Noise, Property Values Cited : Freeway Rail Proposal Criticized

San Fernando Valley homeowners opposed to a proposal to use the Ventura Freeway for an elevated light-rail route charged Thursday night that the rail line would increase noise and pollution and decrease property values.

The double-deck freeway plan is one of three light-rail proposals recommended by the Los Angeles City Council to connect the planned Metro Rail terminus in North Hollywood with the West Valley. The route would extend along the freeway from Universal City to Warner Center.

A Metro Rail subway extension westward across the Valley has also been proposed.

The hearing at Walter Reed Junior High School in North Hollywood attracted more than 100 people. It was sponsored by the Coalition of Freeway Residents, composed of 10 Valley homeowner groups that oppose an above-ground rail system. A transcript of the testimony will be submitted to the Los Angeles County Transportation Commission and elected officials next week.

Subway Favored

“We want to junk the idea of an elevated line on the Ventura Freeway,” said Tom Paterson, representing the Valley Village Homeowners Assn. of North Hollywood. “We don’t want to waste any more public money to study an idea that was bad to begin with and that can never stand an environmental review process. They should put their focus on something that will do away with pollution, which is the subway system.”

Most residents said they favored a subway system. “I think that’s the only solution,” said North Hollywood resident Deborah Humphrey, who lives five houses from the freeway.

“If they are going to put transit here, they’re going to have to bury it. That’s the only way they’re going to get any satisfaction from homeowners.”

Assemblyman Terry B. Friedman (D-Tarzana) noted that Metro Rail would be underground in the Hollywood business district, “and if it’s good enough for businesses in the city, then it’s good enough for the residents of the Valley to have it underground.”

Diane Glasser of Sherman Oaks, who also lives near the freeway, said “the attitude of politicians seems to be” that those who live near the freeway “already have the noise, they already have the pollution; dump it on them, they’ll never know the difference.”