50 Protest Molina’s Backing for Light Rail

A crowd of more than 50 demonstrators organized by the Bus Riders Union picketed the county Hall of Administration on Wednesday to protest Supervisor Gloria Molina’s support for construction of a light-rail line to the Eastside.

The protesters argued that the light-rail project being studied by the Metropolitan Transportation Authority will cost $1 billion and divert resources from improving the bus system that is the backbone of mass transit in Los Angeles.

Molina was on vacation in Mexico and was not available to meet with the demonstrators, who accused her and Assemblyman Antonio Villaraigosa (D-Los Angeles) of falsely claiming to represent the transit needs of the Latino community by backing the rail project.

The supervisor and Villaraigosa, along with a number of Eastside elected officials, neighborhood groups and some residents, urged the MTA board in February to proceed with an environmental impact study on construction of a seven-mile-long light-rail line from Union Station to the Eastside.

A busway along the same route will be studied.

The rail project would include a 1.7-mile tunnel beneath Boyle Heights along part of the route that would have been followed by an extension of the Metro Rail subway. The MTA canceled the subway extension in January 1998 because of its financial problems.

Bus Riders Union organizer Martin Hernandez alleged that the elected officials support the rail project because major contractors have long wanted to build an expensive underground transit system on the Eastside. He said that many Eastside residents who rely on buses do not favor a rail project that would “take money away from transit on the Eastside, as well as the rest of the county.”

But Molina’s spokesman, Miguel Santana, said the supervisor and Villaraigosa support the rail line because it is “the most effective means of addressing the transportation needs of the Eastside without significantly affecting the quality of life” in neighborhoods along the route.

Backers of the rail project say that the streets of Boyle Heights are too narrow to accommodate a busway without damaging neighborhoods and businesses.

Santana noted that the Eastside rail line could be built as an extension of the light-rail project underway between Union Station and Pasadena. Such an extension could provide a link from the Eastside to Chinatown, Lincoln Heights, Highland Park, South Pasadena and Pasadena.

He said that elected officials, businesses, organized community groups and residents favor the project because of its benefits.

“The bus riders don’t support it and we’ve always known it,” Santana said.