THIS LETTER IS AN URGENT WARNING ABOUT THE PROPOSED GOLD LINE LIGHT RAIL TRAIN PROJECT PROPOSED TO BE BUILT RIGHT DOWN THE MIDDLE OF WASHINGTON BOULEVARD ALL THE WAY TO THE CITY OF WHITTIER, AND WHICH WILL DESTROY THE NEIGHBORHOODS OF SOUTH MONTEBELLO & SOUTH PICO RIVERA.
Dear Neighbors:
I know this is a lot to read, but please try to read it because our neighborhoods of South Montebello, Pico Rivera, and other areas will be in serious danger. This is no joke.
The Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority (Metro or MTA) has proposed to build the Metro Gold Line further east from where it now ends at 3rd Street, and Atlantic Boulevard, and they want to build it through the neighborhoods of South Montebello and South Pico Rivera along Washington Boulevard out to Whittier. But, in this letter I am proposing a different public transportation alternative, on the same route, which I believe is in every way much better and cheaper than the Gold Line Light Rail.
Originally, there were two possible routes. One route would have followed the 60 Freeway east to South El Monte. The Metro Board eliminated that route. The other route would go south, and run underground below Atlantic Boulevard, then rise above ground at Telegraph Road, then east to Washington Boulevard, and from there, east on Washington Boulevard all the way out to the intersection at Lambert Road and Washinton Boulevard in Whittier. According to the Metro's Environmental Impact Report (EIR) the proposed cost of the Washington Boulevard route will be about $1.7 billion.
The Montebello City Council has endorsed the Washington Blvd., light rail project. On February 27, 2020, the full Metro Board of Directors resolved to support the Washington Boulevard Alternative.
Most of the information in this letter came from the Metropolitan Transportation Authority's own Environmental Impact Report (EIR), published in August, 2014. It is a book of a-couple-of-hundred-pages. If you wish to examine a copy of the Metro Environmental Impact Report, there is one in the Montebello Regional Library at 1550 W. Beverly Blvd., and one in the Pico Rivera Library at 9001 Mines Avenue, at Mines Avenue and Rosemead Boulevard. Both books are available at the libraries' reference desks. Just ask for it.
There are four very important sections in the Environmental Impact Report, which are called the Project Alternatives. They are:
1. “The No Build Alternative” basically states that there would be very little, or nothing done
along the proposed route. There would be no new construction, and mostly, everything will be
left as is.
2. “The TSM Alternative”, which stands for “Transportation Systems Management” is a proposal which would improve the bus system by increasing bus service, and improving the bus stops. It would require very little construction, and would not greatly alter the street.
3. “The SR 60 LRT Alternative” was a proposal for a Light Rail Train to be constructed to run eastward along the 60 Freeway to El Monte, or beyond. The Metro Board of Directors eliminated that alternative.
4. “The Washington Boulevard LRT Alternative” is the proposed construction of the Washington Boulevard Light Rail Gold Line Train. I have already detailed the route. It will cost taxpayers at least $1.7 billion. It was this project that was fraudulently supported by the Metro Board.
If the Washington Boulevard Alternative is built it will cut South Montebello and South Pico Rivera in half. It will make life for residents who live near Washington Boulevard dangerous, and unbearable.
According to the Metro's own EIR, traffic and congestion in the neighborhoods will continuously increase, and cause more stress and bring more danger. It will be more difficult for residents to get around. Though Metro has projected a construction cost of $1.7 billion, I suspect it will go over $2 billion.
However, there is a much better way to improve our transportation needs at a small fraction of the cost, and that is the TSM Alternative.
In the Spring of 2019, Metro conducted six community input meetings at various locations. I was able to attend four of them. But, at those four meetings I noticed that the Metro project manager Ms. Jenny Cristales-Cevallos was completely leaving out any discussion of the “No Build Alternative”, and “The TSM Alternative”, even though they are detailed in Metro's own EIR. At the very first meeting in Whittier, I pointed that out to Ms. Cevallos. Yet, every meeting after that, Ms. Cevallos refused to discuss those two alternatives. It was the TSM Alternative that I was particularly interested in. The public needed to know about The TSM Alternative but Ms.Cevallos refused to discuss it.
