Citizens' Campaign to Fix the Expo Rail Line

We’re getting traction in the local press on the issue.

Front page of The Wave: Residents tussle with MTA over Expo safety concerns

Bernard Parks’ “SHUT UP! Moment” was highlighted in Betty Pleasant’s Weekly editorial, Soulvine

OurWeekly: Proposed Expo Line Under Fire

Our editorial ran in The Front Page Online: Expo Environmental Racism Is Charged — And Parks Waves It Away

Popularity: 2% [?]

That was the headline in the Los Angeles Times in 2000.

And since the article there have been 35 deaths and hundreds more accidents on the Blue Line. You don’t have to read long to understand why the article is highlighted here.

MTA Can Do Little to Boost Crossing Safety, Study Finds
By DOUGLAS P. SHUIT, Times Staff Writer

February 22, 2000

If anyone should know the dangers of the Metro Blue Line inside and out, it would be Los Angeles County Supervisor Yvonne Brathwaite Burke.

As head of the powerful Metropolitan Transportation Authority, Burke plays a leading role in setting policy for operating the Blue Line, whose trains operate along city streets and have killed 53 people since it opened in 1990. That is by far the most deaths for any light rail line in the state and is believed to be the most in the nation.

And, as someone who lives and works in the area served by the Blue Line, Burke regularly experiences the anxiety motorists face when crossing the tracks. Getting caught inside the gates when a train comes is a constant fear.

“I have not actually been stuck [inside the gates], but I have been concerned about getting stuck,” she said. “If there is any traffic ahead of you as you start going across, there is a tremendous potential of getting caught. So, I tell you…I fly across the tracks.”

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Burke’s comments are informative because the MTA, after a two-month in-house safety analysis, is essentially moving forward with its current Blue Line policy, which she indicates will not make her feel much safer.

Burke and others on the MTA’s board of directors are finding that there are few dramatic moves they can make to improve safety on the heavily used rail line, which provides riders with as many as 57,000 trips a day on the 22-mile run between downtown Los Angeles and Long Beach.

The analysis, prompted by the deaths of six people Nov. 27 and Times stories exploring safety issues on the Blue Line, included an estimate that creating a grade separation–in effect, moving the tracks off the street–would cost as much as $1.6 billion. That is far more than the district can afford, and represents roughly twice the Blue Line’s original construction cost.

That leaves MTA managers with a game plan that involves continuing the same policies that they have been following for years, with some tweaking here and there.

In an effort to reduce the number of so-called “S” turns, in which motorists use open traffic lanes to drive around closed traffic gates, the MTA plans to install four gates, rather than the conventional two, at as many as two crossings a year. Traffic signals also will be upgraded. And a stepped-up program of televised, public safety announcements, movie trailers, radio messages, billboards and school safety programs will be implemented.

At Imperial Highway, where there have been a number of accidents involving Blue Line trains, the city of Los Angeles, county, MTA and Caltrans are jointly financing construction of a $20-million bridge for motor vehicle traffic over the railroad tracks.

The MTA’s safety program also would apply to the first phase of the 13.7-mile Pasadena light rail line. The Pasadena line is being built at street level, so will face similar traffic problems during its run through Lincoln Heights, Highland Park, South Pasadena and Pasadena. The line is being built by the Pasadena Blue Line Construction Authority, but is being financed and will be operated by the MTA.

During a hearing on Blue Line issues before the MTA’s operations committee last week, Burke made a point of saying that the best chance of paying for grade separations comes during construction, because once a system is built the costs become prohibitive. Still, although she made it clear that she thinks grade separations would save lives, she said the MTA doesn’t have money for grade separations on that system.

Residents along the proposed Pasadena route are becoming increasingly restive. Jim Leong, a retired businessman representing the Mount Washington Assn., pleaded for a grade separation during the operations committee hearing, although the Pasadena Blue Line Construction Authority has rejected the possibility of major changes to the project.

The Mount Washington Assn. is reconsidering its conditional support for the Pasadena rail line, in large part because of the Los Angeles line’s safety record, Leong said. “When the Pasadena line was planned, we didn’t have the experience of the Los Angeles Blue Line. Now we have 53 deaths. That is scaring some people,” Leong said.

