As of September 1, 2011, ALL 1,875 retail establishments are prohibited from providing light-weight, single-use plastic carryout bags to customers at the point of sale. MORE

By Gene Williams
Lookout Staff

September 13, 2011 -- It’s taken decades of debate and planning and it’s still years away from completion, but the second leg of the Expo Light Rail project connecting Culver City to Santa Monica is definitely on track. And nothing can stop it now.

Dignitaries dig in. Photos by Gene Williams

That’s what state, local and regional elected officials were saying at Monday’s Phase 2 groundbreaking ceremony at 4th Street and Colorado – the former site of Sears Automotive Center and future site of Expo’s western terminal station.

During a love fest that looked like a Who’s Who of state, local and regional government, dignitaries assembled on a hastily constructed dias to alternately praise the project and each other for their political will.

“It was without question a team effort,” said Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, who credited Santa Monica councilmember Pam O’Connor for bringing forward a critical motion in her role as an MTA board member to move the rail line forward.

Santa Monica Councilmember and MTA Board Member Pam O'Connor, Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa and Los Angeles County Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky.

For her part, O’Connor gave neighboring Los Angeles City Councilman Bill Rosendahl some good natured ribbing about his now often repeated remark that “Los Angeles embraces Santa Monica.”

The two have not always seen eye to eye.

While both Rosendahl and O’Connor supported Expo, they found themselves on opposite sides a few years ago when it came time to select which route the train should take.

“She won,” Rosendahl said. “She made more sense,” he said, adding that O’Connor enlisted help from Sacramento.

She “sic’d Sheila Kuehl on me,” he said, referring to the district’s then state assembly member.

“I’m not going to quibble with the great city of Santa Monica that we embrace on three sides,” Rosendahl said, adding that getting the Westside “out of gridlock” is “something we can all agree upon.”

“This is a beautiful moment,” he said.

A number of speakers – including Villaraigosa and County Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky, who presided over the ceremony – lamented the dismantling of the region’s trolley lines some 50 years ago – a move that is now generally acknowledged to have been a mistake.

Expo Rail is an important step toward going back in the right direction, Villaraigosa said.

“Zev and I actually remember when we had a streetcar system,” the mayor said. “We had a very robust transit system that connected the entire region.”

Now, “we're on a roll,” he said, adding that the county has made a commitment to “double the size of the rail system in the next ten years.”

Santa Monica Mayor Richard Bloom echoed that sentiment.

“How sweet it is that we are at this point today,” Bloom said, adding that expo will “knit together communities that were rent asunder.”

Also on the dais were Santa Monica City Councilmembers Gleam Davis and Bob Holbrook, College Trustee Nancy Greenstein, State Assemblymembers Julia Brownley and Mike Feuer, Culver City Mayor Micheal O’Leary and Los Angeles Councilmember Mark Ridley Thomas.

Assembled among the crowd of about 100 were some advocates who had been part of the effort since the beginning of the light rail dream – including former Santa Monica Mayor Dennis Zane and former Planning Commissioner and founder of Friends4Expo, Darrel Clarke. They couldn't seem to say enough good about each other.

Friends4Expo founder Darrell Clarke and former Santa Monica Mayor Dennis Zane.

“The kudos here should go to Darrell Clarke and Russ Davis. They started it,” said Zane.

Zane said that Clarke and his organization were the political force behind the Los Angeles County Transportation Commission's purchase of Southern Pacific rights-of-way in the late 1980's, and then pushed for the light rail in following years.

“He's the guy who should have been on the stage,” Zane said of Clarke, calling him a “local hero.”

“This is proof that citizen activists make a difference.”

Clarke returned the compliment.

“Without Denny Zane, there would be no Measure R [the tax measure voters passed in 2008 that provides a large part of the funding for Expo line],” said Clarke.

“It shows what the grassroots can do,” he said.

Tuesday, the Santa Monica City Council will look at track and station plans for the Expo light rail line and consider city staffs' request to continue to review designs and negotiate with Expo for station improvements.

The Santa Monica leg of the rail line is budgeted to cost $1.5 billion and will employ some 9,000 construction workers. The City of Santa Monica has given a mandate to Skanska Rados – the joint venture builder of the project – to fill those jobs with as many hirees from the local labor pool as possible.

Once Expo is completed in 2015, it is expected to carry 64,000 commuters a day. It will include three stations, a maintenance facility, a bike path and approximately three miles of track.