Crowd, Conflict for Light Rail

A $2-billion plan to build a light rail commuter line through the heart of Orange County was depicted as both boon and boondoggle Monday during an environmental hearing on the proposal.

In the view of conservationists, influential business groups and college administrators, the CenterLine project would reduce car exhaust and traffic jams throughout Orange County, promoting cleaner air and aiding the flow of commercial deliveries. The rail line, which officials say would carry more than 80,000 passengers a day along a 30-mile route from Fullerton to Irvine, would also give mobility to students and families without cars, advocates argued.

“It’s an alternative to increasing auto congestion and gridlock, and we urge you to go forward,” said Alex Mintzer of the Sierra Club. “Hopefully, it’s a system that will become much larger and eventually connect with Los Angeles.”

But to residents in several neighborhoods that lie in the proposed path, and to some critics of government spending, the plan is an unworkable waste of tax revenue and would blight some of Orange County’s oldest communities. Further, critics said the system would carry too few passengers to have any impact on pollution or traffic, and would actually increase them.

“What you’re building is an outmoded trolley,” said Bill Ward, a member of the county advocacy group Drivers for Highway Safety. “You might as well just build a pyramid. There’s less upkeep.”

The hearing, held by the Orange County Transportation Authority, drew more than 200 people. It was also the first meeting attended by OCTA’s new chief executive officer, Arthur Leahy, who was hired specifically to lead the charge for construction of the rail line. While transportation chief in Minneapolis, Leahy helped shepherd approval of a controversial $625-million light rail project.

More than 50 people queued up to give their opinions on the proposal. While the majority urged OCTA directors to push ahead, critics offered a wide range of objections and urged officials to abort the proposal or radically change the route. OCTA directors will take public comment for three more weeks, and are scheduled to vote on a final route Feb. 26.

Among the most vehement opponents were residents of the Anaheim Colony Historic District--an area of more than 1,000 homes built between 1900 and the 1920s.

“They want to run this rail line right down the center of the neighborhood,” lamented resident Alone Larsen. “That will destroy it.”

Like Larsen, residents of two Santa Ana neighborhoods--Washington Square and the South Eastside Neighborhood--urged officials to divert one set of proposed tracks from Bristol Street. Others wondered whether the rail line and its structures would have an impact on local crime.

“What about graffiti?” James Telles said. “To a tagger, it’s going to look like one big canvas.”

OCTA officials are considering an almost entirely elevated system, with trains running on platforms suspended over major streets. The elevated route is one of six configurations officials have considered over the past decade, but is said to be the favored, and most expensive, choice.

Passengers would be ferried at an average of 20 mph to such landmarks as Disneyland, Edison International Field, South Coast Plaza, John Wayne Airport and the Irvine Spectrum. Speed could reach 60 mph between stops.

Among those voicing support for the project Monday were representatives of Cal State Fullerton, UCI Medical Center, Santa Ana College, Chapman University, Boeing, Fluor Corp. and Henry Segerstrom, whose family owns South Coast Plaza.

“As we run out of room for new freeways and freeway expansions, we must necessarily look elsewhere for new solutions,” Segerstrom wrote in a letter that was read by one OCTA director, Sara Catz. “It is impossible for thoughtful citizens and business leaders to ignore the contribution to increased transportation efficiency offered by a light rail system.”

Other business leaders said they believed the network would increase property values.

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Railing and Rallying Over CenterLine

Residents from three neighborhoods along the proposed path of the CenterLine light rail project opposed the plan Monday, while business groups and organizations cheered the envisioned 30-mile line as necessary. The Orange County Transportation Authority is set to pick a final route Feb. 26.

Source: Orange County Transportation Authority

Graphics reporting by BRADY MacDONALD / Los Angeles Times