Richard Thorpe, chief executive officer of the Pasadena Blue Line Construction Authority, said he believes conditions on the Eastside are different from those on the Los Angeles-to-Long Beach line.

For one thing, the Pasadena line will not have freight trains running alongside its own trains, as does the Los Angeles line, Thorpe said. Nor will there be streets running parallel to the trains. Some of those who have studied the Los Angeles line believe the slowness of the Union Pacific freight trains frustrates motorists and causes them to take risks they might not ordinarily take. Left turns in front of trains are a leading contributor to Los Angeles Blue Line accidents.

MTA authorities have consistently argued that they believe the large number of deaths and injuries on the Los Angeles Blue Line is caused by risky behavior by pedestrians and motorists, who flout traffic laws and warning signals as they cross in front of trains.

An analysis of Blue Line accident records by The Times indicated that speed may be a contributor. It found that 85% of the deaths have occurred in the high-speed corridor, where trains go through intersections at 55 mph. An analysis comparing the Blue Line with light rail systems across the country found that the MTA trains operate at one of the highest average rates of speed. The Times also found that the last 18 deaths have all involved trains traveling south, whose speed tends to be higher through intersections.

MTA safety chief Paul Lennon, who put together the in-house analysis, said after the operations committee hearing that he is not recommending any changes in the speed of trains. He made it clear he still believes the main problem is that people go around closed crossing gates or ignore warning signals and horns. MTA investigations have held victims to have been at fault in all cases.

“The 55-mph speed I think is a very reasonable safe transit speed,” he said. Influencing his belief is a fear that if the trains are slowed appreciably, the riders will return to cars. “My concern is that people might get off that train, find a $200 car and become a statistic someplace else. We are in the lifesaving business, as far as I am concerned.”

Lennon said the MTA will continue to look into factors contributing to the string of accidents on the southbound tracks.

Burke said she is not satisfied with the steps Lennon is recommending. She said further steps must be taken “to prevent some of these accidents,” but had no concrete proposals. Although the costs are prohibitive, she said, “I believe we have to look at some alternative for grade separation.”

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A couple of weeks ago, The Wave columnist Betty Pleasant reported on the disconnect Bernard Parks has with his constituents, harping on a moment at a recent community meeting, where one of Parks’ chief deputies told a constituent before an audience of 150 to “SHUT UP!” Twice.

It’s clear that the staff’s shortcomings when it comes to respecting the people who they’ve been put in office to represent, let alone address constituent concerns rots from the head.

After being asked how people could contact him about the concerns they have with the line by one of the Fix Expo leaders, who also happens to be one of the most knowledgeable and well-known rail transit advocates in the region, and the Co-Chair of the area’s neighborhood council, Parks responded, “Just because you don’t like the line, you should stop wasting other people’s time because you have a concern about it.”

How sad that Council Parks considers fighting for the safety of our children, environmental justice, and community preservation, a waste of people’s time.

Parks then goes on to say he refused to attend the community forum on this issue (nor send a staff member) because he was “busy.”

Councilman Parks can be contacted:
Email: councilmember.parks@lacity.org

City Hall
200 North Spring Street
Room 460
Los Angeles, CA 90012
213-473-7008 (Phone)
213-485-7683 (Fax)

District Office
3847 S. Crenshaw Blvd.
Los Angeles, CA 90008
323-293-9467 (Phone)
323-293-3696 (Fax)

Popularity: -0% [?]

In response to the Los Angeles Times article this Sunday, let’s recap the main evidence/arguments for why the Expo Line is not designed to operate safely.

1) Blue Line: Over 796 accidents and 88 deaths to date.

MTA publishes it’s Summary of Metro Blue Line Train/Vehicle and Train/Pedestrian Accidents every 3 months (that tells you how frequently the collisions occur). 76% of the accidents are in the portion of the Blue Line that is identical in design to the Expo Line through most of South LA, in an area with greater residential density, more vehicular traffic, and more expected ridership.

