Purchasing Railroad Rights of Way for Transit

I strongly agree with your assessment of Los Angeles’ transportation problems, as expressed in your editorial. Because the future of this region is literally tied to the availability of diverse transit systems to link people to their jobs, we must develop a comprehensive and usable transportation network spanning greater Los Angeles. The purchase of the Southern Pacific and Santa Fe branch lines would be an integral step toward that end. After all, opportunity is not a long-time visitor.

Some Los Angeles residents may indeed oppose this one-time opportunity to serve L.A. commuters. But as chairman of the Eastside Transit Study Committee of the Southern California Association of Governments, and as a lifelong resident of the Eastside of Los Angeles, I know that on our end of town, from downtown to the San Gabriel Valley, thousands of people eagerly await just such a relatively cheap and effective answer to our transportation problem. As an already public transit-dependent community, we who watch the sun set over downtown look forward to the availability of modern mass transit to carry us to work, school and family gatherings. Given our needs, we deserve to be first on the “fast track” for this transit opportunity.

RICHARD ALATORRE

Member, Los Angeles City Council