Anti-Subway Initiative Protested

The way they see it, Proposition A fits into the history of East Los Angeles as smoothly as five freeways, proposed prisons, and those foul fumes that waft from the Vernon slaughterhouses.

The county initiative, which would prevent the Metropolitan Transportation Authority from using local sales tax revenues to build more subways, would quash any hopes that a subway will ever reach the Eastside, one of the most transit-dependent areas in the county. Local activists and residents see it as an affront led by county Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky because it would bar the Eastside extension of the Red Line right after construction to the North Hollywood station in his district.

On Monday evening, a coalition of several hundred people marched from the San Antonio de Padua Catholic Church in Boyle Heights to the MTA building at Union Station to denounce the initiative.

As they filed across the Los Angeles River at sunset, they chanted and held placards that said “Broken Promises,” directing their anger at Yaroslavsky and at their own representatives who failed to organize an effort against the measure. The subway project has been associated with mismanagement and corruption for so long that no one submitted a ballot argument against what is called the MTA Reform and Accountability Act.

“The county has a classic case of ‘Catch 22,’ ” said Msgr. John Moretta, pastor at the Church of the Resurrection, where the coalition is based. “The politicians do not want to appear in favor of abuse and fraud. But the people here will be adversely affected if they don’t do something.”

Those in favor of the initiative say that the subway costs too much, and that an alternative form of transit could reach more people.

At the rally, Art Torres, former state senator and now chairman of the state Democratic Party, and Rep. Xavier Becerra (D-Los Angeles) urged the marchers to use their votes to defeat the initiative and the future political aspirations of its proponents.

“The Eastside deserves as good of transit as the Valley,” said Torres, watched by passengers crammed shoulder-to-shoulder on the 68-line bus heading down Cesar Chavez Avenue. “This comes down to money; it comes down to greed.”

The coalition, called Advocates for the Eastside Metro, includes Moretta’s parish, Barrio Planners, the Sierra Club and the Mothers of East L.A., which gained fame when it successfully fought a plan to build a state prison on the Eastside a decade ago.

The group’s leaders say that they are not fighting to preserve the Eastside extension of the subway as it had been designed, but against the notion that they could never get a subway because the MTA would use all the money to build the North Hollywood line. In January, the MTA called off construction of the $1-billion, 3.5-mile extension from Union Station to Boyle Heights.

The coalition has organized marches for the last few Mondays, and plans to continue until Nov. 3.

Members reject alternatives to the subway such as light rail, heavy rail and bus lanes. They say that to create space for any of those, street parking would have to be removed from their narrow and congested streets, and that storefront businesses would face a major loss of customers.

“In East L.A., because it is so dense, light rail and a bus system are not viable alternatives,” said Gloria Ohland of the Surface Transportation Policy Project, a Washington-based think tank. “L.A. has such a big congestion problem. We can’t afford to rule out this option.”

Yaroslavsky, an MTA board member, said Tuesday that there are better alternatives, which cost less and could reach a larger segment of the population.

“If you want to serve the corner of Cesar Chavez and Soto, you got to do it underground,” he said. “But that’s not the only destination.”

He said a better route for light rail would follow Interstate 10 and serve two of the largest employers in the area: County-USC Medical Center and Cal State L.A.

Yaroslavsky added, “We have an obligation at the MTA to make sure the Eastside is the next area for transportation.”

On Monday, the coalition also protested that houses and businesses were demolished to build the Red Line at a time when its construction already was in doubt. One of the few supermarkets in the area also was demolished, they say, and residents now must travel further to more expensive, crowded stores.

“Now the adjacent businesses are faced with the deterioration of the empty lots,” said Frank Villalobos, president of Barrio Planners.

The marchers emphasized that the event was mainly about equity for a neighborhood historically overlooked, and was not a vote of confidence for the Red Line.

“They promised us they were going to build a metro to East L.A.” said Roberto Ramirez of Boyle Heights. “Now they tell us they don’t have the money. That’s not true. We’re always the last ones.”