MTA to OK Cleanup of Chandler Median

The Metropolitan Transportation Authority will announce plans to refurbish a median on Chandler Boulevard between Ethel and Colfax avenues at a special meeting Tuesday.

MTA officials will make the announcement in conjunction with county Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky and representatives from the offices of Councilmen Mike Feuer and Joel Wachs, all of whom have worked closely with the MTA to clean up and landscape the median.

The announcement of the $50,000 project comes after three years of conversations between local officials and the MTA to clean up the median, which has long been considered an eyesore and a safety hazard, according to a spokesman at Wachs’ office.

“We’ve been working diligently for three years to make this median cleaner and safer,” said Tom Henry, an aide to Wachs.

The project will include planting approximately 300 trees along the edges of the 1.9-mile stretch of median on Chandler.

In addition, an irrigation system will be installed, two jogging paths will be designed, mulch will be added to the median and a gravel surface will be placed at the ends of the median near intersections, said Gary Spivack, the MTA official in charge of the project.

Spivack said that in addition to the cleanup, the city has a contract with the MTA to remove the obsolete railroad crossing at the median.

The request for the MTA to fund and complete the work came from Yaroslavsky’s office last May. Yaroslavsky is one of 13 officials on the MTA’s board of directors.

“We wanted this because we recognized what a mess the median was,” said Joel Bellman, an aide to the supervisor.

Over the years the median became a dump site, with everything from furniture to cardboard boxes discarded amid the overgrown weeds.