Letters: Beverly Hills and the Westside subway

Re “Clear the tracks, Beverly Hills,” Editorial, April 21

Ever since Rep. Henry Waxman (D-Beverly Hills) prevented our subway from being finished by pushing though a ban on federal funds for tunneling under Wilshire Boulevard on the Westside, we have lost our chance to have an efficient way of getting around our city.

New York has one of the most efficient transportation systems in our country, and yet we who live and work in Los Angeles continue to wait for our subway to be finished.

Thank you, Rep. Waxman, for making sure that the wealthy would not have to be inconvenienced by some foolish tube under the ground.

Mark Andresen

Los Angeles

Beverly Hills NIMBYs? We thought we were concerned L.A. County citizens and voters doing due diligence.

If the earlier Santa Monica Boulevard station in Century City is unsafe because of earthquake fault lines, why is the Constellation Boulevard location — one block away — safer? One block?

Century City’s business and development interests apparently speak with a louder voice because the L.A. County Metropolitan Transportation Authority’s own figures show that the Santa Monica Boulevard route is less costly to build.

If walking one block is an impediment to ridership — on our snowy days, especially — consider a moving sidewalk.

We are not “determined to pull out every delaying tactic.” How unkind. We are concerned voters who support the subway; we are not the enemy.

Marjorie Blatt

Beverly Hills

If Beverly Hills residents fear that tunneling will endanger their high school students, then they should instead embrace the above-ground alternative that is used in ethnic minority neighborhoods.

David Mills

Los Angeles