2) The Booz-Allen Hamilton study on the cause of Blue Line Accidents

The Booz-Allen Hamilton report is clearly the most damaging and conclusive document we’ve uncovered to date. It is study the MTA commissioned back in 1998 that explained why the Blue Line was the deadliest and most accident-prone light rail line in the country. The major points are expanded in a previous post. They are primarily the Blue Line’s high ridership (which leads to more activity around the station locations and places pressure on the operators to maintain service), residential density of the area which the train travels.

Applying that knowledge to the Expo Line and it is clear that the MTA is callously repeating a proven defective design. The MTA knows the Expo Line will be a killer:

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a) Using MTA’s own predictions, the ridership per mile for the Expo Line is expected to be nearly 30% higher, meaning there will be more traffic and activity around the station locations. (The Blue Line ridership is 75K/22 miles or 3.4K riders/mile, while the Expo is expected to be 75K riders/15 miles or 5K riders/mile).

b) The residential density is higher along the Exposition Blvd Corridor.

c) There is substantial truck traffic and light industrial property along the Exposition Blvd Corridor. In fact, in a letter from a civil engineering firm to the Expo Authority, they pointed out how the design of the Hauser crossings was inadequate to allow their trucks to access the properties and would lead to backing up of cars and trucks on the tracks, while the train is approaching at 55 mph.

3) LADOT’s documents.

The same day we presented a strongly worded letter to the MTA Board and press that was written by LADOT General Manager and directed to the Expo Authority, the Mayor fired Gloria Jeff for “undisclosed reasons.” Our op-ed on the subject ran in OurWeekly. Succinctly, Jeff said the MTA’s Management Plan for USC/Expo Park/Coliseum events was fatally flawed, “not safe for pedestrians,” would lead to “major gridlock,” and was “unacceptable to LADOT.” (full letter here)

4) State and Federal Criteria

The Expo Line design violates numerous state and federal criteria for safe rail travel, as specified in the 108 combined pages of our opening and reply briefs, which Commissioner Simon labeled vague (I wish I were making this up). Page 7 to 27 in our reply brief highlights the criteria and how they have failed to be applied to this line.

The facts are clear:

• The Expo Line is NOT designed to operate safely.
• Our political leaders need to join with LaMotte and stand up for the safety of their constituents, including the former head of the agency responsible to serve and protect the public (Bernard Parks).

Popularity: 1% [?]

Read today’s article in the Los Angeles Times to get the view of how the forum last Wednesday: Expo Line Plan Runs Into Resistance. The community did not respond favorably to the “Dorsey holding pen,” the absence of Burke and Parks (isn’t that guy supposed to be running for Supervisor), nor Wesson’s refusal to stand up for the safety of the children. We’ll be uploading more footage from the forum over the next couple of weeks.

Some of the details need clarifying. ECU protested all 34 crossings (they were throughout 10 applications). The PUC Commissioner of the case, Timothy Simon, who oversees the case, ordered the presiding officer, Judge Koss, to not allow an evidentiary hearing (where all the facts can be presented and we can cross examine Expo Authority’s “facts”) on all but the Farmdale application. How much of his decision was based on the facts and arguments of the case (click here to read our briefs), and how much of it is based on expediency and political pressure is to be determined (lots more on that throughout this week).

We will be appealing the decision by Commissioner Simon this week. But if denied at this stage, we don’t intend to go away. We will not allow another Blue Line to be built through South LA. The Expo Line will be built right. We’re going to fight for as long and as far as is necessary to Fix the Expo Line. And legal battles can take a while…

To read the full text of the article if the above link isn’t working, continue reading…

Expo Line plan meets resistance
By Howard Blume and Jeffrey L. Rabin
October 21, 2007 in print edition B-1

Dorsey High School is the focal point of an increasingly heated fight between transit officials determined to build a light-rail line from downtown Los Angeles to the Westside, and Crenshaw District residents who fear that fast-moving trains will threaten the safety of students crossing the tracks.

The first leg of the rail line, scheduled to open in 2010, will run near the 2,000-student high school where at 3:08 p.m. most weekdays, chaos reigns.

