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Can you clarify how the alternate location would have benefited the city of Beverly Hills other than not tunneling under their high school? The alternate locat

by dubyah 11y ago

Can you clarify how the alternate location would have benefited the city of Beverly Hills other than not tunneling under their high school? The alternate location is 0.2 miles away, wouldn't even be in Beverly Hills proper, and there aren't any particular commercial developments that would be of better advantage than the current proposal. Heck, the alternate location is adjacent to a golf course.

azernik 11y ago
The issue was the exact route west of the Wilshire/Rodeo stop [1] in western BH. The possibilities were running north of the high school, with a third stop in the city of Beverly Hills, around the Santa Monica/Wilshire intersection [2] and its commercial district; or to run southwest, under the high school, to the office towers of Century City [3]. The distance look close on a map, but the terrain is EXTREMELY unwalkable - what looks like regular roads on the maps of Century City are laid out more like highways, with hundreds of meters between crosswalks, and large blocks without paths to cut across them. The MTA wanted the Century City route, both because it would have been better placed to catch commuter traffic and because the Wilshire/Santa Monica route would have gone too close to a fault line; Beverly Hills, clearly, preferred the extra commercial activity to contribute to its own tax revenues. So they made up this "oh my god the kids are going to die!" scare; the local congressman, Henry Waxman, backed them by getting the BH route blocked at the Federal level until 2007. The MTA then brought up the alternative of sending the train through West Hollywood instead, bypassing BH altogether, and the city caved right quick. God I love local politics. [1] https://www.google.com/maps/place/@34.0670703,-118.401029,17z/data=!3m1!4b1!4m2!3m1!1s0x80c2bbf8e2bb5727:0xcea858680180beed https://www.google.com/maps/place/@34.0670703,-118.401029,17... [2] https://www.google.com/maps/place/Beverly+Hills,+CA+90210/@34.0670136,-118.4104353,17z/data=!3m1!4b1!4m2!3m1!1s0x80c2bbf5fe3bf84d:0x34e887f3a4feb0c2 https://www.google.com/maps/place/Beverly+Hills,+CA+90210/@3... [3] https://www.google.com/maps/place/2000+Avenue+of+the+Stars,+Los+Angeles,+CA+90067/@34.0587061,-118.4161226,18z/data=!4m2!3m1!1s0x80c2bbf321bfc969:0xe46a66e8c6d5c48 https://www.google.com/maps/place/2000+Avenue+of+the+Stars,+...
- dubyah 11y ago
  Ah, you're talking about the Wilshire route vs the 'Pink' line / West Hollywood route & associated time frame. I thought you were talking about the opposition indicated per the parent post, regarding the Beverly Hills High School opposition to the Avenue of the Stars / Constellation stop vs the Santa Monica Blvd / Avenue of the Stars stop. I largely agree with your points but the 'Think of the children' aspect wasn't just contained to that aspect; they had fears of ISIS attacks as recently as last year. http://la.curbed.com/archives/2014/09/bev_hills_paper_warns_about_isis_attack_on_unbuilt_la_subway.php http://la.curbed.com/archives/2014/09/bev_hills_paper_warns_...

by dubyah 11y ago

azernik 11y ago

The issue was the exact route west of the Wilshire/Rodeo stop [1] in western BH. The possibilities were running north of the high school, with a third stop in the city of Beverly Hills, around the Santa Monica/Wilshire intersection [2] and its commercial district; or to run southwest, under the high school, to the office towers of Century City [3]. The distance look close on a map, but the terrain is EXTREMELY unwalkable - what looks like regular roads on the maps of Century City are laid out more like highways, with hundreds of meters between crosswalks, and large blocks without paths to cut across them. The MTA wanted the Century City route, both because it would have been better placed to catch commuter traffic and because the Wilshire/Santa Monica route would have gone too close to a fault line; Beverly Hills, clearly, preferred the extra commercial activity to contribute to its own tax revenues. So they made up this "oh my god the kids are going to die!" scare; the local congressman, Henry Waxman, backed them by getting the BH route blocked at the Federal level until 2007. The MTA then brought up the alternative of sending the train through West Hollywood instead, bypassing BH altogether, and the city caved right quick. God I love local politics. [1] https://www.google.com/maps/place/@34.0670703,-118.401029,17z/data=!3m1!4b1!4m2!3m1!1s0x80c2bbf8e2bb5727:0xcea858680180beed https://www.google.com/maps/place/@34.0670703,-118.401029,17... [2] https://www.google.com/maps/place/Beverly+Hills,+CA+90210/@34.0670136,-118.4104353,17z/data=!3m1!4b1!4m2!3m1!1s0x80c2bbf5fe3bf84d:0x34e887f3a4feb0c2 https://www.google.com/maps/place/Beverly+Hills,+CA+90210/@3... [3] https://www.google.com/maps/place/2000+Avenue+of+the+Stars,+Los+Angeles,+CA+90067/@34.0587061,-118.4161226,18z/data=!4m2!3m1!1s0x80c2bbf321bfc969:0xe46a66e8c6d5c48 https://www.google.com/maps/place/2000+Avenue+of+the+Stars,+...

dubyah 11y ago
Ah, you're talking about the Wilshire route vs the 'Pink' line / West Hollywood route & associated time frame. I thought you were talking about the opposition indicated per the parent post, regarding the Beverly Hills High School opposition to the Avenue of the Stars / Constellation stop vs the Santa Monica Blvd / Avenue of the Stars stop. I largely agree with your points but the 'Think of the children' aspect wasn't just contained to that aspect; they had fears of ISIS attacks as recently as last year. http://la.curbed.com/archives/2014/09/bev_hills_paper_warns_about_isis_attack_on_unbuilt_la_subway.php http://la.curbed.com/archives/2014/09/bev_hills_paper_warns_...