What does it take to build rail transit through an affluent neighborhood in Los Angeles? Watch this an-hour-long series of video clips shot at the final planning meeting for the Metro Expo Line, a light-rail line to be built on the old abandoned Pacific Electric Santa Monica Air Line railroad right-of-way, which will connect Downtown Los Angeles to the Westside of Los Angeles and Pacific Ocean at Santa Monica. The group Neighbors for Smart Rail (NFSR) lead by the affluent Cheviot Hills Homeowners’ Association and other affluent Westside homeowners’ associations joins forces with Fix Expo, a special-interest group from a minority neighborhood in South Los Angeles, through which the abandoned railroad right-of-way cuts as well, and they vow for lawsuits. Such opposition by the affluent and special-interest groups has prevented the use of this old abandoned railroad right-of-way for decades, but the Expo Light-Rail Line is finally becoming a reality. The series of clips starts with the very instructive presentation about the project, continues with a video simulation of Phase 2, and then public comments from Fix Expo and Neighbors for Smart Rail leaders as well as individuals follow.

The video is a true classic of NIMBYs and NIMBYism in America. The meeting was held in Cheviot Hills, Los Angeles, California, at 6:30 PM on October 5, 2009. The affluent neighborhood of Cheviot Hills has long been the epicenter of the opposition to the Expo Line.

The first four clips are the half-hour-long presentation by Stephen Polechronis, Vice President of AECOM, the consulting firm for the environmental study of the Expo Line. He is the head of the consultant team.

Part 1:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wEPFeoI4Md8

Part 2:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3-3aKe1zHQM

Part 3:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ITwmL56epTI

Part 4:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X50v0tgznfo

The next clip is a very nice video simulation of Phase 2, as well as a real footage of the Metro Pasadena Gold Line:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GurZ2DTnGAU

Finally the last four clips are the the outrageous and disturbing yet entertaining public comments.

Some individual supporters at the beginning:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tQM3TTRcRQU

NFSR comes next. Terri Tippit, the veteran Westside neighborhood politician, Head of the West of Westwood Homeowners’ Association and at times the President of the Westside Neighborhood Council, is the President of Neighbors for Smart Rail (NFSR). Collen Mason Heller of the Cheviot Hills Homeowners’ Association is the Vice President of NFSR. Her husband Larry Heller is the attorney for NFSR. NFSR has been collecting a lot of money in order to launch a lawsuit within 30 days of the certification by the board of the Expo Authority of the final environmental-impact report on the first Thursday of January:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=au9RRL88PZg

Next come outrageous talks and acts by Fix Expo. Damien Goodmon is the leader of Fix Expo and Clint Simmons, who owns a house on Exposition Blvd, has been on the opposition from Day One:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Fto5-mKfTs

Finally some more outrageous comments and acts by the individual opposition, who own homes in the Cheviot Hills and Rancho Park area:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JoanDnftYhU

The nine video clips are also available as a single playlist:

http://www.youtube.com/view_play_list?p=56C7B11C88516FDD

or

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wEPFeoI4Md8&feature=PlayList&p=56C7B11C88516FDD&index=0&playnext=1

Neighbors for Smart Rail (NFSR) opposition:

No one expected the NIMBYs in Phase 2 to behave nicely. Here are they behaving badly and giving out their lawsuit plot. This came out only a few days after the Expo meeting. Check out the red arrows:

http://i388.photobucket.com/albums/oo325/esirgen/nimby/nfsr_meeting.jpg

Don’t be mislead: The “Smart” in Neighbors for Smart Rail actually stands for “No.” This is their e-mail blast with the attachment above:

IMPORTANT NEIGHBORS FOR SMART RAIL MEETING

Please review the attached flyer and print out for others. Not everyone is on our email list and they need to know about this meeting.

For those who attended the WOWHOA Annual Meeting last week you know that the only acceptable option is to put it underground. We will not be properly mitigated any other way.

For those who think this will only affect those who live on or a block from Expo, Think Again.

The traffic will be stopped over 20 mins each hour. The pollution from cars idling will affect all of us but especially the children at Overland School. In addition the noise impact that comes with a train crossing every 2 minutes in each direction will have an adverse affect on their learning envirornment and our ears.

Many feel “you can’t beat city hall” but we have. Many developments have been required to scale down their project and provide more mitigations.

The Mayor and our former councilman tried to force Pico/Olympic on us to help move Santa Monica commuters through our community but we said NO.

There is only 70 spaces in Santa Monica Expo parking lot, yet we get 170 spaces behind residential homes on Ashby and Richland and another couple of hundred on Sepulveda which is already a traffic nightmare for our residents who live behind the post office. People are going to SM not leaving it. SM wants people to come work and spend money there but they don’t want any CARS going into SM–leave the traffic congestion to LA.

At the meeting Expo said they do not think this line will signifcantly reduce traffic on the Westside, just give people an other transportation option–we’ll thats comforting to know we’ll still have congestion along with all the negative impact of a light rail at grade.

We need your help to ensure that we are properly mitigated. Come to NFSR meeting on Sunday, August 25th 2-4 in Palms Park (childcare provided) and learn were we are in the process, what lies ahead and what YOU can do. We listened to their presentations now it is time for us to speak.

“Build it right or not at all”!!!!!!