Subway

Since the subway in Los Angeles is becoming popular to bash, I find it interesting that we have suddenly discovered all the answers to our transportation woes by simply adding more buses, carpool lanes and bringing the subway project aboveground. This strategy might make sense in some parts of the county, but certainly not in my place of residence, West Los Angeles. Our two freeways (the 10 and 405) are the busiest in the nation. It will be virtually impossible to expand the freeways for carpool and bus lanes because of land restrictions.

Re "Video paints grim subway scenario," May 7 The video by activists opposed to tunneling under Beverly Hills High School for the Westside subway extension raises issues that do indeed need to be applied to the school. Abandoned oil wells are not exclusive to Beverly Hills; they litter Los Angeles. The existing subway lines and their tunneling avoided setting off an explosion, and it should be the same with the planned extension. The 1985 Ross Dress for Less store explosion occurred without subway tunneling.

Re "Video paints grim subway scenario," May 7 The video by activists opposed to tunneling under Beverly Hills High School for the Westside subway extension raises issues that do indeed need to be applied to the school. Abandoned oil wells are not exclusive to Beverly Hills; they litter Los Angeles. The existing subway lines and their tunneling avoided setting off an explosion, and it should be the same with the planned extension. The 1985 Ross Dress for Less store explosion occurred without subway tunneling.

"Here we are - no, I mean there we were… Flash! The distant shipping in the Thames is gone. Whirr!… Dustheaps, market gardens, and waste grounds. Rattle!...Shock!...Bur-r-r-r! The tunnel…I am… flying for Folkestone…Bang!… Everything is flying. " -- "A Flight," by Charles Dickens, describing a rail trip from London in the journal "Household Words," 1851 :: Who knew that Charles Dickens, master scribe who brought us Scrooge, Copperfield and tale upon cautionary tale of hard 19th century life, was a transit aficionado with a story to tell traffic-snarled Angelenos about their plight?

Re "Subway extension runs into Westside roadblock," April 27 When I lived in Mexico City during the 1985 magnitude 8.0 earthquake, I witnessed epic destruction. Despite the severity of the damage inflicted by the temblor, the subway system was virtually unaffected. The trains resumed normal operations shortly after inspection. Beverly Hills leaders need to be fully informed by geological experts and transportation engineers as to any actual risks to the school buildings before taking a hard-line stand.

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.

I have been castigated by readers who felt I over-dramatized the peril of riding L.A.'s subway system in my Saturday column about the fatal stabbing of a Red Line rider 11 days ago. "You're joking, right?" wrote Julia Tyson La Grua. "I rode the Gold, Red and Purple lines every weekday for 3 months when I was on jury duty in Koreatown and they were immaculately clean, prompt and I felt entirely safe. " But I was also scolded by readers who thought I soft-pedaled the risks that passengers face on the city's five subway lines.

Whether talking about the Mexican toll roads (June 25) or the L.A. subway, it seems like a case of dumb and dumber. IRWIN SPECTOR Toluca Lake

Take a poll sometime. Which would Los Angelenos prefer--an overpriced and faulty subway system which serves no one or streets that are clean and pothole free? Tough choice. JONATHAN BOCK Los Angeles

Thomas Seehof (letter, July 2) complains about the high cost of parking at the downtown Central Library. He could park for free at the North Hollywood station and ride the subway to Pershing Square, just steps from the library. Perhaps more people would ride the subway if public and commercial facilities along the route would encourage it and indicate which subway stop they were close to. John Glass Studio City

Re "Sarkozy, rival won't get vote of far-rightist," May 2 Note to French President Nicolas Sarkozy: Before you cozy up to the far-right Marine Le Pen, ask the Republicans how well the tea party cooperates with its benefactor. Don't forget the law of unintended consequences. Barry Davis Agoura Hills ALSO: Letters: Nathan Fletcher's GOP defection Letters: Beverly Hills' subway obstructionism Letters: Congressional deadlock over student loans

Re "Subway extension runs into Westside roadblock," April 27 When I lived in Mexico City during the 1985 magnitude 8.0 earthquake, I witnessed epic destruction. Despite the severity of the damage inflicted by the temblor, the subway system was virtually unaffected. The trains resumed normal operations shortly after inspection. Beverly Hills leaders need to be fully informed by geological experts and transportation engineers as to any actual risks to the school buildings before taking a hard-line stand.

Los Angeles County transportation officials set the stage Thursday for a showdown with Beverly Hills leaders over a small portion of the much-anticipated Westside subway extension. Officials on Thursday certified environmental documents for the entire $5.6-billion project, moving a step closer to construction of nine miles of rail that would mostly run underneath Wilshire Boulevard. But the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority board only formally approved the first 3.9 miles of the project — as far west as La Cienega Boulevard — because of a request for a hearing from the city of Beverly Hills, where many school officials and city leaders hope to derail efforts to build part of the line underneath Beverly Hills High School.

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.

New York --- Twenty-six potential first-round picks are in town this week for Thursday's opening round of the NFL draft. They're being shuttled around the city, meeting with kids, stopping by hospitals and the New York Stock Exchange, and, in the case of Baylor quarterback Robert Griffin III, checking out a food sculpture of himself. Let him explain. "Subway made a statue out of barbecue chicken for me," he said. "Some people were like, 'Oh my God, tear it down!' But I enjoy a good laugh, and it was a good laugh.

The "Subway to the Sea": By now the words have an almost mythical ring to them, with the Westside extension of L.A.'s subway system so long delayed and so much desired that it has almost come to seem like the stuff of legend, akin to the Stairway to Heaven or the Low Road to Loch Lomond. Yet now that the funding to build the line is in place -- if not to get it all the way to the sea, at least to run it as far as Westwood -- and it's finally poised to become a reality, the city of Beverly Hills is putting up costly and pointless roadblocks.

I figured out a way to bike to Union Station from my home in Mt. Washington and use the Red Line to commute to my job in Hollywood. I could get past the $6 permit that MTA imposes for bicycle riders wishing to ride the new subway. But there was no way around the rule that says no bikes from 6-9 a.m. and 3-7 p.m. Guess I won't be using the new, expensive subway. KENT WEISHAUS Los Angeles

It's hardly where you'd expect to find such news, but an environmental impact statement just issued by the L.A. County Metropolitan Transportation Authority for the Purple Line subway contains an ominous report on the status of the arts in Los Angeles. According to the document, before the transportation agency begins digging tunnels through the tar-and-fossil-filled veins of San Pedro sand that lie beneath Wilshire Boulevard, it will aim an above-ground wrecker's ball at three of L.A.'s most vulnerable arts establishments, leveling the city's only architecture museum along with two other gallery spaces that are part of the city's Museum Row. In the name of a greater good - extending the subway down Wilshire Boulevard to Westwood and, someday, the ocean - the buildings that house the A+D architecture museum and the Edward Cella Art+Architecture and Steve Turner Contemporary galleries will all be razed.

The Metrolink commuter railroad held a safety workshop Tuesday for officials responsible for overseeing transportation agencies that operate buses, trains, subways and light rail lines throughout the region. The one-day program at Union Station in downtown Los Angeles brought together federal and state safety experts, transportation agency executives and members of transportation commissions in Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside, San Bernardino and Ventura counties. The program included presentations by National Transportation Safety Board member Robert Sumwalt and former Deputy Secretary of Transportation Mortimer Downey, who now serves on the Washington Metro board of directors.