Raised Rail Riles Residents

Residents along the Ventura Freeway corridor are distressed at the possibility of elevated trains running through their communities. Several proposals are being considered that would run monorail, magnetic-levitation or other rail systems as high as 70 feet in the air through residential neighborhoods.

Both sides of the Ventura Freeway are flanked by residences. Elevated trains, stations and parking lots will cause monumental problems--noise, visual blight and traffic congestion within a few feet of these homes, an intolerable condition. It is very easy for those whose homes are not affected to sacrifice the residences of others.

Monorail isn’t workable because it would force people going downtown to transfer to another conveyance in North Hollywood. They would also have to find a means of getting to and from the stations at each end of the line. This means more traffic rather than less.

To protect residents of the Ventura Freeway corridor, our politicians should pass a law requiring a subway through residential neighborhoods along the Ventura Freeway. Gov. Wilson signed into law the Robbins bill that establishes a precedent along the Burbank-Chandler route. These residents deserve the same protection. Not to do so is discriminatory.

GERALD A. SILVER

Encino