Westside Subway

(Update: Metro was actually on campus for seven different days doing studies in 2011: 2/19, 2/26, 2/17, 3/5, 3/6, 3/12, and 3/13. On some of the days, poor weather prevented them from getting good samples, but we should note they were there longer than one weekend.)

Century City Mailer for Web

(Steve Hymon reviews the geology and presentation from a scientific standpoint at The Source.  I'm considering this an unofficial companion piece looking at how today's presentation changes the politics.  Angelenos Against Gridlock were also updating their website throughout the presentation. - DN)

I know I promised that we weren't going to cover the fight over the Westside Subway routing debate until there was actual news, but the Subway won a huge victory earlier this week, and almost nobody noticed.

Last week, Patch reported on a speech given by Senator Dianne Feinsteinin Century City.  The resulting article quoted the Senator, "Right now, no one knows where that [money] is," implying that federal funding for the Westside Subway was in serious doubt.  The headline "Feinstein: 'No One Knows Where' Federal Funds for Subway Extension Will Come From" touched a nerve with both supporters and critics of the Westside Subway.

Last week, the Century City Chamber of Commerce along with a couple of homeowner groups and L.A. City Councilman Paul Koretz held a press conference making their case for a Westside Subway stop at Avenue of the Stars and Constellation Avenue.  The week previously, the CCoC launched a website, responding to a website launched by consultants for the Beverly Hills Chamber of Commerce which promoted a subway stop at Avenue of the Stars and Constellation Avenue.  Today, a rebuttal to the press CCoC/Koretz press conference was published in the Huffington Post.

Yesterday, the Beverly Hills Unified School District (BHUSD) filed a petition asking the State Superior Court to issue a Writ of Mandate forcing Metro to release thousands of pages of documents relating to the Westside Subway expansion and the station locations being studied in Century City.  A copy of the petition is available on Streetsblog, here.

Opponents of a Metro proposal to build a Subway Station at the intersection of Avenue of the Stars and Constellation Avenue in Century City are taking their argument to the Internet.  A recently opened website and Facebook Page are pushing the idea that an alternative subway stop on Santa Monica Boulevard.  Honestly, the information on the website and Facebook Page, taken on their own without hearing the other side of the debate, make a compelling case that the it makes sense to scrap the "Constellation Avenue Station" and stick with an earlier proposal for the Santa Monica Station.

Yesterday, Metro announced that in addition to the two stations already being studied for a Westside Subway stop in Century City near Beverly Hills.  The reaction from readers, both at Curbed and The Source was pretty overwhelmingly negative with accusations that Metro was selling out and a heaping of venom for the Beverly Hills NUMBY's.  Of course, it's not the Metro staff who's in charge of selling out, that's the realm of the Board of Directors.  They won't have their chance for another couple of months.