CALIFORNIA | LOCAL
January 24, 1992 | BILL BOYARSKY
"The mayor's asleep," Los Angeles City Councilman Zev Yaroslavsky told me. Standing a few feet behind Tom Bradley at Wednesday's Los Angeles County Transportation Commission meeting on the commuter train controversy, it was impossible to see if the councilman was right. But I assumed he was. The mayor often seems to be dozing during long, tedious meetings. Watch him, though. He's like an alligator, eyes closed, waiting to snap up unsuspecting prey.
CALIFORNIA | LOCAL
December 19, 1991 | MARK A. STEIN, TIMES STAFF WRITER
Angrily shunning doubts expressed by the builder and eventual operator of the Metro Green Line, the Los Angeles County Transportation Commission voted 7-4 Wednesday to affirm the use of driverless cars on the 23-mile system despite rising costs and technical difficulties. The commission, after months of heavy lobbying, also chose Sumitomo Corp. of America to build the cars and Union Switch & Signal for the train controls.
CALIFORNIA | LOCAL
December 18, 1991 | BILL BOYARSKY
You wouldn't expect to find George Deukmejian on the cutting edge of technology. In his eight years in the Capitol, he earned a reputation as "Governor No." No to spending. No to taxes. And no to new ideas. But that was then and--as the old saying goes--this is now. Now, Deukmejian, partner in the law firm of Sidley & Austin, is representing the Sumitomo Corp. of America, which wants to build the rail cars for the Metro Green Line from Norwalk to Los Angeles International Airport.
CALIFORNIA | LOCAL
January 22, 1992 | BILL BOYARSKY
Attacking the Japanese is one of California's oldest and most dishonorable political traditions. Early in the century, U.S. Sen. James Phelan campaigned against the Japanese, using the slogan, "Keep California white." Unrestricted Japanese immigration, warned Gov. Henry Gage in 1901, was a "menace" to American labor. Such talk gave legitimacy to latent racism among California's predominantly white residents.
CALIFORNIA | LOCAL
January 17, 1992 | MARK A. STEIN and JANE FRITSCH, TIMES STAFF WRITERS
Supervisor Kenneth Hahn said Thursday that "after receiving all of the facts" he opposes driverless cars on the Metro Green Line--a reversal in position that critics say will help their efforts to junk plans for the technology. Hahn, a member of the Los Angeles County Transportation Commission, initially voted with the majority of the commissioners in favor of the automated technology.
NEWS
January 21, 1992 | MARK A. STEIN, TIMES STAFF WRITER
With the Los Angeles County Transportation Commission poised to cancel its controversial contract for construction of the Metro Green Line on Wednesday, the commission's executive director, Neil Peterson, has formally notified Sumitomo Corp. of America to stop work on the project. The stop-work order, effective last Saturday, also applies to the companion contract for construction of a computerized train-control system.