The Metro people rigged those meetings to try to keep the public from knowing about the No Build Alternative, and the TSM Alternative. I believe that when they did that, they committed fraud.
One reason for doing that was that they stand to gain at least $1.65 billion by promoting the light rail. The Metro people were committing fraud because they were not letting people know about the TSM Alternative which is a complete solution to our transportation needs at a fraction of the cost. The only thing Ms. Cevallos discussed was building the light rail. I believe the light rail system was always the Metro's true goal. They tried to act like they wanted the public's input. But, the public's opinion meant nothing to them. Otherwise, they would have discussed the “No Build Alternative”, and the “TSM Alternative”. Therefore, as I see it, the much better alternative, is the TSM Alternative.
Below, is exactly how the TSM Alternative is defined in the Metro's own EIR. It states,
“The TSM Alternative would include the provisions of the No Build Alternative, and would add enhanced bus service to the project area along major streets. Minor construction of bus stop shelters and benches would occur at key stops along the routes, and some additional embedded wiring in the street may be needed to provide new bus routes with traffic signal priority”.
“The TSM Alternative would not require construction of major infastructure or any infastructure outside of the existing public street ROW( Right Of Way) as part of the Eastside Transit Corredor Phase 2 Project....”.
The TSM Alternative would improve bus stops, and “...add enhanced bus service to the project area along major streets”. This sounds good to me. Therefore, using Metro's own TSM Alternative, the followig is my proposal:
Instead of trains, we will use a fleet of electric buses that will arrive every ten minutes, or even every fifteen minutes, 24 hours-a-day, 7 days-a-week, to each bus stop along the route. The bus stops will be improved with more comfortable benches, bigger, wider roofs, with broad panels on the sides and the backs for better shelter from the elements. Finally, there will be good lighting at each bus stop during the night, and all bus stops will be constantly maintained.
The TSM Alternative is by far the best alternative of all. I believe Ms. Jenny Cristales-Cevallos, and the Metro Board know this, and that is why she refused to discuss it. In every way, the TSM Alternative is better than the light rail system. One big reason why is that the buses make more stops. They pick-up passengers closer to where they're coming from, and drop them off closer to where they're going, and because of that the buses are much more convenient and efficient. The buses will do everything the light rail is supposed to do, but much, much better and will do it at a small fraction of the cost of the light rail system.
As stated before, the estimated cost of the Washington Blvd. Light Rail system would be at least $1.7 billion. It will take about 7 years to build. I believe the TSM bus system I propose can be started with $17 million, and it can be up and running in 6 months. $17 million is one one-hundredth of $1.7 billion. But, maybe $17 million won't be enough. So, even if we double that amount to $34 million, that would be one-fiftieth of $1.7 billion. As I stated, the electric bus system would cost a small fraction of what the light rail system would cost as proposed by the Metro, and the bus system would be much, much better, and there would be no harm to our neighborhoods. The TSM Alternative could save taxpayers at least $1.6 billion! That $1.6 billion could be put to dozens of better uses than to build a needless train.
In Metro's own EIR there are more negatives than positives about the light rail system. They acknowledge that our neighborhoods will be greatly disrupted if the light rail system is constructed, and it will be forever.
Here are other things you should know:
1. If constructed, the Light Rail will run through South Montebello and South Pico Rivera at street level.This will be the same level that cars and trucks run on, and pedestrians walk on.
2. If the light rail is built, every weekday in the mornings and afternoons, young children attending Greenwood Elementary School and some of their parents will be in added danger when they cross Washington Boulevard at Greenwood Avenue, and at Montebello Boulevard. The same will be true for many young people from El Rancho High School crossing Washington Boulevard at Passons Boulevard. If the light rail is built, I feel these intersections, and others, will be very dangerous to everyone. In the years since the Light Rail trains have been running, there have been many accidents with motor vehicles and pedestrians which have resulted in serious injuries and deaths. The Metro people obviously know about these injuries and deaths, yet these dangers to our neighbor-hoods, the families, the children, and even our local businesses don't matter to them. They want to build the light rail no matter what, and they don't care who gets hurt, or if our neighborhoods are ruined.
