Her law firm, she said, is planning a move next year to new offices near Staples Center, close to the Blue Line's Pico station.
"That would be very helpful," Mason, 46, said of the extension proposal. "That'd be a third train I wouldn't have to take."
Dan Parker, who gave up his car after moving downtown and now relies on public transportation, said he didn't care whether the trains ran above or below ground.
"Anything would be positive if they make that connection," he said. He said he was concerned that having the rails at street level would mean they would run slower than they could below ground.
Blog editor Richardson said he worried that having rail lines running along downtown streets would cause more congestion and ruin the pedestrian feel that downtown boosters are trying to achieve.
A map of potential routes released by the MTA showed one route passing along 2nd Street from Central Avenue to Grand Avenue. That stretch of 2nd Street is fairly narrow, and Richardson wonders how it can accommodate cars, pedestrians and trains.
Downtown boosters are not opposed to all above-ground rail. Officials last month unveiled a plan for a trolley line that would run along Broadway. Backers see the trolley as a way for residents and visitors to quickly navigate the spread-out downtown area, which stretches from the Staples Center area on the south to the Civic Center and Bunker Hill on the north. Broadway, they say, is an ideal location because it is a relatively wide street that already has several major bus lines.
The downtown connection plan is one of several big-ticket rail items the MTA is considering, and it remains unclear which ones will get funding. They include the Subway to the Sea along Wilshire Boulevard, an extension of the Gold Line from Pasadena to San Bernardino County and a new light-rail line from Southwest L.A. to El Segundo.
Roybal Saltarelli said that the MTA would conduct a more detailed technical analysis and that she expected to present several alternatives to the agency's board later this year. She said that at that point, officials would have specific cost estimates for each of several alternatives.
If the board approved moving forward, she said, the MTA would conduct an environmental impact report and begin identifying sources of funding for the project.
"It's all still very conceptual," Roybal Saltarelli said. "But it's a starting point."
cara.dimassa@latimes.com
Times staff writer Jack Leonard contributed to this report.
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Public meeting alert
The Metropolitan Transportation Authority is holding two sessions this week to discuss its study of the proposed connector that would tie together the light rail lines that come into downtown Los Angeles and reduce time-munching transfers.
The downtown meetings are:
Tuesday, 6:30-8 p.m., Japanese American National Museum, 369 E. 1st St., L.A.
Thursday, noon to 1:30 p.m., Central Library, 630 W. 5th St., L.A.
