Sen Bob Huff: Victory for Gold Line extension

RECENTLY the Gold Line Foothill Extension received the commitment it has been waiting for since construction was completed on the first phase in 2003.

[Larry Wright]

Thank you MTA what took you so long./.

[Waste of money]

Let's connect the rail to the highest density population areas before we waste money connecting it to Azusa, San Dimas, and Upland. We still can't take this thing to Santa Monica, Westwood, or LAX and if we wish to go to Ventura Boulevard we have a long trip to downtown and back up. Why we are extending this thing out east when the needs of the city core have yet to be met is anyone's guess. Stupid.

[Funny]

10 years ago, that's exactly what LA said about you, Pasadena.

[You know what]

Maybe LA was right. We have the rail here in Pasadena and I have used it exactly once, because there is only one station with any real parking and I still can't get to where I want to go (e.g., LAX). It is far more important to build the rail in the most dense areas first like the SF Bay Area did. They didn't extend BART to Pleasanton before making sure it serviced the city center.

[Snail Rail]

Look at the likely speed of commuting along the corridor you're discussing. People aren't going to use it for than varietal trips along the corridor. Serious commuters will continue to use Metrolink, which travels considerably faster, and in considerably more comfort. If you had enough money to fund everything, sure I'd have no objection. Since you don't, prioritize the important stuff that will move a LOT more people, like the subway.

[Elaine Hill]

I'm sure some people east of Pasadena will be pleased by the Gold Line extension once it is done, but the trains are overcrowded already and MTA shows no interest in increasing the capacity they can carry. Most trains are already standing room only from Union Station all the way into Pasadena in the evenings, and it will only get worse once the extension to East LA goes into operation. People in San Dimas may someday be able to trade off rush hour traffic for standing up all the way home.

[Funny]

But, Elaine, Pasadena says he/she personally only used the Gold Line once - which speaks for everyone, of course.

Strange me, I've used in several times and live several cities east of Sierra Madre Villa station -- and I know someone who uses it daily, bussing from Monrovia to SMV, then taking Gold Line to Red Line to Hollywood where they live. Metrolink is of NO use to them.

Anyway, it's too late for the whining. Gold Line IS extending east to Azusa by 2013. The complaints to try and stop it ultimately weren't successful, and now those complaints are a moot point.

[Azusa Metalhead]

Funny wrote:

Anyway, it's too late for the whining. Gold Line IS extending east to Azusa by 2013. The complaints to try and stop it ultimately weren't successful, and now those complaints are a moot point.

Yup. Cry me a river. I am happy it is coming, and very close to me too.

[spoon]

It's a good thing... an investment in our country's infrastructure. Do conservatives get this concept at all?

[Look here]

I don't think anyone objects to rail making it all the way to San Bernardino. My objection is that they are spending money to extend the system without first making sure that the heart of the system is complete. "Funny's" own story illustrates the ridiculousness. You have to take a bus to the Gold Line to the Red Line in order to get to Hollywood. How long does that take? 2 hours? What if you don't live in Hollywood, but you work in Santa Monica?

I would take the Gold Line most days if I worked in downtown, but for most of us the system is broken because the only place it takes you is to is downtown or the ghetto. It will become much more useful if you can take it to Santa Monica, UCLA, USC (will happen next year I hope with the Expo line), Cal State LA, Beverly Hills, Melrose, LACMA, The Grove, and so on.

Right now there are too many transfers, too many above-ground crossings, and too many unnecessary trips to Union Station to make the Metro viable for most of us. The Metro is slow as a result of all the above-ground rail and it takes forever to get anywhere. My coworkers had a class in El Segundo and gave up on trying to take the Metro to get there because it took so long and necessitated a shuttle.

Instead of fixing what is broken about it the MTA is spending money extending the system and I think that shows that their priorites are all screwed up. I think we knew this when they decided the Blue Line needed to be the first line to open and *then* didn't even run it to the airport! I am all in favor of extending the Metro in every direction, but extending it to Azusa is a waste of money. People in Azusa can commute to SMV and take the train from there for now. It's not that far. However, they had better hope they need to go to downtown, Hollywood, East LA, or South Central because those are the only places this piece of crap goes right now. It completely the avoids the most dense areas of the city!

[Funny]

Look here wrote:

People in Azusa can commute to SMV and take the train from there for now. It's not that far.

Try this one on for size, and see if YOU like hearing it: People in Santa Monica can commute to Wilshire / Western and take the train from there for now. It's not that far.

It's actually the same distance that Azusa is to SMV station...(I could have even saved you a couple of miles if I used Santa Monica to Hollywood & Highland station)- and I promise you that the 210 freeway moves much slower than, say, Wilshire does during any given rush hour. I know, I've done both.

But maybe you're still missing what I'm saying: You're shooting for a moot point. You can "suggest" to Azusa / the SGV all you want... Do you really think people in the foothill cities are going to respond to you, "Oh, you're right. What were we thinking? Please, never mind. Cancel the extension. The anti-gold line person from Pasadena changed our minds." Seriously, what's your point? You really think you're going to "argue" this into a reversal of MTA approval?

Look here wrote:

However, they had better hope they need to go to downtown, Hollywood, East LA, or South Central because those are the only places this piece of crap goes right now. It completely the avoids the most dense areas of the city!

BLAME THOSE DENSE AREAS YOU SPEAK OF. They (and evidently you) keep conveniently forgetting that in the early 1990's, their constituents and their political representatives moved heaven and earth to STOP light rail from coming into their areas - and they were successful. They used phony-baloney environmental issues to boost their argument, but the real reason was that they felt mass transit lowered the social stock of their neighborhoods. In spite of endless urging by MTA because of the predictions of increased gridlock, the residents of these areas were "above" having such a "crass thing" going through their area.

Then over a decade goes by and then they all say, "hey, this traffic really DID become horrible." At this point, Gold Line is already a reality and is moving forward... and the West Side suddenly says, "oh, wait, we change our minds. We'll have what they're having... and we'd like you to bring it to our table first, even though they already ordered it."

I agree that their area is important, and needs to move forward with light rail progess - which it actually is. We in the SGV want to go there, too. But we're not the ones who snapped at the waitress, sent the plate back to the kitchen, left the restaurant indignantly, THEN came back when we finally calmed down and decided what was being offered to us was actually pretty good. There was no reason to "punish" the SGV by stopping the SHOVEL-READY extension we've been planning on and working toward for a decade. And finally, the MTA accepted that and gave us the go ahead.

I'm sorry that you're not happy about that. But it is what it is, and all the bellyaching in the world isn't going to change what's already been given the green light. I look forward to it, and I look forward to what's ahead for the rest of the region. I'm glad they changed their minds, and I'm glad that it doesn't mean they get to take away what's coming to our table.

[Adam W]

Thanks, "Funny." That pretty much says it all - and it needed to be said.