By Jonathan Friedman
Staff Writer

February 8, 2010 -- Council member Gleam Davis said last Thursday’s approval of a light rail line connecting Culver City to Santa Monica will mean less traffic, but more visitors, to the City. ("Expo Line Gets Green Light," February 5, 2010)

Meanwhile, school board member and Pico Neighborhood activist Oscar de la Torre called the rail’s maintenance facility being designated for his area an “environmental injustice.”

“We need mass transit to help ameliorate our jobs/housing balance and to remove single car drivers … from the 10 freeway, which generates a lot of pollution through some of the most vulnerable parts of our city,” said Davis.

Davis voted on the Metro Transportation Authority Board Thursday as a substitute for Mayor Pro Tem Pam O’Connor, who is recovering from knee surgery.

“And this will be an enhancement for local businesses because more people will come to Santa Monica and not be deterred by traffic or parking issues,” Davis said.

The $1.5 billion project is the second phase of a light rail line that will begin in downtown Los Angeles. The first phase of the line to Culver City is currently under construction.

Council member Kevin McKeown, a vocal advocate of public transportation and bicycle use, also praised the project, but hopes that this is just the first step toward a sophisticated regional public transportation system.

“Santa Monica and all of the Westside need far more than Expo to restore access and mobility,” McKeown wrote in an e-mail to the Lookout News. “The new Expo stations must become multimodal hubs for shuttle buses and bikeways.

"The eventual Subway to the Sea will be far from redundant," he wrote. "It will help remedy many decades of insufficient regional transit planning.”

Also approved on Thursday was the placement of a on Exposition Boulevard off Stewart Street.

The facility will cover the areas containing the existing Verizon building and a Santa Monica College parking lot. City and SMC officials are in negotiation for a land swap to allow for the construction.

De la Torre said putting the facility in the Pico Neighborhood adds to the suffering for residents already exposed to the I-10 Freeway and the City’s garbage dump.

“We’re asking one segment of our population to continuously shoulder the burden for the region’s mass transit needs,” de la Torre said. “And there’s no sensitivity to this.”

Other than Davis’ vote as a member of the board, the City Council had no official say in the matter.

Santa Monica leaders were able to do some negotiating before the final decision was made. The original plan was to put the facility on the Verizon site alone, placing it immediately next to residences.

With the new location, a 110-foot buffer will be created. But de la Torre said City officials did not do enough.

“From downtown Los Angeles to Santa Monica, they could not find a more suitable location that would have less of a residential impact?” asked de la Torre, who said he did appreciate there would at least be the buffer.

“That to me is just unfortunate that our elected leaders did not press harder,” de la Torre said.

Davis said the City did all it could to find another site for the facility.

City officials had researched other possible locations. Expo rejected all the proposals because its leaders said they were too costly or unfeasible.

The Council member said she is committed to keeping a close eye on the facility during its construction and operation “to make sure that it is done in such a way to minimize the impact on nearby residents.”