Beverly Hills Subway Tunneling Under 90210 High School Approved by Metro

Coasterkid

Actually, the Constellation stop has been favored since 1968 (http://libraryarchives.metro.n..., but nice try at that Villaraigosa conspiracy theory.

WestLA TGG

Once again Dennis sticks with his tried and true method of misleadingmixology within his articles; playing on the hopes that LA Weekly readers willsee his words as fact and not personal projection. Besides the remarks aboutthe maids being the only riders of this line (I am sure there are easily adozen hundreds-times over), the comment about the developer was even more ridiculous.I have posted once before - and apparently will do it again - what developer inLA, one that has the capability of developing a high rise, doesn’t have connectionswith the City’s mayor, or its council? If it’s not that developer, it’s goingto be another one. Or, another business interest – I guess Westfield wasn’twilling to cough-up more money than the developer of the high rise was will to,but so what. Welcome to the world we live in.

Back to Dennis’ personal opinion on ridership, there isone thing studies of potential ridership can’t predict and that is the shiftinghabits of those in the future that will grow up with this subway around. This has thepotential to shift commute directions, neighborhoods, and possibly equalizehome prices and apartment rents. Of course, not right now. Not even 10 yearsfrom now. But, 15-20 years from now a simple subway can do that (ask the SanFernando Valley what type of influence a shift in commute can have on home prices,personal take home earnings, retirement, etc…). I hope my grandchildren willgrow up with this possibility, with the subways as part of their everyday life,intrinsic in most everything thing they do. Multiply that by a couplemillion and you realize what will more likely happen.

The Expo line, being the only rail system north of the 10freeway to pass to the west side of the 405, will be a major game changer forany rentals and home prices within walking distance of any stop. From this wemay even see a resurgence of older neighborhoods in mid-LA proper.

When we die we should leave LA better than when we found it –and that does not include adding more lanes to a freeway.

Regards,

T.G.G. (The Greater Good)

P.S. Metro – install your turnstiles already! Don’t panderanymore to the unions. It’s okay to NOT have a human checking tickets andtransfers. Let’s step into the civilized world, attempt to reach the level ofother countries, and make the improvements necessary to local transit(including making sure riders pay for their tickets).

Dennis Romero

WestLA:

Follow the link regarding the developer. I'm simply referring to a cover story we did (and by we I mean not me) earlier, with deep reporting on the topic. If you have a problem with it, comment there.

In terms of ridership, there's little indication so far that the existing subways have taken the sort of uppity Westside folks they're aiming for out of their cars, and there's little indication the extension will do any different. Google "$9 Billion Subway-to-Sea Rip-Off" for more info.

It's true I'm being snide and snarky here. I'm glad you chose LA Weekly for your news, but there are other outlets out there with the dry facts if that's how you prefer your info. If, however, you return to the Informer I promise to at least be entertaining and engaging.

-Dennis

JS310

Entertaining is fine. Inaccurate, biased, and offensive is not. The crack about maids and gardeners (who typically drive pickups, last time i checked) was uncalled-for. Plenty of people are going to ride it, and we white folk who are looking forward to the subway don't need you to denigrate it ex ante. And what if only low-income workers rode it? Are their "dreams" not valid?

As for the claims about the developer: You brought it up here, so why it is not fair game to comment on it here? It was a ridiculous conspiracy theory in the first place, and it's no less ridiculous now. There are *plenty* of good reasons -- from a pure planning perspective -- to locate it at Constellation regardless of how much or how little JMB donated. And shouldn't we look at the role in money in Beverly Hills politics too?

Regardless, if you're really concerned about the role of money in politics, then, well, that's a longer conversation, don't you think? (As is the conversation about journalistic ethics.)

JS310

I'm just checking back in on this thread, and I notice something very interesting: of the 10+ "likes" among these comments, not a single one refers to anything that Mr. Romero wrote. Granted, "likes" are unscientific, but it's still interesting.

