TRANSPO LA - The following motions were approved with either unanimous or near-unanimous votes from the CD11 Transportation Advisory Committee (with some prominent CD5 input from members who are regulars on our Westside-focused committee) between February and April of this year:
1) The CD11 Transportation Advisory Committee requests that Councilmembers Rosendahl and Koretz collaborate with other jurisdictions to form a Regional Cumulative Transportation/Land Use Plan for large projects that affect the following geography: Northern boundary of Santa Monica Mountains, Western boundary of the Pacific Ocean, Southern boundary of LAX/Westchester,and Eastern boundary of La Cienega Boulevard
TRANSLATION: Despite the old and tired, and new and misleading, arguments about affordable housing, job creation, and transit-oriented planning, oversized and poorly-conceptualized projects such as the Casden Sepulveda Project at Exposition/Sepulveda/Pico, which is adjacent to the future Exposition/Sepulveda Expo Line Station, are neither environmentally-friendly, transit-friendly, economically-friendly or helpful to the quality of life for the greater Westside.
2) The CD11 Transportation Advisory Committee supports inclusion of a Westside Green Line Extension to serve LAX and the north-south rail transit needs of the Westside in any extension of Measure R, and in any Metro Long Range Transportation Plans
TRANSLATION: While the Mayor has been fighting endlessly for either federal, foreign, private or local funding to expedite Measure R projects, the need for a quality LAX/Rail connection, combined with a north-south rail line to connect with the current/future east-west Wilshire Subway, Expo Line and Green Line will increasingly stand out as a glaring gap in a L.A. County rapid-transit network.
3) The CD11 Transportation Advisory Committee supports an increase in the span of service of passenger rail hours and an increase in passenger rail frequency
4) Whereas, the CD11 Transportation Advisory Committee recognizes a need to provide parking at light rail and subway stations to maximize ridership.
Therefore, the CD11 Transportation Advisory Committee strongly recommends the City of Los Angeles and Metro work together to provide or create incentives leading to the provision of parking at or adjacent to stations.
5) Whereas, the CD11 Transportation Advisory Committee recognizes that Park-and-Ride options with convenient public transportation and connection to light rail will only increase ridership and its benefits to the urban environment,
Therefore, the CD11 Transportation Advisory Committee strongly recommends the City of L.A. and Metro work together to provide or create incentives leading to the provision of off-site Park-and-Ride lots design to geographically expand ridership for light rail and subway lines.
TRANSLATION: What’s the point of having quality rapid-transit lines if service and access for both local and regional commuters isn’t first-rate?
6) The CD11 Transportation Advisory Committee urges L.A. City Councilmember Bill Rosendahl, L.A. City Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, L.A. County Supervisor Don Knabe, California State Senator Ted Lieu, and House Representative Janice Hahn to reactivate the Green Line Coalition to establish a political consensus to create funding and planning for a Metro Green Line that accesses LAX and extends north of LAX to best serve the Westside, the South Bay, the Mid-City and the Greater Los Angeles region
TRANSLATION: Time for local, state and federal officials to band together to create a LAX/MetroRail connection that allows commuters from all geographic regions to easily access LAX, which is one of the world’s most important airports.
7) The CD11 Transportation Advisory Committee strongly supports the establishment of any rail/station design of the future Exposition/Sepulveda station that will accommodate a future north-south rail line to serve both the short-term and long-term passenger rail plans of the Westside and adjacent regions
8) The CD11 Transportation Advisory Committee reaffirms its support of a Westside Regional Transportation Center at/adjacent to the future Exposition/Sepulveda rail station to accommodate the automobile, bus, bicycle and pedestrian amenities needed for comprehensive regional access to this future transportation hub
9) The CD11 Transportation Advisory Committee strongly supports and urges any efforts by Metro and the City of Los Angeles to procure extra funding (if the Exposition Light Rail Authority can neither fiscally nor legally provide this funding) for the following design elements to be included in both Phase 1 and Phase 2:
a. Roofs, canopies, and/or pavilions at Expo Line stations that sufficiently protect from rain, are function-based and properly protect riders.
b. Walls and roofs at Expo Line stations that sufficiently block the wind, sun and other elements, are function-based and properly protect riders.
c. Native and ecofriendly landscaping (unless those communities through which Phase 1 runs do not support it for their local stations).
10) The CD11 Transportation Advisory Committee reaffirms its support of its previously-passed motion from
12//12/2011 to support the use of exclusively native landscaping in Phase 2 of the Exposition Light Rail Line.
TRANSLATION: The Westside grassroots, comprised of both elected neighborhood council leaders and individual concerned citizens, played an enormous role in establishing the consensus and funding of the Exposition Light Rail Line, and these same grassroots entities expect a first-rate Expo Line with equally-first-rate access, amenities and operations.
The CD11 Transportation Advisory Committee meets on the second Monday of each month from 6:45 – 8:45 pm at the West Los Angeles Municipal Building (1645 Corinth, near the intersection of Santa Monica Blvd. and Corinth Ave.).
One person CAN make a difference. Maybe that person is you.
(Ken Alpern is a former Boardmember of the Mar Vista Community Council (MVCC), previously co-chaired its Planning and Outreach Committees, and currently is Vice Chair of its MVCC Transportation/Infrastructure Committee. He is co-chair of the CD11 Transportation Advisory Committee and chairs the nonprofit Transit Coalition, and can be reached at [email protected]. He also co-chairs the grassroots Friends of the Green Line at www.fogl.us. The views expressed in this article are solely those of Mr. Alpern.)
-cw
Tags: Ken Alpern, Transportation, LA Transportation, Westside
CityWatch
Vol 10 Issue 32
Pub: Apr 20, 2012