3. If approved, beginning in 2028, the Washington Blvd. light rail project will take 7 years to build, which means that for 7 years there will be heavy construction equipment, and construction activities right in the middle of Washington Blvd., and on both sides of the street. Because of that, there will be street closures in one, or both directions to accommodate the construction. There will be noise, a lot of dust, dump trucks coming and going, tractors and cranes in the middle, and on both sides of the street. There will be more traffic in our neighborhoods. Property values will begin to sink, and our neighborhoods will decline.
4. Once the light rail is built, one traffic lane in each direction on Washington Blvd., will be permanently eliminated. So, there will only be 2 traffic lanes in each direction instead of 3. As terrible as the traffic is now, this will make rush hour traffic congestion on Washington Blvd., much, much worse. Yet, the Metro people don't care.
5. There will be something like a “long cage” made of cables that will criss-cross each other about 30 to 50 feet above the tracks that the Goldline will travel on. The cage will consist of support cables, and electrical cables. There will be tall, steel poles on each side of the street, which the cables will be attached to. These structures are absolute eyesores, and are everywhere the light rail trains travel.
6. Because there will be 2 less traffic lanes, during work hours there will be almost constant rush hour traffic. It will be just about impossible for emergency vehicles to use Washington Boulevard to answer emergency calls. They will only be able to use one side of the street, and not be able to cross over to the other side if they need to because the fenced-off train tracks will be in the middle of the street.
7. If the light rail is built, except at some major intersections, all along Washington Blvd., there will be no way to make left turns, either onto, or off of Washington Blvd..
8. The trains will run every 5 minutes, but that's in both directions. This means that the safety gates will come down every 3 or 4 minutes, and traffic or pedestrians cannot cross the street, and that will only be at major intersections. Also, the gates may stay down for several minutes while a train from the other direction can pass. This will stop, and back-up traffic trying to cross Washington Blvd..
9. At least 54 parcels of private property along the route will be taken from their owners by the Metro by using eminent domain.
10. The Gold Line Light Rail currently ends at 3rd Street and Atlantic Boulevard. Because of most of the bad things I have already described, almost all of the businesses on 3rd Street have been negatively affected, and several have gone out of business because of the light rail. This fact has been brought to the attention of the Metro people several times. The Metro's light rail trains caused the ruin of the 3rd Street business district. It was the Metro's fault, but they refuse to acknowledge it. They refuse to smell their own stink! On 3rd Street, the Gold Line was an absolute disaster, but the Metro people brush aside the misery they caused like it never happened, and now want to do virtually the same thing on Washington Boulevard in South Montebello, and South Pico Rivera. I fear that what happened on 3rd Street will happen to us if the light rail is built on Washington Boulevard.
11. The Metro EIR is a book, perhaps, a couple-of-hundred pages thick, and yet, in the entire book I could not find the word, “earthquake” anywhere. This surprised me, because almost daily, Southern Californians are reminded that earthquakes are just about the biggest environmental impacts in our lives, and they are absolutely going to happen. For the Washington Blvd. Light rail, or for any other project, Metro has made no plans for what to do in the event of a major earthquake.
12. Our public representatives sold us out. On February 19, and 27, 2020 I attended two meetings at the Metro Board Room near downtown Los Angeles in which the Board of Directors officially cancelled the 60 Freeway Alternative, and voted to support the construction of the Washington Boulevard Alternative. There, I learned about something called the Washington Boulevard Coalition. This coalition consisted of city officials from the cities of Whittier, City of Commerce, Montebello, Pico Rivera, and Santa Fe Springs. From Montebello, there was the city manager, councilmember Jack Hadjinian, and councilmember Angie Jimenez. This coalition presented themselves together, and they all stated that their respective cities' citizens (us) supported the Washington Blvd. Alternative. This was false in all of their cities, except Whittier.
