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#  The Expo Line: The Gain of the Train Falls Plainly in the Main

April 09 2015

Written by Ken Alpern.

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![](https://www.citywatchla.com/images/stories/Apr-2015/030j.png)REASON AND RHYME-Officially, [history was made](http://la.curbed.com/tags/expo-line-phase-ii) when a single light rail car rode the tracks west of Culver City Expo Line station, crossing Venice Blvd. and proceeding just before the future Palms station ... sooooo, the Expo Line Phase II testing has BEGUN! (photo)

Some will shout, some will cheer, and some will cry into their beer.

Some will debate [naming ](http://la.curbed.com/archives/2015/04/metro_rail_names_letters.php)future Metro lines with colors or letters, others will hope this creates economic go-getters.

Some will sing about cutting traffic with a knife, while others will shrug their shoulders and tell them "Get a Life!"

Half the City to [ditch their cars](http://patch.com/california/venice/half-people-la-ditch-their-cars-itll-happen-insists-mayor?utm_source=article-mostrecent&utm_medium=rss&utm_term=politics%20&%20government&utm_campaign=recirc&utm_content=aol), Mr. Mayor? Are you a sad dreamer, or a really shrewd soothsayer?

Will the Expo Line help our City in all things environmental, or will it lead to overdevelopment--which is really just "mental"!

And what of the complaints about station access after dark, whatwith there being insufficient spaces to park?

Shall there instead be bus transit ridership resurrections, with newly-devised local bus-train connections?

But the big, overriding concern to us all, is that this line "justifies" development overdense and too tall.

Because the Expo Line ridership--while high--has a limit, and beyond that threshold the trains won't permit.

The Expo Line is elegant, and needed to prove, that Angelenos will find other ways they will move.

Jobs will be made to please tourists and commuters, with a Silicon Beach to serve our computers.

Yet it is no Subway and no freeway-equivalent, so back off you megadevelopers malevolent!

The benefits are true that we can develop, but to help our mobility and not create overdensify us envelop!

So let's improve our economy and environment ... but let's make sure that sustainability is a requirement!

*(Ken Alpern is a Westside Village Zone Director and Board member of the Mar Vista Community Council (MVCC), previously co-chaired its Planning and Outreach Committees, and currently is Co-Chair of its MVCC Transportation/Infrastructure Committee. He is co-chair of the CD11Transportation Advisory Committee and chairs the nonprofit Transit Coalition, and can be reached at **[Alpern@MarVista.org](mailto:Alpern@MarVista.org "mailto:Alpern@MarVista.org")** He also does regular commentary on the Mark Isler Radio Show on AM 870, and co-chairs the grassroots Friends of the Green Line at [www.fogl.us](http://www.fogl.us). (The views expressed in this article are solely those of Mr. Alpern.) Photo credit: LA.Curbed*

-cw

CityWatch

Vol 13 Issue 30

Pub: Apr 10, 2015

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