Westside Village Civic Assn., Inc.

WVCA Position on Light Rail to the Westside & Santa Monica

copy of letter to the MTA

To Whom it May Concern:

The Board of Directors of the Westside Village Civic Association voted to go on record in favor of the development of a light rail link connecting Santa Monica and the Westside with the Metro light rail systems Blue line in central Los Angeles. It is our understanding that the Metropolitan Transit Authority will soon be deciding between light rail and express bus line alternatives to provide additional public transportation between the Westside and central Los Angeles. We feel that the light rail alternative would be highly preferable in terms of alleviating traffic congestion and pollution from motor vehicles, and in terms of passenger comfort and convenience. Light rail also makes sense because of its compatibility with the developing light rail network in this metropolitan area. The long range benefits of a light rail system seem to be much greater than could be realized with an expansion of bus services or the freeway system.

Representatives from Friends 4 Expo Transit have outlined to us the general plan for a light rail line running along the Exposition right-of-way from central Los Angeles to Santa Monica, except for a diversion along Venice and Sepulveda to avoid Cheviot Hills. Our main concerns with this proposal center on safety considerations and the possible disruption of motor vehicle traffic on the sections of Venice Boulevard and Sepulveda Boulevard where the light rail line would share the right-of-way with motor vehicles. The automobile traffic on these major motor vehicle arteries is already quite heavy. We would hope that design features to minimize these potential problems could be found if this plan is adopted.

The opinions expressed in this letter are those of the Westside Village Civic Association’s Board of Directors. This Civic Association draws its membership from residents of the approximately 1,100 single-family homes om the Westside Village community, which is bounded by National Boulevard on the north, Overland Avenue on the east, Charnock Road on the south, and Sepulveda Boulevard on the west. About one-half of the eligible residences are dues paying members of the Association. An informational flier describing the light rail proposal was distributed to all our residents with a recent issue of our Newsletter, but no effort has been made to obtain the views of all residents on this issue. However, the voluntary comments on this issue we have received to date have been uniformly in agreement with the position taken by the Board.