Motions have been passed by the directly impacted South LA Neighborhood Councils opposing the Expo Line's current street level design through South LA and supporting the community's alternative for a below grade alignment (underground or trench) from the Exposition Park trench at Figueroa to La Brea (4 of the 8.6 miles of the Expo Line).
Empowerment Congress West Area Neighborhood Development Council, which represents the Baldwin Hills, Baldwin Village, Baldwin Vista, Crenshaw Manor, Leimert Park and Village Green communities passed their motion on December 18, 2007: pdf
Empowerment Congress North Area Neighborhood Development Council, which represents the University Park and Jefferson Park communities passed their motion on December 6, 2007: pdf
West Adams Neighborhood Council, which represents the area around Dorsey HS passed their motion in the summer of 2007: pdf
UPDATE: United Neighborhoods Neighborhood Council, passed a resolution on September 4, 2008, meaning all four of the directly adjacent neighborhood councils in South LA have passed similar resolutions opposing street-level crossings in South LA and supporting grade separation.
The full text of the ECWANDC Resolution is available by continuing to read...
Empowerment Congress West Area Neighborhood Development Council
Expo Line Project Resolution & Recommendations
December 18, 2007
Whereas, there would be a substantial environmental impact to the Empowerment Congress West Area Neighborhood Development Council area from the currently proposed light rail Expo Line project, which will operate all hours of the day and will impact the community frequently and consistently for generations;
Whereas, at-grade crossings proposed at Arlington Avenue, 7th Avenue, 11th Avenue, Crenshaw Blvd, Buckingham Road and Farmdale Avenue pose a grave safety risk to motorists and pedestrians, particularly the elderly, disabled and children;
Whereas, much of the Expo Line design is similar to Metropolitan Transportation Authority's Blue Line, which to date has killed 89 people and been involved in over 798 accidents, making it the deadliest and most accident-prone light rail line in the country;
Whereas, the Metropolitan Transit Authority's 1998 Booz-Allen, Hamilton study identified the major cause of the Blue Line accidents as the high ridership of the line, large vehicular and pedestrian traffic around station locations, diverse socio-economic population, high residential density and slow traffic speeds of vehicles, conditions which are all similar or greater in intensity on the Expo Line corridor;
Whereas, train crossings are predicted in upwards of every 30 times per hour per intersection;
Whereas, the property lines of several schools, parks and places of worship are within 50 feet of the Expo Line, and a large youth population is within walking distance of the tracks;
Whereas, traffic counts at the intersection of Washington Blvd & National Blvd in the city of Culver City, state of California, and at the intersection of Jefferson Blvd & National Blvd in West Los Angeles, state of California where grade separations are proposed are lower than traffic counts at Crenshaw & Exposition where no grade separation is proposed;
Where as, train horns, bells, whistles, track switches, crossing gates, overpasses, sound walls, street closures and crossing gates cause noise, blight, division, and traffic congestion, and obstruct easy access to emergency services and parks;
Whereas, crossing gates at 7th Avenue & Exposition will severely impact emergency response times of Fire Station 34;
Whereas, crossing gates at Farmdale Avenue & Exposition will severely impact emergency response times of Fire Station 94;
Whereas, traffic circulation will be severely disrupted with the closure of 2nd Avenue and 3rd Avenue;
Whereas, the closure of Rancho Cienega park access will nearly completely eliminate access from the northside of the tracks;
Whereas, the closure of Baldwin Hills park access will completely eliminate access from the northside of the tracks;
Whereas, short-term budgeting and decision-making has not made a full accounting of the life cycle costs of at-grade Expo Line crossings, which include negative externalities such as pollution mitigation for idling queued vehicles, the cost for increased highway storage capacity to accommodate traffic backed up by the train, the loss of productivity and delays due to crossing gates and train-auto and train-pedestrian accidents, the cost of lawsuits due to loss of life and limb, the cost of traffic gate and signal maintenance, the loss of ridership due to slow trains speeds because of auto traffic congestion, reduced emergency service access, and spillover congestion on the rest of the roadway system;
Whereas, a below grade Expo Line on Exposition Blvd through the Empowerment Congress West Area Neighborhood Development Council and other South LA communities eliminates these and other adverse environmental impacts;
Whereas, a below grade Expo Line on Exposition Blvd through the Empowerment Congress West Area Neighborhood Development Council area produces a higher return on the large taxpayer investment through increased ridership, reduced travel times, reduced annual operating cost, and increased capacity for spurs that can serve several parts of our region;
Whereas, the political leadership of South Los Angeles has the capacity, standing and has significant influence (federal, state and local) on the relevant committees, boards, and commissions to represent and meet the needs of the community;
Be it resolved, that the Empowerment Congress West Area Neighborhood Development Council opposes the currently proposed design of the light rail Expo Line;
Be it resolved, that the Empowerment Congress West Area Neighborhood Development Council supports the community's efforts to grade separate all currently proposed at-grade crossings on the Expo Line;
Be it resolved, that the Empowerment Congress West Area Neighborhood Development Council demands that the political leadership of South Los Angeles fulfill the needs of its citizens for a safe and efficient grade separated Expo Line that maintains community cohesion;
Be it further resolved; that the Empowerment Congress West Area Neighborhood Development Council supports beginning to build the Expo Line below grade from the Figueroa trench through South Los Angeles as far as the existing budget will allow, while simultaneously supporting increased investment through annual government budgets and new resources like State Proposition 1B and State Proposition 1C to complete phase 1 to Culver City.
