By Justin R. Kerns Northridge
(Re: “L.A. subway plans take a radical shift”) Imagine a fantasyland where one could travel from Santa Monica to the San Fernando Valley to Orange County and back for a few dollars and not have to worry about traffic or time. You just imagined the very real Los Angeles of the 1920s. Today, the MTA is finally making a strong move to bring the light rail system back to our great city. So why are we hitting it with roadblocks the size of a city bus?
Parents of children at two schools along the rail line — Dorsey High School and Foshay Middle School — are protesting the light rail, saying that their children will want to jump over the fence along the tracks and try to run in front of the trains. We all sympathize with a parent’s need to protect their children, but come on. Did these parents protest putting a road near the school as well, afraid that their children would be tempted to run out into traffic for some laughs? The projected costs of completing the line out to Santa Monica and the opposition of local residents are next in line for the MTA. The eight-year, $785 million price tag of building this line is only a fraction of the $24 billion of annual MTA budgets over the same time-frame. And for those residents in Culver City and Santa Monica who want it, but “not in my backyard,” I say who wouldn’t want it in your backyard? In cities such as New York and Boston, having a subway or rail stop near your home only increases your property value.
For some reason, people are interpreting this entire project as the big bad MTA trying to ruin their property values and waste their tax dollars. Wake up, people! Take a step back and look at the incredible good that our local government is trying to do for us! Of course, there must be some sacrifice, but there can be no progress without it.
Will the Exposition Line become yet another great idea that was destroyed by a few selfish individuals, or will we finally learn as a city to work together and break the cycle?
Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on December 5, 2007. Read the original PDF.