City Councilwoman Backs Subway Plan

Los Angeles City Councilwoman Laura Chick, entering an already fractious debate over a planned railway across the San Fernando Valley, said Tuesday that she favors a subway system over an elevated line above the Ventura Freeway.

In an open letter to her West Valley constituents outlining her position on the volatile issue for the first time, Chick wrote that a subway along Burbank and Chandler boulevards was preferable for several reasons, including its proximity to key destination points such as Valley and Pierce colleges, Warner Center and the Van Nuys civic center.

The subway, as a direct extension of the Metro Rail Red Line, would also provide a seamless commute into Downtown, without the connection and transfer that would be required of riders along a monorail-type system, she said.

Responding to longstanding contentions that the Ventura Freeway option would cost far less than an underground system, Chick noted that a recent independent cost comparison narrowed the price gap to within $19 million, “less than a 1% difference in a $2-billion project,” she wrote.

However, Chick said she would not support a cost-cutting plan entailing the construction of open-air stations in the West Valley, as the Metropolitan Transportation Authority has suggested.

Chick said the same savings could be achieved by eliminating two of five West Valley stations, at Tampa and White Oak avenues, which she said would serve “low-density, single-family neighborhoods that truly do not warrant transit stops.”

Before last November’s elections, then-incumbent Councilwoman Joy Picus criticized Chick for not taking a position on which rail line to support. Picus backed the subway option.

The MTA board of directors is scheduled to decide on an alignment next month.