After school, hundreds of students flood across the intersection of Exposition Boulevard and Farmdale Avenue, walking home or awaiting pickup. Ice cream trucks beckon. Cars wait six-deep in all directions, sometimes blocking traffic when they pull up to and away from the curb. Students walk or run past the scene or loiter under the mature pepper trees in the boulevard’s grassy median – an old railroad right-of-way that soon will become the path for trains carrying commuters between downtown L.A. and Culver City.

Critics insist that running trains at 35 mph across the intersection is unsafe. To avoid potential collisions between trains, students and motorists, they want the tracks built above or below ground, but not at street level. To do anything less, in their view, is environmental racism.

“This project is unfair to this community and the students who live here,” said Beverly Manuel, Dorsey’s dean of students, as she helped police the mass exodus Thursday. “If this were anyplace else, changing this design would not be an issue.”

Opponents of the design note that the Metropolitan Transportation Authority board last month approved spending an extra $23.3 million to add a station at USC/Exposition Park and to pay for safety improvements at several points along the Expo Line route.

But transit officials say they only have the money to pay for a street-level crossing at Dorsey. To elevate the rail line across the intersection would cost at least an extra $25 million, further straining the Expo Line project’s $663.3-million budget.

Richard Thorpe, chief executive of the Exposition Metro Line Construction Authority, said the intersection will be much safer than it is now with the installation of traffic lights, wider sidewalks, warning lights, bells and barriers to prevent people and cars from crossing the twin tracks when a train is approaching.

Thorpe points to an excellent safety record on MTA’s Gold Line, which runs near schools between downtown L.A. and Pasadena.

The bureaucracy of the Los Angeles Unified School District, belatedly, is joining the public debate. After several years of restrained analyses, district officials have been stirred to action by community activists who have appealed to school administrators, visited school board members and taken over a local neighborhood council.

The construction authority cannot lay tracks across intersections along the rail line without the approval of the state Public Utilities Commission, which has jurisdiction over safety at railroad crossings.

After touring the route and reviewing the record, Timothy Alan Simon, a commissioner on the public utilities board, last week rejected community protests and gave preliminary approval for running trains across nine intersections along Exposition Boulevard. The lone exception was the Dorsey crossing.

Simon, a San Francisco attorney and former appointments secretary to Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, said he wanted to hear the Crenshaw community’s concerns.

“The speed of the trains through the crossing is a safety issue,” he said.

Simon has scheduled a public hearing Nov. 5 at Dorsey. The following day in Culver City, the commissioner and an administrative law judge will hold a formal evidentiary hearing on whether or not to allow the construction authority to proceed with the street-level crossing.

The Dorsey crossing is the last on an 8.6-mile route that is still awaiting state regulatory approval, even though activists also have filed formal objections to the street-level design elsewhere. The tracks will lie within 100 feet of five schools and close to nine others.

Construction of the rail line and other transit projects has become a major goal of Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa and other elected officials in the area. But the Expo Line now entails political as well as potential safety risks.

Resistance to the project’s design is deepening, especially in the minority neighborhoods that surround Dorsey, one of a handful of Los Angeles high schools that remain predominantly black.

All those elements came to the fore Wednesday night at a community forum that drew more than 100 people to the school’s auditorium.

Damien Goodmon, a community activist who has spearheaded opposition to the Expo Line’s design, told the crowd that “Dorsey is the poster child for all that is wrong with this project.”

Goodmon noted that the rail line will run in a fenced-off trench for several blocks near USC and that Culver City officials have demanded an above-ground station in their community. He also accused construction authority officials of having a double standard about safety.

L.A. Unified board member Marguerite Poindexter LaMotte likened the dispute to a latter-day civil rights struggle.

“Nothing will happen that you don’t want to happen in our community if you stand together,” she said.

LaMotte vowed to oppose the Expo Line project unless changes were made to protect the safety of Dorsey students.

Steve J. Bagby Sr., president of the Dorsey High Alumni Assn., urged the crowd to get involved but also emphasized that critics were not opposed to the transit project.

