Photo of Expo construction at USC via Treehugger.comIf the rumblings out of Cheviot Hills of a potential lawsuit weren't enough proof that the battle over the Expo Line hasn't been settled by approval of the environmental documents at this month's Expo Board Meeting; an editorial by Supervisor Mark Ridley-Thomas, that slams the construction plans for at-grade crossings in South L.A. and into the Westside has been appearing in some local papers and the Los Angeles Business Journal.
Sounding more like Damien Goodmon than his predecessor, Expo-backer Yvonne Burke, Ridley-Thomas writes that the construction of at-grade light rail will doom South L.A. to be an underdeveloped urban area for generations:
It’s a vicious cycle: Once an at-grade trainis put into an at-risk neighborhood, the area is unlikely to everdevelop the density and vehicle traffic required to meet thegrade-separated crossing standard.
Some argue an at-gradecrossing can be built as a first-step, to be followed by an elevated orunderground crossing in the future, when an area has developed. But theat-grade crossing is itself a barrier to development and neighborhoodimprovement.
In other words, the current Grade Crossing Policydiscriminates against underdeveloped neighborhoods, denying themopportunities to enjoy the same economic prospects as areas that havealready been substantially developed.
Ridley-Thomas sits on both the Metro Board and the Expo Construction Authority Board, so his crusade to change Metro's policy when it comes to grade-crossing at intersections has some teeth. With the California Public Utilities Commission still not having approved the plans for two crossings, changes to the grade-crossing policy could have an impact on the design of Expo Stations and major intersection crossings in both phases.
Some Expo advocates worry that any design changes would delay the opening of the line. But if you read the editorial in its entirety, it doesn't sound as though Ridley-Thomas thinks a delay of the opening would be such a bad thing.
