‘Metro Rail Is Dead . . .’

Metro Rail is not dead. Los Angeles needs it too badly to accommodate its rising population and increasing congestion. More than 130 cities around the world have subways or are currently building them. We are among the last major cities to provide fast rail transportation for our commuters.

Congressman Waxman accepts the fact that a store fire on 3rd Street last year was evidence of unsafe gas/oil conditions in this area. He should be equally perceptive about the 20-year-old safety record of excavations for high-rise buildings along the Wilshire Corridor and downtown. Their foundations go far below subway operating levels and there have been no explosions.

The congressman uses construction horror tales but avoids mention of Mexico City in the recent quake, where the subway was a haven of security in a sea of flying glass and falling buildings. Fine safety and successful subway operations in Atlanta, Boston, Toronto, Philadelphia and other cities do not exist in his mind.

Waxman has a deserved reputation as an expert in health and environmental legislation, but he is surprisingly ill-informed about rail rapid transit, for example:

1-- Rail-on-freeway lines: Subway transit operates best in densely populated areas with good pedestrian access to stations. The freeway does not fit this description. Wilshire and downtown need auto traffic taken off surface streets. Freeways are an important part of the movement system but rail-on-freeway could not relieve inner city congestion.

2-- Light - Rail: These trains operate on surface streets, usually as three-car units with a top speed of about 50 m.p.h. This is appropriate technology for lightly traveled routes such as that between San Diego and San Ysidro, not for the 30,000 passengers-per-hour trains needed for downtown and the Wilshire corridor.

3-- Dodger Stadium: The starter line of Metro Rail does not “pass close by” Dodger Stadium; it is miles away! How could he make such an error if he had any knowledge of the project?

The congressman professes concern about Metro Rail and then proceeds to knife it with unnecessary and costly delays caused by his drastic construction requirements in the Wilshire Corridor.

We could indeed do more about providing money for Metro Rail if we planned more self-financing subway stations via private enterprise joint development efforts. Stations are 35% to 50% of the total construction cost. But is Waxman interested in a positive approach to finance--or anything that will help bring fast rapid transit to Los Angeles?

ABRAHAM FALICK

Los Angeles

Falick is a former planning economist for the City of Los Angeles (1967-75).