This past week, Q-line asked:
After hearing a flood of complaints from residents, the City Council has decided to look for an alternative location for the Expo Light Rail maintenance yard. Where do you feel is the most suitable location for the yard?
Here are your responses:
“I really wouldn’t know where the best place would be. There isn’t much vacant land in this area anymore anyway. The city has overbuilt everywhere. How about the front lawn of City Hall?”
“Keep in mind, folks, the construction of a light rail system will not be as simple as having celebrity illusionist David Copperfield walk onto Colorado Avenue, wave a magic wand, say abracadabra, raise the sheet and have a light rail system appear. Trust me, folks, it will be a construction nightmare. It will be interesting to watch the light rail train pass across Lincoln Boulevard on its way to Fourth Street and back again, creating more automotive congestion as automobiles wait for the train to pass, ditto all other north and south bound streets in Santa Monica that cross over Colorado Avenue. I believe a good location place for the maintenance yard would be to have developers place it where the sun does not shine.”
“I don’t see why they need to have a rail yard, they’ve already got rail yards to maintain their equipment and stuff. There’s a track going each way. At the end of the line they just merge into one. The engineer pulls in, gets into the cab at the other end, pulls out and goes on the other line. We don’t really need a whole rail yard, just enough track so they can set the train on there so they can switch over to the other line.”
“The best location for the Expo Maintenance yard I think is Bergamot. Displacing things and structures is a lot easier than displacing people in the Verizon area. It’s an inconvenience but I think that Bergamot was built for a rail yard, that’s what it intentionally was, and the artists can move on but it’s difficult for residents to move on. So I think Bergamot is the best location.”
“How about Pam O’Connor’s front yard? Or maybe Denny Zane’s or Patricia Hoffman’s. They’re all carpetbagging elitists to this town. The light rail is again something for someone else: bums, tourists, non-profits, educational specialists. What’s in it for Santa Monica? Being part of L.A.? How has that benefited us except for a few politicians and business scum. When General Telephone owned the Exposition property, there was no noise from the neighborhood moaners. Someone has taught them to cry very loud. Be that as it may, I agree with them. Bergamot Station is perfect. It’s an industrial area: the city yards, the city dump, the freeway. All you have left is some useless tax money, sucking artists, and the shame shell bum housing. Do the right thing, redirect the light rail to Culver City.”
