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# Santa Monica Deciphering the Expo question
- URL: https://www.smdp.com/santa-monica-deciphering-the-expo-question-editor/
- Published: 2008-01-04T16:00:00.000Z
- Updated: 2026-10-24T17:51:04.000Z
- Author: Guest Author
- Tags: Opinion, Downtown, #archive-import

*By Scott Folsom Co-chair, LAUSD School Construction Bond Citizen’s Oversight Committee*

Quoting a recent DP article: (“Expo moves along slowly,” page 1, Jan. 1): “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 … 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.’”

I’m not going to mistake Clarke’s quoted foolishness and cheerleading advocacy for the Expo Line for the fair and reasoned content of your article — and I thank you for that.

However: 1\. There would be no high school being constructed in east Los Angeles were it not for the Gold Line extension; without the new high school being built there would be no Gold Line on the eastside. The current school is being relocated specifically to accommodate the Gold Line. 2\. Clarke’s predictability of trains and their speed and crossing warning devices seems to have met their match in Metro light rail. The Downtown-to-Long Beach Blue Line is most accident-prone and deadly light rail line in the country. There have been 172 accidents and 28 deaths on the Blue Line in the past 5 years, and over 796 accidents and 88 deaths in the 17 years of operation. (SOURCE: MTA’s own Summary of Blue Line Train/Vehicle and Train/Pedestrian Accidents) 3\. I sincerely hope that the transportation authority and the school district are able to negotiate a compromise — but that compromise cannot, must not and will not be at the expense of the safety of children.

*Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on January 4, 2008.* [Read the original PDF.](https://s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/smdp%5Fbackissues/010408.pdf?ref=smdp.com)