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FRIENDS 4 EXPO TRANSIT NEWSLETTER #5
June 10, 2001
Home Stretch on Exposition Light Rail!
Momentum is Growing, but Big Challenges Remain
Contents:
-- Culver City City Council - Monday night *ACTION
NEEDED!*
-- Santa Monica City Council - Tuesday night
-- Mayor-elect Jim Hahn signs Friends 4 Expo petition!
-- Pam O'Connor joins the MTA Board
-- Diane Watson elected to Congress
-- Endorsements continue to pour in
-- Zev Yaroslavsky and Yvonne Brathwaite Burke resist popular will
-- MTA Draft EIS/EIR responses due June 15
-- Save the date -- MTA Committee
& Board meetings June 21 & 28
-- Thanks to all of you who've written the MTA Board members -- they're
noticing! *ACTION NEEDED!* If you
haven't yet, click
here to send one e-mail to all 13 MTA Board members or see www.friends4expo.org
for their mail addresses and phone numbers.
-- And come to the Friends 4 Expo General Meeting, this Tuesday, June
12 @7:30 p.m., Hamilton High (main building), 2955 S. Robertson Blvd.,
Los Angeles (west side, just north of the Santa Monica Freeway).
-- You are part of something historic! Friends 4 Expo Transit is the largest
all-volunteer pro-transit movement Los Angeles has ever seen!
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The Culver City City Council will act Monday night on a resolution supporting
Expo light rail with "conditional support for transit on the full-length
of the ROW, stating an overriding priority for light rail." It calls
for noise mitigations and prohibition of at-grade crossings of light-rail
transit in the city, to fulfill Culver City's General Plan policy.
We need Expo supporters who live or work in Culver City to speak for
light rail at this meeting! Surprisingly, opponents were absent at
the last Culver City City Council meeting, but are expected Monday.
(Monday, June 11, 7:00 p.m., City Hall, 9770 Culver Blvd.)
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The Santa Monica City Council will vote late Tuesday night on a resolution
reaffirming their long-standing support of Exposition light rail. The
resolution, requested by Mayor Pro Tem Bloom, calls for the City Council
to "convey to the MTA and other appropriate agencies its overriding
preference for light rail and, further request that the MTA provide all
appropriate mitigations to fully address local communities impacted by
the improvements."
It directs staff "to ensure that the project "moves expeditiously
and that it receives adequate funding." It also requests "that
City Council communicate support for Rapid Bus on Wilshire Boulevard"
but opposes the removal of traffic lanes or parking along the Rapid Bus
route in Santa Monica.
On Saturday, Friends of Sunset Park, a Santa Monica neighborhood group,
voted 37-1 at their annual meeting to endorse light rail on Expo.
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Mayor-elect Jim Hahn has stated his support for light rail on Exposition
numerous times, in public and privately. On June 3rd he signed a
Friends 4 Expo petition at the SoRo Neighborhood Festival. Such
support runs in the family -- his father, the late County Supervisor Kenneth
Hahn, is called the father of the Long Beach Blue Line.
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Santa Monica City Council member Pam O'Connor was ratified last week by
the California League of Cities to represent the Westside / South Bay
cities as the 13th MTA Board member (she replaces former Gardena City
Council member James Cragin). Pam will be a strong voice for Exposition
on the MTA Board!
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Long-time Exposition supporter, former State Senator Diane Watson was
just elected to Congress to fill the late Julian Dixon's seat.
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Endorsements for Expo light rail continue to pour in. Volunteers have
gathered over 3,000 signatures. We are presenting these petitions to the
MTA Board members. Presentations to neighborhood groups nearly every day
over the last few months continue to garner enthusiastic support.
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County Supervisors and MTA Board members Zev Yaroslavsky and Yvonne Brathwaite
Burke unfortunately continue to resist the overwhelming preference of
their constituents for light rail on Exposition. They object mostly that
there is little money, and buses are cheaper. But buses would carry
many fewer people more slowly, permanently committing the Westside to
an inadequate transportation solution while other parts of the city get
light rail. Most important, political will can produce money for this
project.
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All public comments on the Westside / Mid-City Draft EIS/EIR are due by
June 15 to mailto:MidCityWestside@mta.net,,
or mail to David Mieger, Project Manager, Los Angeles County MTA, One
Gateway Plaza, Mail Stop 99-22-5, Los Angeles, CA 90012 (310-366-6443).
If you have used the "one-click e-mail the MTA Board members,"
your e-mail has already gone there.
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Save the date: The MTA Planning &
Programming Committee will hear Exposition Thursday afternoon, June 21st.
The full MTA Board will vote Thursday morning, June 28th. We need as
many of you as possible at these meetings (downtown L.A. at the MTA
headquarters building behind Union Station)!
Thank you again for all your support!
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