The Montebello officials claimed that Montebello residents supported the light rail. That was a complete lie. In South Montebello the residents were purposely never informed about the Gold Line Light Rail project. There were no meetings in South Montebello to inform residents about the light rail on Washington Blvd., which was coming right through our neighborhood. Why not? This is where we live! There were meetings at the Quiet Cannon in North Montebello which I attended only because I found out about them just by accident. At the first meeting, back in 2017, I was the only resident there from South Montebello. Even still, at the Quiet Cannon meeting held on June 24, 2019, there were over 15 people who spoke against the Washington Blvd. Light rail, and only 1 person who spoke in favor of it. Montebello city officials purposely tried to keep South Montebello residents from finding out about the Washington Boulevard light rail project because they know how bad it will be for our neighborhoods. The same was true for Pico Rivera where there was a meeting on June 26, 2019, at the Woman's Club, and again over 15 people spoke against the Washington Blvd. Alternative, and only 1 person spoke in favor of it. The same thing happened in East Los Angeles on June 19, 2019. Yet, Montebello, Pico Rivera city officials said the residents were in favor of the light rail. Those were outright lies. All those city officials of the Washington Boulevard Coalition sold out their own residents, and stabbed them(us) in the back.
When some South Montebello and South Pico Rivera residents had a chance to see and hear about the Washington Blvd. light rail project, we have come out overwhelmingly, and angrily against it.
As I stated, I attended four Metro scoping meetings back in the Spring, and Summer of 2019.
Only in Whittier a majority of attendees were in favor of the light rail project, but it will do them almost no good. The light rail will end or begin at Washington Blvd. And Lambert Road. That intersection is about a mile-and-a-half away from any commercial center in Whittier, and that's on foot. Yet, Whittier residents thought it was proper that South Montebello, and Pico Rivera residents should sacrifice our neighborhoods so they could have a train they might only rarely use.
When it was put to the Metro people that the TSM Alternative was a much more efficient, and much cheaper way to accomplish our public transportation needs, covering the exact same route as the proposed light rail, at a savings to taxpayers of about $1.65 billion, they immediately rejected it without discussion. Why? If the Light Rail project is approved and built, about $1.65 billion, or more, of our taxes will be misspent, and wasted. Something is very wrong here, and I strongly sense that the Washington Boulevard Alternative Light Rail Project definitely stinks of Metro corruption. The Eastside Gold Line is mechanical manure that will ruin our neighborhoods. It is not only a waste of taxpayers' money, it is a theft of taxpayers' money. Therefore this project must be stopped.
I apologize for the length of this letter. There are so many, many more bad things in the Environmental Impact Report that you should know about, and that I could've written about, but this letter is already way too long, so I have to stop. For now, what I have written will have to do.
Below is a link to a map showing the proposed route of the Washington Blvd. Gold Line Light Rail. (See Project Map)
It will be up to us residents to stop this project, and we will have to do it with people power, overwhelming people power. We do need volunteers. Whatever help you can give us will be gladly accepted. We will be in touch.
One thing you can do right now is to call-up the members of the Metro Board of Directors to voice your objection to the Washington Boulevard Alternative Light Rail Project. I have attached a list with their names and phone numbers so that you can please call them. The more people that call them the better. Call them, and be forceful. Thank you for your patience.
Sincerely Yours,
Edmond Veloz
South Montebello
Attachment Starts Here
Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority
Board of Directors
Below, are the names and office phone numbers of the current members of the Metro Board of Directors. The first name and phone number listed are for the Chairman, Los Angeles Mayor, Eric Garcetti. But, he has been nominated to be the U.S. Ambassador to India. So, the same phone number can be used even if Garcetti has left, and someone else has taken his place.
Please call the people listed below, and tell them that you are firmly against the Metro Light Rail Washington Boulevard Alternative, but instead you are in favor of the much better, and much cheaper Transportation System Management Alternative, or TSM.
Metro Board Members
Member Phone Number
1.Eric Garcetti, Chairman.............................311
2.Hilda Solis, 1st Vice Chair..................(323) 826-6370
3.Ara Najarian, 2nd Vice Chair.................(818) 548-4844
4.Kathryn Barger....................................(213) 974-5555
5.Mike Bonin........................................(213) 444-3508
6.James Butts........................................(310) 412-5300
7.Jacquelyn Dupont-Walker......................(213) 747-1188
8.Holly Mitchell......................................(213) 974-2222
9.Fernando Dutra....................................(562) 567-9999
10.Janice Hahn......................................(213) 974-4444
11.Paul Krekorian..................................(213) 473-7002
12.Sheila Kuehl......................................(213) 974-3333
13.Tim Sandoval...................................(909) 620-2053
14.Tony Tavares is a non-voting Board member...No Phone Number
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