K Line – Crenshaw/LAX Line

On October 23, 2014, the Metro Board of Directors voted to adopt the Rail to River Intermediate Active Transportation Corridor (ATC) Feasibility Study and directed staff to identify funding for full implementation of the project. The Board also authorized $2,850,000 be put towards facilitating the environmental, design, alternative route analysis, and outreach work required for the project to move forward and requested the staff report back in May of 2015.

Today was the April meeting of Metro's board of directors. There was nothing earth-shatteringly controversial on the agenda, but below are a handful of updates.

Crenshaw Boulevard may be chaotic to navigate due to the construction of the Crenshaw/LAX Line at the moment, but good things appear to be in the works. The Source reported Wednesday that the new stations will be graced with works from a diverse mix of 14 artists.

In case you haven't heard, we're in a bit of an affordable housing crunch.

The date for the grand opening of Leimert Park's People St Plaza is not quite set in stone, yet, but it's coming very soon. And I couldn't be more excited. The stakeholders in Leimert Park have begun to install some of the unique features they developed as a way to tie the plaza to the culture of the community, and they look pretty fantastic.

Riding my bike the 15 miles between my apartment and a Move L.A. forum on the future of transit at Southwest College on a dreary Saturday morning while battling the tail end of a stubborn respiratory infection was not among the brightest ideas I had ever had, I reflected as it began to drizzle and my hacking started getting the best of me.

"We have to deal with reality," L.A. World Airports (LAWA) Chief of Planning Christopher Koontz stated at last week's Metro Board of Directors meeting: even after the LAX rail connection opens in 2024, LAWA expects air travelers will keep driving. LAWA is the city of L.A. department in charge of LAX and a couple smaller airports. Responding to Metro Boardmember Jackie Dupont-Walker's questioning, Koontz confirmed that connecting LAX to the under-construction Metro Crenshaw Line will mean "an expansion of parking." 

On my way to a meeting of the Leimert Park Village stakeholders at the Vision Theater a few weeks ago, I poked my head into the art space known as the KAOS Network looking for founder and artist Ben Caldwell.

In a motion before the Metro Executive Management Committee last Thursday morning, County Supervisor and Metro Board Member Mark Ridley-Thomas cited the successful "transformation of unused or abandoned rail right-of-ways into pedestrian access and bicycle routes" around the country and here in L.A. as support for his call that the Board direct Chief Executive Officer Art Leahy to move forward on the recommendations found in the 212-page feasibility study on the proposed Rail-to-River Bikeway.