FRIENDS 4 EXPO TRANSIT NEWSLETTER
Number 3
March 14, 2001 (Updated 4/7/01)
FORWARD this newsletter to your friends, relatives and coworkers!!
WHO WE ARE: We are an all-volunteer group of citizens who want to
extend rapid transit to the Westside along the Exposition right-of-way.
HOW TO CONTACT US:
E-mail: Friends4expo@aol.com
Phone: (310) 393-9025
Website: www.friends4expo.org
Mail: PO Box
64943, L.A. 90064
OUR NEXT MEETING: Tuesday, APRIL 3, Hamilton High School, 2955
So. Robertson Blvd., just north of the 10 freeway. PLEASE COME!
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
FLASH! BREAKING NEWS -- The Environmental Impact Study/Report
(EIS/EIR) including the Exposition right of way will be released Friday,
March 23rd 30th April 6th. We will obtain copies
of the report as soon as it is released and plan to meet the same evening
to review the report and plan our response. Let us know if you want to be
involved in reviewing the report.
There will then be a 45-day public comment period, during
which the MTA is planning to hold public meetings to gather responses to
the report.
SAVE THE DATES: (WE will inform you if any date
changes.)
The MTA Planning & Programming Subcommittee
will discuss Exposition at their meeting on
May 17 June 21, 1:00 p.m.
The full MTA board will vote on May 24
June 28, 9:30 a.m.
Both meetings will be held at MTA headquarters downtown,
next to Union Station.
SATURDAY ON THE PROMENADE
Friends4Expo member Roger Rudick will be heading a group
of members
getting signatures from people strolling down the 3rd Street Promenade this
Saturday, March 17, beginning at 4:00 PM and continuing as late as we can.
Please e-mail Friends4Expo or Roger directly at RJRUDICK2@aol.com if you
can do table duty on the Santa Monica promenade this Saturday.
"Aside from being the potential terminus of the
future Expo line," says Roger, "the Promenade is filled with people
relaxing who are able to spare a moment or two to sign a petition.
And many will have just gotten off the 10 freeway and hunted around for
parking, never a fun experience."
CONTACTING THE MEDIA
Do you have a friend who works for a media outlet? Friends4Expo
is gearing up to contact the media as soon as the EIR/EIS is released. We
would appreciate any media leads you have. Please e-mail or call us with
your suggestions and leads. LET US KNOW IF YOU CAN HELP DISTRIBUTE OUR PRESS
RELEASE when the EIR/EIS is released.
APRIL BOARD MEETING MINI-MOBILIZATION:
The EAST SIDE light rail line EIR/EIS will be discussed
by the MTA board at its April 26 meeting. We are encouraging all Friends
4 Expo supporters to attend in support of this Eastside line. It will
also help us prepare for the May meetings when the Expo EIR/EIS will be
discussed.
AN EXPO BALLAD?
Anyone out there like to try his or her hand at an Expo
ballad? We've got at least one movie score composer out there, and
certainly many talented others who could write a theme song.
Someone has suggested that we simply write new words
to the "Charlie and the MTA" song (don't remember the exact title)
that the Kingston Trio used to sing. If we come up with something,
it will surely catch media attention when we launch it. Let us know
if you're game! (Send us an e-mail.)
GOOD NEWS: State Senator Sheila Kuehl has publicly endorsed light rail on
Exposition. She announced her support to a group of Friends4Expo members
who met with her in her district office March 9.
ENDORSEMENTS
If you or your organization has not yet sent its endorsement
of light rail on Exposition, please note that we are now encouraging all
endorsers to send their endorsement letter to us at our PO BOX, by fax or
by e-mail. We will then forward copies to each of the MTA board members
and to the applicable elected officials.
A sample endorsement letter is at the end of this newsletter.
CALLING MEMBERS OF THE WESTSIDE VILLAGE CIVIC ASSOCIATION:
If you belong to the Westside Village Civic Association, please let us
know. A group of Friends4Expo proponents in that neighborhood is hoping
to win an endorsement from the Association for the rail line on Expo,
and they would like to know about you.
Since the line would follow Venice Blvd. and then Sepulveda,
many residents of the Westside Village Civic Association would live within
walking distance from a station.
Sample Endorsement Letter
Please send your endorsement letter to: Friends4Expo Transit PO Box 64943,
Los Angeles, CA 90064. Phone (310)393-9025 fax (310)393-9810
E-mail: friends4expo@aol.com Website: www.friends4expo.org
-----------, 2001
Dear -----------
[Name of group, organization, company, or I] support construction of a
light rail line on the Exposition right-of-way.
Traffic in Los Angeles, especially on the 10 freeway, is becoming increasingly
congested. We can ease this problem by building a light rail line
from downtown to Santa Monica on land that is already owned by the MTA.
This project would provide enormous benefits to our [employees / faculty,
students and staff / congregation/members/all of us.] By connecting
communities along the Exposition corridor to the rest of the Los Angeles
region's emerging rail network, this light rail line would [ease our parking
and traffic problems/enable us to hire employees from all over the city/allow
many more students and faculty members easy access to our campus/increase
significantly our members' work, shopping, and cultural opportunities].
With local population expected to increase by the size of two Chicago's
in the next 20 years, we need light rail to attract people to public transit
-- a goal which bus ways cannot accomplish.
Popular and proven in an increasing number of American cities, light rail
is less polluting than buses and carries more passengers while operating
at lower costs. An Exposition rail line would connect Angelenos
of all ethnicities and classes, and open educational, recreational and
job opportunities especially to youth, the poor, and the elderly who depend
on mass transit.
The time to act is now. I/We heartily endorse this project, and urge the
MTA board and elected officials in Los Angeles to do all within
their power to make a light rail line on Exposition a reality.
Sincerely,
Please use your own words wherever possible (choosing from the words in
brackets if, however, you copy our phrasing.)
Top Back to News
|