Expo Line Construction Should Be Fast-Tracked

Re “Clear Track for a New Line,” editorial, June 27: The Metropolitan Transportation Authority’s estimated date of completion for a rail solution on the Exposition right of way is absurd. Almost 15 years from now? Who is kidding whom? Los Angeles needs this and needs it quickly. I have some suggestions for the MTA:

* Have the railroad companies build it. Union Pacific is making improvements today on the Metrolink Riverside and Orange County lines. It isn’t going to take a decade to do it.

* Abandon the expensive light-rail solution and go with standard rail. Up until the mid-’70s, Southern Pacific was carrying freight from downtown to areas in Beverly Hills and Santa Monica on that identical route. In order to clear freeway congestion we must find more efficient means of delivering goods. Carpool lanes can’t solve that; truckers can’t carpool. We need a freight line to the Westside and surrounding areas.

* Why divert it at Robertson and Venice boulevards? To heck with the residents in Cheviot Hills. The MTA owns the land. Just lay the rails and tell them to pipe down.

Greg Diller

Santa Monica

I find the arguments against the Exposition Boulevard light-rail line, proffered by USC President Steven Sample and City Councilman Mark Ridley-Thomas (Commentary, June 28) to be arbitrary and disingenuous. Far from separating the community, light rail would integrate the community with the larger urban area, provide easier access to the museums and enhance diversity. Pedestrian overpasses, part of station buildings anyway, would permit easy passage between the USC campus and Exposition Park.

During the time when I lived in Malibu and Santa Monica, I would have been quite happy to commute by rail to my classes at USC, thus avoiding dangerous freeway and campus traffic congestion and high parking fees. Enough of this NIMBY stuff. We need all the rail we can get now--not in many years, if ever. Let’s all pitch in for the overall good.

Kenyon B. De Greene

Woodland Hills