San Fernando Valley : New Train Station in Van Nuys Dedicated
Los Angeles City Council members Joel Wachs and Richard Alarcon presided over the dedication Monday in Van Nuys of a redesigned train station next to the site of the now-closed General Motors plant. They hope the station will draw businesses to the area.
Previously the station was nothing more than an outdoor platform for Metrolink commuter trains--and was avoided by some potential passengers because of drug dealing there, a Wachs aide said. It is now a 2,400-square-foot building of green glass, with an Amtrak ticket office, interior and exterior passenger waiting areas, restrooms and a parking lot dotted with day lilies and trees.
In the near future, a bus shuttle linking the station to nearby Panorama Mall might be set up, Alarcon said.
The city has been trying to sell or lease the 100-acre abandoned factory site, which has cast a pall over the neighborhood, a reminder of the well-paying union jobs that were lost when GM closed the plant in August, 1992.
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