Last Hearing Set on Rail Corridor
Residents will have a final opportunity Thursday to comment on a 20-mile rail freight expressway from San Pedro Bay to downtown Los Angeles that is expected to generate 9,000 construction-related jobs.
Planners of the Alameda Corridor believe that the $1.3-billion project will help revive the economies of South-Central Los Angeles and industrial Southeast Los Angeles County cities, but some business owners along the route have expressed concerns about being displaced.
At least a quarter of the contracts for the corridor are expected to go to companies owned by minorities and women, officials said.
“The purpose here is to give opportunities to people who are not normally given those opportunities,” said Gilbert Hicks, executive director of the Alameda Corridor Transportation Authority, based in Huntington Park. “Our board will be very sensitive to this issue, because the project goes through the heart of disadvantaged areas.”
The authority was formed through a joint agreement of the Long Beach and Los Angeles port authorities, the City and County of Los Angeles, and South Gate, Huntington Park, Vernon, Compton, Lynwood and Carson.
A public hearing starts at 5:30 p.m. Thursday at Jefferson High School, 1319 E. 41st Place, Los Angeles. Hearings have already taken place in Carson and Lynwood.
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