Metrolink Station

The Ventura City Council will decide Monday whether to build in Montalvo the county's fifth Metrolink station. The plan, which would cost $1 million in already allocated federal funds, calls for a platform, a wall separating the adjacent neighborhood from the station and a road running between Johnson Drive and Ventura Boulevard. Two commuter trains already stay overnight in Montalvo before moving to Oxnard without passengers every morning.

The L.A. County Fair in Pomona is back -- with deep-fried Oreos, maple-bacon doughnuts and "zucchini weenies" (odd looking, for sure). Of course, there also are pirates, sharks, pig races, rodeo shows and concerts at the annual event, which opened Saturday. Metrolink offers a discount on admission prices and a way to skip the driving too. Fair tickets: You must register at Metrolink Rewards (it's free) to buy weekend fair tickets for $10 for adults (usually $17)

A 2 1/2-acre lot near the corner of San Fernando Road and Olinda Street will be the site of the newest Metrolink station, officials announced Monday. "This is great. A lot of people will benefit from this new station," said James Okazaki, assistant general manager with the city Department of Transportation. "Nearby residents will benefit from living close to the rail. They would be able to leave their cars and reach other parts of the city.

The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors agreed Tuesday to pay $900,000 to settle a lawsuit by a sheriff's deputy who alleged that his boss sexually harassed him and threatened him with violence. Among Deputy Robert Lyznick's allegations were that his supervisor asked him to "come into the bathroom for a rectal probe" and boasted he could get the deputy "so drunk" that the deputy would perform oral sex on him. When Lyznick denied the advances, Sgt. Charles Dery told him "no means yes" and "guys who [are]

In a bid to curb vandalism, the Moorpark City Council has agreed to spend $2,700 to install landscaping along a block wall that borders the city's Metrolink station. Wednesday night's council action is the first step in a broad plan to bolster security after a graffiti attack last month on 10 cars in the commuter rail parking lot. The plan was approved on a 4-0 vote with Councilman Bernardo Perez absent.

Beginning Monday, commuters who cycle to or from the Chatsworth Metrolink station will have a place to store their bikes and change their clothes. A full-service bicycle storage and rental facility will open its doors as part of a continuing effort to get commuters to leave their cars at home, said Gary Wosk, spokesman for the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority.

The Ventura City Council has voted to explore putting a Metrolink station in the city. The study was proposed by the Public Works Department as part of a larger plan to improve local transportation. With the council's approval, city staff will look at three potential sites for the station: Montalvo, where two Metrolink trains are stored at night; the Amtrak station near the fairgrounds, and near the intersection of North Bank Drive and Montgomery Avenue.

A planned Metrolink station for Chatsworth moved closer to reality Wednesday with a groundbreaking for the $1.7-million facility, which will include a day-care center. The day-care center, one of the few its kind, will be housed in a 12,000-square-foot building that will include retail and office space, transportation officials said. The idea, they said, is to increase ridership by making the station convenient to commuters.

A new Metrolink station here will cost nearly double its original estimate and possibly much more, sending county officials scrambling to find millions of additional dollars. Officials say the station will cost far more than the $2.75 million budgeted, despite efforts by planners to take out all the frills--even down to removing colored tile from the train platforms.

Just in time for the holidays, a free shuttle service has started between Bob Hope Airport in Burbank and the North Hollywood Metro Station . The service, which began last week, will continue until at least the end of January during a trial period. "We want to evaluate and make sure people are using it," airport spokeswoman Lucy Burghdorf said. How it works : Signs marking the shuttle stop have been put up at the Metro station, the last stop on the Red Line , which is near the intersection of Lankershim and Chandler boulevards in North Hollywood, officials said.

When Jose Martin signed a lease with the Metropolitan Transportation Authority to place his masonry business in Canoga Park, he was informed that he might have to move if the agency ever decided to develop the land on Canoga Avenue. "We were told it could happen someday in the distant future, with a big question mark," said Martin, whose MasonryClub sells a variety of natural stone products, boulders and cobble.

A critical red light that a Metrolink train ran just before slamming into a freight train in Chatsworth was not as visible as green and yellow signals displayed by the same trackside warning device, investigators probing the disaster have found. The clarity of the stop light, as well as possible violations of communication rules by the commuter train's crew, have become key focus points in the federal inquiry into the deadliest rail accident in modern California history.

Until recently, Blaine Bridenball's morning involved a well-practiced routine: Get up, eat and drive to the Metrolink station in Buena Park by 7:15 for his commute to Los Angeles. Then gas prices skyrocketed, and Bridenball found that the parking lot at the new train station was filling to capacity earlier and earlier. "With each month it seems you add another five minutes," he said. "Now, the lot is full by 6:50 a.m."

A face-off Saturday in Baldwin Park over illegal immigration, sparked by a piece of public art, was peaceful despite authorities' fears of violence. Next to City Hall, where about 60 protesters opposed to illegal immigration waved signs and American flags, about 600 counter-protesters sang, danced, chanted and beat drums to urge tolerance. "It's not a confrontational us-versus-them thing.

Set at the junction of two freeways and along a major railroad route, the working-class town of Baldwin Park likes to call itself "the Hub of the San Gabriel Valley." But the city, about 15 miles east of downtown Los Angeles and nearly 80% Latino, today finds itself the hub of an increasingly bitter fight over illegal immigration.

Metrolink will offer its annual Holiday Toy Express at Ventura County stops Sunday and Dec. 14. The train, carrying Santa Claus, will make four local stops Sunday: 5 p.m. in Montalvo at 6175 Ventura Blvd.; 6 p.m. in Oxnard at 201 E. 4th St.; 6:45 p.m. in Camarillo at 30 Lewis Road; and 7:45 p.m. in Moorpark at 300 High St. On Dec. 14, the train will stop at 5:15 p.m. in Simi Valley at 5050 Los Angeles Ave.

Anticipating more planes, trains and automobiles in the rapidly growing Antelope Valley, the California Transportation Commission approved $2.9 million Thursday toward the construction of a 26-acre transit center in Palmdale. The Palmdale Transportation Center, scheduled to open in early 2004, will include a new Metrolink station as well as a transfer bay for local and commuter buses, officials said.