JS310

I appreciate your response, but you're just trotting out BRU talking points. Whether or not those points are valid, it's a stale argument that's only vaguely related to the BH situation. Moreover, it's moot at this point, especially since 66% of the county voted for a transportation funding plan that includes the subway.

Your tone implied that you don't particularly care about "maids and gardeners" except when they're convenient pawns for your critique of Metro. Even if you do care deeply about such people, I'm not sure that you--or anyone else--has any idea what their "dreams" are. For some low-income commuters, the subway is going to be a godsend. As for your attitudes towards white people, I don't think reverse racism is the cure to LA's ills. And since when does Metro say that it wants to attract white people? Sure, it wants to attract discretionary riders, but you don't need to make it a racial issue. Finally, who's the "no one" to whom you're referring? What about the 148,000 boardings per day? Are they "no one" because the numbers aren't high enough for your personal standards (which, I suppose, go along with your personal definition of the Westside)? Or are they "no one" because they're black, brown, and poor people?

Dennis Romero

My point is that these are the folks who use public transportation, and what they'd much rather need/have is some attention paid to them, some better bus service, etc. rather than subways no one rides. If white people end up riding them en masse, I'll eat my words.

wanderer

Being snarky is one thing, failing to disclose core facts is another. A station in the heart of Century City would have substantially more ridership than the station Beverly Hills has advocated, at the edge of Century City, next to a golf course. By failing to disclose this, you distort the story.

"The community" did not oppose the Constellation/Century City station. A number of elected officials and activists in Beverly Hills opposed the Century City station. Virtually nobody outside of Beverly Hills opposed it. More distortion.

Finally, stop the presses, Westsiders aren't riding existing rail lines (most of which aren't subways). Perhaps that's because the existing rail lines don't go to the Westside! Probably the people in Orange County don't ride them either.

You have every right to write editorials saying I hate subways (or libertarian Arizona-based New Times hates subways), I/we don't want one built. But don't pretend that you're providing news.

Dennis Romero

We've reported this in the past. The ridership angle is old news. Perhaps you've failed to read.

WestLA

Dumb-Dennis,

If there is no indication that the subways have removed Westsiders from their cars it's because the subways don't come to the Westside...Yet. What a convenient conclusion - "hey, studies have chosen that a subway not even servicing a specific, traffic-locked area of LA, has had no impact on receiving that traffic-locked area." What a surprise.

The subways' focus is on FUTURE generations. I will include the math for you and other simple people: The subway is not really for you (ridership will be modest from this group at best). It's possibly not your children (who would grow-up with it, but probably still tangled in the web of cars since our generation is still alive). Yes, you got it now - it's for your children's' children. You can't study that with any meaningful variable assumptions or accuracy.

Dennis, please learn that studies by the any government agency are just to avoid taking responsibility or simply shift responsibility. Government officials, or at least most of them, off record, know the subways are GOING TO BE meaningful in the future, but can't take the political risk, or spend the political capital (relations with special interests) without spending our tax dollars on alternative methods to distance themselves from their decisions (the studies). The only parties that benefit from studies or the firms that provide those services, AND the only people that seem to realize this are the smart people that own these firms (another set of the smartest guys in the room shall we say).

WestLA

Dennis Romero

WestLA:

We already have a subway that travels west of downtown, into Koreatown, which is Westside to me, in an old school sense (I never subscribed to the idea of Echo Park and Silver Lake as Eastside -- Google my work on this). So, we've had this up and running for years, and ridership, particularly among the white professionals that Metro is trying to attract with these things, is abysmal. This is current generation transportation, and the people who use it most, those gardeners and maids, are being ignored here. Ask the Bus Riders Union.

You can disagree, but there's nothing dumb or lacking facts regarding my outlook.

As I say below, if white yuppies magically start riding these things someday -- and that would be nice since we're all paying for it -- I'll eat my words. But so far, not really.