“Everybody is for the Expo Line. We just want it to be safe,” he said.

A stream of speakers joined the critics.

“Environmental racism is alive and well,” said Michelle Colbert, a member of a local neighborhood council. She challenged City Councilman Herb Wesson, who was the only public official who has a say in the Expo Line matter to attend the forum.

“Councilman Wesson, you’ve got to do something. You have to stand up for the people,” Colbert said.

A sometimes-flustered Wesson pointed out that USC did not get all its requested concessions.

Wesson is a voting member and vice chairman of the Exposition Construction Authority’s board of directors, which approved the street-level design.

The councilman, who once held the powerful post of state Assembly speaker, upset many in the crowd when he said that even if he became the one vote on the seven-member Exposition board to oppose the current design, it would not accomplish anything.

The construction authority’s board members include City Councilman Bernard C. Parks, county Supervisors Yvonne B. Burke and Zev Yaroslavsky, and other elected officials.

Parks, Burke and Yaroslavsky also sit on the board of the MTA, which has ultimate authority over spending for the Expo Line and will operate the trains. None of them attended the community forum, but all voted last month for safety enhancements near USC and Los Angeles Trade Tech College.

Villaraigosa, another key player, missed the vote on the USC alterations. The mayor controls four seats on the 13-member MTA board.

“Obviously, the health and safety of the people living along the Expo Line are important and a top priority for me and the MTA,” he said Friday.

Last spring, Burke asked Thorpe to present options for dealing with safety concerns at Dorsey.

Thorpe told reporters that three options were considered: the street-level crossing; a pedestrian bridge over the tracks that would cost $5 million; and running the trains over the intersection on an aerial structure. The last option would cost at least an extra $25 million, he said.

Thorpe said the added USC/Exposition Park station addressed concerns about how to handle crowds from a major event, such as a football game at the nearby Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum.

Thorpe said the MTA had agreed to slow the trains from 55 mph to 35 mph at Dorsey before and after school. Barriers would lower to block off the tracks for passing trains, which won’t stop at the intersection.

Retired Teamsters union official Jimmy Smith countered: “A train at 55 mph or 35 mph will kill you just as dead.”

Critics cited the recent collision of a Gold Line train traveling at 20 mph and an SUV that ran through a closed crossing gate in Highland Park as evidence of the potential danger of the Dorsey crossing. Community activist Goodmon said the SUV “crumpled like a potato chip bag.”

Back at the intersection of Exposition and Farmdale, a fight broke out at 3:15 p.m. Thursday between two girls. A van screeched to a halt to avoid hitting a police officer who dashed over to break things up. Some students ran over to watch. Others lined up at the ice cream trucks. Younger students, from an elementary school north of Exposition, crossed unsupervised. An older boy skateboarded down the middle of Farmdale. Another student, riding a bike without a helmet, shot through the intersection, ignoring stop signs.

“Kids are kids,” said Manuel, Dorsey’s dean of students. “You will have students who will try to beat the train. Someone is going to end up being killed right here on this spot.”

–
jeffrey.rabin@latimes.com
howard.blume@latimes.com

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Now in addition to the downloadable petition, an online version is available. Click here.

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Referencing the separate and unequal design and citing the safety of the children, said she would introduce a resolution opposing the at-grade design and supporting the below grade alternative. The Board Member exclaimed, “You can’t put a dollar sign on the [lives of] students at Foshay and the students at Dorsey.”

Comparatively, see Wesson’s response to a request for him to use his powers to protect the children, elderly, disabled and motorists:

You can contact Councilman Wesson’s Office at:

Email: councilmember.wesson@lacity.org

City Hall Office
200 North Spring Street, Room 430
Los Angeles, CA 90012
(213) 473-7010
Fax (213) 485-9829

District Office
1819 S. Western Ave.
Los Angeles, Ca 90006
(323) 733-8233
Fax (323) 733-5833

Popularity: 1% [?]

