MTA to Consider Bid to Move Station
The Metropolitan Transportation Authority board is scheduled Thursday to consider new information regarding a proposal by MCA Inc. to move a planned Metro Rail station half a mile closer to its Universal Studios and CityWalk attractions.
The board will consider a staff report released last week that said moving the station from Lankershim Boulevard to a site underneath the Hollywood Freeway would increase the $420-million construction bill by as much as $41 million and cause a 21-month delay.
And because MTA faces a projected $126-million deficit next year, the report recommended that the relocation plan be rejected unless new construction funding is found.
MCA executives, who met last week with state Trade and Commerce Agency Secretary Julie Meier Wright to discuss location of the station, still insist that it should be moved.
Since August, MCA has been pressing transportation officials to move the station to better serve patrons of the amusement park. Company officials have also threatened to withhold $6 million in special property assessment fees if the station is not moved. Under a provision in a 10-year-old state law, they are entitled to do that.
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