Residents Rail Against Train Plan

Mel Vernon, a resident of the Park Santiago neighborhood in Santa Ana, startled members of the Orange County Transportation Authority on Monday when he stepped onto the podium of a public hearing and blew a wooden train whistle.

His purpose: get the attention of those seeking to approve a $1.8-billion Orange County light-rail system and to let them know his neighbors won’t be looking kindly at a second set of tracks nearby. The sounds and vibrations of Metrolink, Amtrak and freight trains are already familiar, said Vernon and other residents of the otherwise quiet community of older homes on tree-lined streets.

The concerns of neighbors in this neighborhood of about 1,100 homes, wedged southeast of the interchange of the Santa Ana and Garden Grove freeways, are just some of many worries county residents have about light rail.

“We have major concerns about traffic and also about parking,” said Paula Manning, an attorney who lives in the neighborhood. “From the corner of Santiago and East Santa Clara, I can look in either direction and see where both projects are going in.”

As the decision nears about whether to pursue a 28-mile light-rail system running between Fullerton and Irvine, transit officials have been faced with concerned and even angry residents who live along the train’s proposed corridor. But they say that such a system is needed to keep up with Orange County’s projected growth.

A draft of the environmental impact report was released earlier this month, and a series of public meetings, including the one Monday, are being held in the communities affected by the project. In November, a preferred route for the system will be culled from three options under consideration. A vote by transit board members on whether to go forward with light rail is scheduled for December.

While some county residents publicly favor light rail, others--from small-business owners worried about losing business to those who say rail can’t work in Southern California--have expressed opposition.

For Park Santiago residents, who face a scheduled start date sometime in 2001 for the addition of a second train track on the Metrolink-Amtrak line that borders their community, having rail as a neighbor is not just hypothetical. Raani Ruhl is familiar with the earth-rattling passage of the trains that pass within yards of her modest ranch home.

To her, the plans for the so-called CenterLine rail system sound like a recipe for not only noise but also more traffic.

For instance, two variations of the CenterLine system would mean the loss of at least one lane of traffic along hectic Main Street as well as the loss of a significant number of on-street parking spaces.

Residents say that despite repeated requests, county transportation officials have not agreed to study the joint effect on traffic that completing both CenterLine and the double-tracking of the rail line will have on the neighborhood.

Dave Simpson, an OCTA spokesman, said transit officials have tried to address the traffic concerns by keeping open East Fairhaven Avenue, an artery that had been scheduled to be closed once the double-tracking is completed.

But that doesn’t satisfy Park Santiago residents.

“A lot of transportation folks talk about creating livable communities,” said Vernon, who brought his young son Carter to Monday’s meeting. “Well, we have a very nice livable community that we would like to see preserved for future generations. I’m not sure spending a billion or more dollars on something that may create more congestion makes any sense.”

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Between the Tracks

Residents of a Santa Ana neighborhood, bordered on the east by the Metrolink tracks, say they are worried about additional noise and traffic if the proposed light-rail is built to the west.