December 31 – January 27, 2022
Public Comment Is Open for the Sepulveda Pass Rail Line Two meetings planned for January B y D olores Q uintana Metro Los Angeles has opened public comment during the Environmental Review Phase of the proposed rail line that would connect the San Fernando Valley to the Westside through the Sepulveda Pass and eventually connect the areas served to LAX. The draft of the Environmental Impact Review for the project has been released and you can review the proposed rail lines, both heavy rail and monorail options, and lend your opinion to Metro on the subject and choose the one that you think would suit the situation best. Interested residents can use these options to comment on the proposals: Online Comment Form: https://bit.ly/ SepulvedaCommentForm If you would like to learn more about the options, Metro Los Angeles has set up three virtual meetings online through Zoom. More details about this meeting can be found on Metro.net. Of the six options available, three are heavy rail and three are monorails.
Option One: Automated monorail that would be entirely aerial along the 405 corridor and the Metrolink Ventura County Line railroad tracks with an electric bus shuttle to UCLA. The monorail would originate from the Van Nuys Metrolink station and terminate at Expo Sepulveda Station. The trains could have between two and eight cars, with six cars the normal length during peak hours. Cars would hold 76 to 79 passengers each. The tram would run 15.3 miles and have eight aerial stations at Expo Sepulveda, Santa Monica, Wilshire, with a D line transfer, Getty Center, US 101, G Line Sepulveda Station, Sherman Way, and Van Nuys Metrolink Station. It would connect to UCLA through a separate electric shuttle bus at Wilshire Station. Option 2: Automated monorail with aerial alignment along the 405 corridor and Metrolink Ventura County Line railroad tracks with an aerial automated people mover connection to UCLA. This option is identical to Option One except that the connection to UCLA is an automated people mover. A pedestrian bridge would run from the monorail station on the south side of Wilshire to an aerial Automated People Mover (APM) station on the north side of Wilshire. The APM would travel on a structure primarily along Gayley Avenue to an aerial station near
Rendering Credit: LA SkyRail Express
the west end of Bruin Walk on the UCLA campus. The people mover would operate at the same frequency as the monorail. Alternative 3: Automated monorail with aerial segment along the 405 corridor, an underground segment between Wilshire and Getty Center, then entirely aerial along the 405 and Van Nuys Metrolink Line railroad tracks. This alternative is similar to the first two options, the difference being that it has an underground segment to connect to UCLA and is slightly longer because of it at 16.3 miles.
The additional station at UCLA would be an underground station. Alternative 4: Heavy rail with underground segment south of Ventura Blvd and aerial alignment generally along Sepulveda Blvd in the San Fernando Valley. The first heavy rail option has almost all the same stations, there would be no stop at the Getty Center, and the same starting and ending points as the monorail options, but has fewer
Rail Line, see page 2
LA County, City Seek Dismissal of Homelessness Lawsuits Attorneys file dismissal motions in relation to LA Alliance for Human Rights case B y S am C atanzaro Los Angeles city and county are pursuing a dismissal of a homelessness lawsuit that requires local governments to provide shelter for thousands of individuals living on the streets. This month, county and city attorneys filed dismissal motions in federal court concerning a 2020 lawsuit by the LA Alliance for Human Rights. The organization, a coalition of businesses, residents, landlords and homeless individuals claim that inaction by the
city and county has created a hazardous environment. The group filed an amended complaint last month after an appeals court knocked down a court order that would have demanded the city and county offer shelter to all homeless people living in the Skid Row area within six months. Skip Miller, a lawyer for LA County, argued the lawsuit was well-legally flawed. “LA County understands and shares the urgency of addressing the humanitarian crisis of homelessness in our communities. Unfortunately, this lawsuit has never been the right vehicle to get us there — not when it was originally filed and not now in its amended form,” Miller said in a statement Friday. Daniel Conway, a policy adviser for LA Alliance for Human Rights, noted in a statement public officials should be concentrating funds on getting people off
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the streets as possible instead of pursuing legal action. “This would have the benefits of saving lives, providing treatment and services, reducing crime and violence in our neighborhoods, and reclaiming public spaces for the entire community. Instead,
the city and the county of Los Angeles spend taxpayer dollars grasping at every legal escape hatch,” Conway said. A hearing has been set for January 24, 2022, before U.S. District Judge David O. Carter to discuss the dismissal motions.
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