With the forthcoming Expo Light Rail Line comes much construction.
So, this week's Q-Line question asked:
Has the light rail construction made your commute around Santa Monica more difficult?
Here are your responses:
"Are you waking up to traffic on the ground and in the air? If you live on a boulevard or corridor, you are probably wondering, ‘Where are our city leaders who are supposed to serve and protect residents from noise pollution, gridlock and idling traffic outside your door?' Trying to help a friend across town or take care of daily chores without parking has become a challenge. Not much will change once the light rail construction is finished, with the exception that we will need more programs and spend more tax dollars. If you are reading this article, I encourage you to attend city planning and City Council meetings. Your voice counts. It is crucial at this time. These are not the people we voted in. We need a recall and we need it now. Big development still has its foot in the door and we can slam that door shut. Yes we can. Resident since 1948."
"Capital Y-E-S. Three exclamation points."
"The Expo Line is a terrific project. I ride the Expo Line downtown from Culver City, and it's a very nice way to get to downtown. I know in Santa Monica that they are constructing in many places, but it has really been interesting to see what they are doing with the bridges and with everything else. The disruptions, other than at Fourth and Colorado, is one of the major intersections. That's only bad because of the traffic coming off of the freeway. That I don't know what to do about. The rest of it is most interesting to watch, and it's going to be overall a wonderful addition to our community. Thank you for asking."
"No, I never go to Santa Monica. Traffic was messed up before the rail work started, it is messed up while the rail work is going on, it will be messed up when the rail work is finished."
"I'm not bothered or disrupted right now by the Expo construction, however, I will definitely be bothered when the line is finished and comes to town, particularly at Lincoln Boulevard and Colorado Avenue. I would like to know why a bridge is not being built for that intersection. Lincoln is busy enough without adding a grade train crossing. After all, there is a bridge going over Cloverfield, why not Lincoln?"
"Yes. The foolish and asinine light rail project causes me trouble nearly every time I go out, but this is nothing. Just wait until the stupid thing is up and running. The idiots at City Hall not only welcomed it and its neighborhood blighting maintenance yard with open arms. They decided to build it in the most dangerous and quality-of-life destroying manner possible — at street level. Mark my words, people will die and the blood will be on City Hall's hands."
"Are you kidding? I live on Sixth and Colorado and the lines of cars crawling along Colorado trying to go somewhere are endless. It's a nightmare. Of course it has impacted the commute significantly."
"The answer would be, unless you own your own helicopter or fly, you've got to be kidding. Really?"
"Golly! Whenever you want to do something good, sometimes you have small peccadilloes. But I think for the greater good is for the city of Santa Monica to open all the portals. I think it's a good idea to have the light rail system coming in so we can open our portals to the world. This is a world-class city, don't you know?"
"We have to look at the permanent harm that the construction of the Expo Line along Colorado is going to cause. Right now it is traffic and inconvenience, but the permanent harm to the city is the fact that it's going to create an impediment for north-south travel, especially on Lincoln Boulevard. There will be very high fences built along the corridor along Colorado Boulevard. Also, if you look at an overlay of the route, you will notice that it will basically wall off the Pico Neighborhood permanently. If the freeway didn't create harm in separating the Pico Neighborhood from the rest of Santa Monica, the Expo Line, with its high fences and limited north-south access, is going to permanently cut off Pico Neighborhood from the more robust and vibrant areas of Santa Monica and obviously, in designing the route, that was one of the purposes. Santa Monica, which tries to present itself as a progressive city, has engaged in its own form of apartheid."
