Take Another Look at CenterLine’s Purpose

Re “CenterLine May Skirt Mall, Go Underground,” Jan. 11:

It appears that the original vision of CenterLine -- to internally link Orange County’s entertainment, education, civic, transportation and retail areas -- has at this point been so diluted that maybe OCTA planning should be entirely refocused on meeting a different set of transportation needs. Each day tens of thousands of automobiles crawl from Orange County to Los Angeles. Wouldn’t it be wonderful for Orange County to have a light-rail system that linked to the Los Angeles MTA rail system? A separate but related alternative would be a light-rail system that would parallel the clogged San Diego Freeway. Let’s refocus and not waste the limited public funds available.

Gary Simon

Huntington Beach

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Not only will this proposed light-rail line not serve enough customers to make it a worthwhile expenditure of transportation dollars, but now the route won’t even go to a couple of the cornerstone destinations, South Coast Plaza and John Wayne Airport.

Riders to those destinations would be required to walk from the closest stations “a few minutes,” and a shuttle is being considered at South Coast Plaza.

I’m sure potential riders to those destinations will be pleased to hear that they will have the opportunity to drag their luggage or shopping purchases some distance instead of being conveniently dropped off or picked up right at the airport or shopping center. What kind of planning is this?

Then there’s the plan hatched by Costa Mesa officials and business leaders to run this line underground a short distance through South Coast Metro because the elevated line would “detract from the aesthetics of the theater district.”

It’s time for the OCTA and the local politicians who are hyping this plan to stop feeding their already enormous egos, come to their senses and shut CenterLine down once and for all.

Geoff West

Costa Mesa