion to $9 billion without a blink of an eye. Yet at the same time Mayor Villaraigosa has refused to commit to securing additional resources for basic rail safety needs in the South L.A. community on the Expo Line by Dorsey High School or additional dollars to keep the Park Mesa Heights section of the Crenshaw Line underground.
We don’t need just a loan to accelerate the Crenshaw Line, but additional resources to address safety, community impact and transit operation issues. We will continue organizing for that effort.
“MTA always seems to cut corners in our backyard, while having an open checkbook on Wilshire,” said Opal Young, President of the Baldwin Hills/Crenshaw Homeowners Coalition. “Just do the math: $1.6 billion for Crenshaw vs. $9 billion for Wilshire.”
“The Mayor needs to explain why there are separate policies in this city as far as rail safety and community preservation is concerned, one for the Wilshire communities and another one for everywhere else,” said Juliet Benton, who lives near 52nd Street/Crenshaw, across from Crenshaw High. “We have affected schools, businesses and traffic, too, on Crenshaw. Addressing our concerns is only a fraction of the cost of Wilshire.”
Street-Level Rail Is Unsafe
“Street-level rail is simply not safe, especially down the middle of a major boulevard like Crenshaw,” said Lester Hollins, a former MTA light rail operator.
“The MTA's Blue Line, which operates between Downtown L.A. and Downtown Long Beach, primarily at street-level through the majority-minority communities of South L.A., Watts, Compton, and Willowbrook, is America's deadliest light rail line.
“There have been over 904 accidents and 102 deaths in 20 years of operation. The next deadliest line in the country has one-third the number of fatalities in the same period of time,” Mr. Hollins said. “The most accident-prone section of MTA's Blue Line is in the segment designed exactly like what is proposed on the Crenshaw Line in Park Mesa Heights. That is where the train operates at high speeds in the median of the street right next to vehicular traffic. If the train is not put underground there, preventable deaths will occur. The trains are too big. The traffic is too heavy, and the margin for error is too little.”
Leimert Park Village Station
Also at issue with community stakeholders is the Leimert Park Village station. Currently MTA considers a stop at the Crenshaw/Vernon intersection optional because funding for the station has yet to be identified.
Here is Jackie Ryan, President of the Leimert Park Merchants. Assn.:
“The businesses of Leimert Park Village, current and future, need a station at Vernon to allow all Crenshaw Line riders to easily access our village, which is an international tourist destination and a cultural gem to Southern California.
“Building a Crenshaw-LAX Line that does not have a stop at Leimert Park Village is like painting the Mona Lisa without a face.”
The Citizens’ Campaign to Fix the Expo Rail Line is a collaboration of more than a dozen South L.A. community groups, neighborhood councils, homeowner associations, civil rights leaders and rail safety advocates.
Mr. Goodmon may be contacted at dg@fixexpo.org