In response to the questions and concern building in the community and schools about the safety of the Expo Line through South LA, the West Adams Neighborhood Council and Dorsey HS Alumni Association are hosting a community forum for parents, alumni, teachers, community members, and interested parties at Dorsey HS Wednesday, October 17, 2007 at 6:30 to 8:30 pm at Dorsey HS Auditorium at 3537 Farmdale Avenue, Los Angeles, CA 90016 (map)

The Expo Authority will present the project as they see it, we will present the problems and how to fix them, LAUSD OEHS will update us on the work their office is doing, and the LAUSD Parent Collaborative will explain why they’ve opposed the line. Thereafter the politicians will speak (Board Member LaMotte is confirmed, and Councilmen Wesson may come).

Be there.

UPDATE: Download the flyer here
UPDATE: BUMPED!

Popularity: 1% [?]

The Expo Authority is fond of saying that the many smoking memos we’ve uncovered showing concern/opposition to the unsafe defective design of the street level Expo Line from agencies that have not protested the crossings through the PUC process (PUC engineers, LADOT and LAUSD) mean the agencies endorse the design.

In response to this assertion, the LAUSD Office of Environmental Health and Safety set the record straight and in the process revealed exactly the type of tactics the MTA/Expo Authority has been employed. In the letter OEHS states:

“The recent Response Document issued by the Exposition Construction Authority misrepresents the position of the District, as it states that “With these additional mitigations, LAUSD and Dorsey High School are in agreement with the pedestrian at-grade crossing concept submitted as part of the Expo Construction Authority’s CPUC application for Farmdale Avenue.” We must make it clear that LAUSD-OEHS believes that the safest solution to potential pedestrian-train conflicts at the Exposition Blvd/Farmdale Ave. intersection is to grade-separate this crossing. However, in discussion with the Expo Authority, we were informed that this approach was not feasible, and would not be considered further.“

In the Expo Authority crossing applications and briefs before the PUC, there is no explanation as to why a grade separation is not feasible (defined as “physically capable”). Only that it would be more expensive.

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We’ve uploaded the Expo Authority’s document from March of 2007 that verifies that Metro is planning to run the train with 4 minute frequencies in both directions during peak hours. (link) That equals 15 trains per direction, or 30 trains per hour.

On page two of the response to the PUC engineers’ protest of the initial crossing designs at Trade Tech, Expo Authority responds:

In case the image isn’t working here’s what it reads:

“Metro plans to have the following train schedules: 4 minute services for peak periods, 10 minute service for mid-day, and 20 minute services for early morning and night time. Therefore, a total of about 240 trains per day (both directions) will be crossing these eight crossings.”

And the actual excerpt from the Expo Authority’s crossing application at Farmdale is uploaded, which shows that Expo Authority has applied, and if approved as designed, will get authority to operate trains at 55 mph pass Dorsey HS where over 1800 students walk across in surges daily.

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Our press release on the firing of Gloria Jeff ran in this week’s Our Weekly: Was Gloria Jeff Fired for Opposing the Rail Line?

The short explanation is that on Thursday September 27th, leaders representing 8 different homeowners associations, 5 community organizations, and 2 neighborhood councils protested the MTA proposal to add $18 million dollars to the Expo Line budget for the OPTIONAL USC station at Trousdale and track improvements on the portion of the Expo Line which it is to share with the Blue Line. (audio to come) We have consistently and vocally requested additional funding or alternative construction options so that the Expo Line can be made safe with grade separation, and offered our organizational support for any and all efforts to pursue additional funding. Each and every time we’re told by Expo Authority staff and board members, “We don’t have the money.” (Incidentally, they never say, “We can’t find the money.”)

Nonetheless, Metro, with it’s 3 billion dollar annual budget and $7 billion dollars in assets, found $18 million for the station and track improvements with a vote that passed almost unanimously, and received support from Supervisor Yvonne B. Burke, who represents all of the South LA schools and Councilman Bernard Parks, whose district includes 3800-student Foshay Learning Center which is within 50 feet of the tracks. You couldn’t ask for a better illustration of our elected official’s misplaced priorities and lack of concern for the safety of South LA children.

So how does Jeff fit into all of this?

