Need for Subways

I disagree with L.A. County Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky’s Aug. 3 commentary, “Digging L.A. Out of Its Transit Mess.” The region needs more, not fewer or no subways, especially in areas like Wilshire and Hollywood boulevards, where aerial right-of-way acquisition for an elevated line would be more costly than $300 million per mile. The subways have not experienced delays, as has the Blue Line (L.A. to Long Beach), where there have been many auto-train and pedestrian-train accidents at grade level. The Red Line continued to operate without problems during and after the 1994 Northridge earthquake, while the Santa Monica Freeway was extensively damaged and closed in portions for months for repairs.

L.A. County-Orange County is the second densest urbanized area in the U.S. Only New York City-New Jersey takes the dubious first prize. Voters approved Prop. A in 1980 and Prop. C in 1990, and the MTA is doing a good job fulfilling the wishes of the electorate.

FRANK L. BETTGER

Los Angeles