Expo Construction Authority

At long last, the Draft Environmental Impact Statement for Phase II of the Expo Line is now online and even though I got the announcement in my inbox just under two hours ago, I have yet to get any emails from proponents or opponents of the line commenting on it.  I'm going to wade into reading the document tonight when I get home from City Hall, but if anyone wants to get their shots in early, here's your chance.

Yesterday, the California Public Utilities Commission denied two proposed street crossings in South LA near Dorsey High School and the Foshay Learning Center.  Citing the ADA, Judge Kenneth Koss ruled that the authority needs to create pedestrian bridges, which would add another $18 million to the current $862 million price tag for Phase I of the project.  While Expo officials are already pleading that they don't have the $18 million, it seems extremely unlikely that Metro would let a nearly $1 billion project die because they couldn't come up with $18 million for pedestrian bridges.

Yesterday afternoon, the City Council Transportation Committee heard testimony about the response of emergency responders to the September 12th Metrolink crash.  Towards the end of the hearing, a fiery Bill Rosendahl sounded off about the need to place a higher priority on safety when building new rail projects.  His comments were clearly directed at the Expo Construction Authority, and were later echoed by community leaders during open testimony:

The Expo Construction Authority must really be feeling the heat these days.