LAUSD fights Expo crossings
DOWNTOWN L.A. Public transit activists dreaming of the completion of the Exposition Light Rail Line should be hoping for a smoother new year after the project spent much of 2007 jumping through a series of hurdles.
The most recent one came on Dec. 17 when officials with the Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) filed a position statement that outlined safety concerns regarding an at-grade crossing near Dorsey High School.
The position statement by the LAUSD was sent to the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) during the public comment period on the review of more than 40 light rail crossing permits. The LAUSD is the latest organization to join a growing contingent in opposition to the at-grade crossing proposal near Dorsey High School. An organization called Expo Communities United has been vocal in its opposition to the at-grade Expo crossings near the school for several years, citing safety and traffic concerns.
With more than 700,000 students, the Los Angeles Unified School District is the largest school district in California and the second largest in the United States.
The issue centers around a two-track at-grade crossing on Farmdale Avenue, about 50 feet away from Dorsey High School, a busy intersection for both vehicles and pedestrians, sparking concerns of increased traffic and possible accidents involving students and passing light rail trains.
District leaders are asking the Exposition Construction Authority and the Metropolitan Transportation Authority to instead consider a grade-separated crossing.
“The frequent interaction of trains with pedestrians is an obvious safety risk with an at-grade crossing, but this interaction bears unique risks when the pedestrians are students,” according to the statement filed by the law offices of Strumwasser & Woocher LLP, which is representing the LAUSD.
The Exposition Light Rail project is split into two phases — the first that will take the train from Downtown Los Angeles to Culver City, and the second one that will complete the trip to Santa Monica. The second phase is still under review while the first phase is undergoing construction.
Most of the grade crossings have been resolved and the Exposition Construction Authority board is exploring a range of alternative crossings near Dorsey High School, according to Pam O’Connor, the chair of the MTA board.
“The bottom line is the Construction Authority and board are looking at a range of alternatives and certainly LAUSD has some input, it’s good for them to be there in a more formal manner to figure out what are the various options,” O’Connor said on Sunday.
O’Connor estimates the Exposition Construction Authority board will have an idea of what direction to head in with the crossing affecting Dorsey High School sometime this month or next.
While Expo Communities United has fought the proposed crossing near Dorsey for a few years, LAUSD officials were reluctant to participate until recently, according to Mark Jolles, one of the leaders with the organization and a substitute teacher who lives near the school.
Calls to Board of Education member Marguerite Poindexter LaMotte’s office — whose district includes Dorsey — last week were not returned as the office is closed for the holiday break. Zahirah Washington, an attorney with Strumwasser & Woocher, also did not return a request seeking comment.
Jolles believes the grade-separated crossing would make more sense both on a safety and a financial level, since the train would be able to travel faster if above or below ground, attracting more riders.
“The whole purpose is to improve mobility, to get people where they want to get faster,” Jolles said last Friday. “When you slow down the train, it doesn’t attract ridership and loses revenues and there’s no benefit to it.”
Darrell Clarke, the co-chair of Friends 4 Expo Transit, expects that the Exposition Construction Authority will be able to negotiate a compromise with the school district.
Clarke, an Expo advocate for years, noted that there is a high school being constructed in East Los Angeles near the Gold Line and “nobody seemed to be concerned about that.”
“Trains are very predictable,” he said last Friday. “They go along the track, their speed is limited, they have crossing warning devices.”
Groundbreaking for the Expo project kicked off in early August, but funding became a question when state legislators deadlocked on the budget, tying up Expo funding. The political battle ended in late August, about 51 days after the start of the fiscal year, and in September, the California Transportation Commission allocated $314 million to Expo.
Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on January 1, 2008. Read the original PDF.