Prior to the vote, during the public comment period, we submitted a packet to the board members and press that included 16 of the numerous smoking memos we’ve uncovered illustrating internal Metro/Expo and agency concern and outright opposition to the predictable deadly unsafe design of the Expo Line. At the top of the packet was Gloria Jeff’s letter to the MTA/Expo Authority regarding the Exposition Park plans and designs at Exposition Park, dated just one week after the MTA submitted their crossing applications to the regulatory agency responsible for approving all rail crossings. In the letter, Jeff says, the event management plan would lead to “major gridlock,” is “unsafe for pedestrians,” and is “unacceptable to LADOT.” The next day Jeff she was fired for undisclosed reasons.

Firing Jeff because of or in part due to her refusal to tow the company line on Expo would be completely consistent with the damage control strong arm tactics Metro/Expo have employed.

Update: link, with more on that to come.

In case the link above doesn’t work, continue reading…

Was LADOT head Gloria Jeff fired for opposing the rail line?
OurWeekly

Popularity: 4% [?]

• Expo Line Forum TODAY – BE THERE!

The West Adams Neighborhood Council, Dorsey Alumni Association and neighborhood organizations are hosting an important community safety forum on the Expo Light Rail Line through South LA, TODAY, Wednesday, Oct. 17 from 6:30 pm to 8:30 pm at Dorsey High School Auditorium at 3537 Farmdale Ave, Los Angeles, CA 90016. (You can download the flyer here.)

The MTA/Expo Authority will be there to answer questions in a open public forum. (We can assume one of them will be, “Why do you want to run a 225-ton train within 20 feet of Dorsey HS at 55 mph up to 30 times per hour?“) Our organization will present the problems we see with the light rail line and the LAUSD Office of Environmental Health and Safety, and the LAUSD Parent Collaborative will speak as well.

Your presence is needed not only to learn more about the problems with the project and how to fix them, but to show all who will be looking on – the politicians and media – that the community is really concerned about the rail line coming through South LA at street level (known as “at grade”). School Board Member Marguerite LaMotte is confirmed to attend and we’re expecting no less than five media outlets and possibly Councilman Herb Wesson.

• We’re on the Web! www.FixExpo.org

We’re now live on the web at www.FixExpo.org. Bookmark it and stop by regularly to keep up to date on this issue and view the numerous memos, videos and audio that expose the deficiencies of the Expo Line as currently designed. Go there now to view the surge of Dorsey students who cross at Farmdale & Exposition after school everyday (link) and read some of the countless smoking memos we’ve uncovered.

• We’re in the News! Pick Up this week’s Our Weekly

Our press release “Was LADOT Head Gloria Jeff fired for Opposing the Expo Rail Line” was published in it’s entirety in this week’s Our Weekly (link). The day before Jeff was fired, representatives from over 8 homeowners associations, 5 community based organizations and 2 neighborhood councils spoke at the monthly MTA Board Meeting to protest adding $18 million dollars to the Expo Line construction for an optional USC station and track improvements in the portion of the Blue Line that the Expo Line is proposed to share. (The MTA has the money for an optional USC station and upgrades to Blue Line tracks, but they won’t pay for underpasses in South LA??? Right in front of our schools???? WHERE ARE THEIR PRIORITIES?!)

Among the documents we presented to the board and press to illustrate that the Expo Line is not designed to be safe was a strongly worded letter from Jeff to MTA. In the letter she states that the Expo Line design is fatally flawed, “not safe for pedestrians,” “not acceptable to LADOT,” and would lead to “major gridlock” (click here to read the full letter). The next day Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa fired the African-American general manager for undisclosed reasons.

• The Petition Drive Continues

The Save Leimert team was out in full force at last Saturday’s Taste of Soul, collecting over 500 signatures from concerned citizens throughout the region, in just a few hours! From as far out as Oceanside and Lancaster to right in Jefferson Park everyone agrees: the Expo Line must be built correctly through South LA! Thank you to all who signed and participated.

Help continue the momentum. DOWNLOAD THE PETITION (link) and circulate it within your home, workplace, church and organizations. (You don’t have to be a registered voter). There is strength in numbers.

Popularity: 4% [?]