Gold Line Ahead of Schedule – Just in Time to Forget East LA Families May 23, 2008
Posted by newworldview in Uncategorized.Tags: East LA, East Los Angeles, Extension, gang violence, gentrification, Gold Line, LAist, Los Angeles, Metro, racism, transit racism, Zach Behrens
trackback
Today LAist posted an announcement from LA Metro (which went our via email and is not yet available online) that the Gold Line Extension is running ahead of schedule. LAist reports that construction is nearly six months ahead of time, although Metro has not officially rescheduled the line’s opening date, which is currently anticipated for sometime in late 2009. Details of the extension can be found here, and sneak preview photos release by Metro can be found here.
Unfortunately, while LAist’s editor Zach Behrens wishes he could be “riding into Little Tokyo and out to East LA by the end of this summer,” the impoverished immigrant communities of East LA continue to struggle with decreased public transportation to their jobs in Downtown LA and beyond. Since late in 2007 Metro has been steadily cutting off major streets throughout Boyle Heights and East LA in order to build the Gold Line Extension. As streets were barricaded so were the congested 30, 31, & 330 bus lines nearly eliminated. A commute from First and Soto to Central Station used to take a mere 15 minutes. But with everyone crowding onto the only two remaining lines, simply catching a bus can take 30-60 minutes (all of the buses are now packed so drivers often have to refuse new passengers) with another 30 minute ride through detours. On top of that, many of these changes have occurred withouth sufficient warning given to East LA residents, as many families do not have access to Metro’s exclusively electronic notices.
In the hopes of getting “valley boys” like Behrens out of Sherman Oaks and into East LA for some good old-fashioned gentrification, Metro has for months neglected the communities of color who rely 100% on public transportation around Los Angeles. As if East LA families didn’t have enough to worry about with local gang violence and racial profiling, now moms & dads have to wonder if they will ever get to work on time again.
For more on this, check out my second blog post on transit racism and the Gold Line Extension.
Okay, sure, that sucks and probably could be handled better, but you’re talking about a year or two of inconvenience to build a fifty to one hundred year infrastructure improvement that has the potential to make everyone’s life in East LA as well as the rest of Los Angeles better. I really don’t think that building a light rail line is somehow only going to benefit “valley boys” or rich people, especially considering Metro’s demographics confirm its trains are ridden almost entirely by the poor and working class.
This is not worth griping about. Everybody had to put up with the inconvenience of construction when train lines are built. The “community of color” in Highland Park as well as the white people in South Pasadena along the Gold LIne. The Asians in Koreatown and the racially integrated Hollywood area along the Red Line. It just isn’t fun to put up with, no matter who you are!
This will be over in a year and the residents of East L.A. will enjoy using their new subway to get around.
Yes, I do take public transit and I do live in an integrated neighborhood. Yes, Metro should not remove any further bus service. Have you attended any MTA meetings?
this article is confusing me. If you’re complaining about hispanics being underserved by public transportation to their jobs in downtown LA. ISN’T THIS FIXING THE DAMN PROBLEM?? how do you expect this to be completed without the construction process? Is being 6 months ahead of schedule not fast enough? was the red line sink hole in hollywood a result of racial insensitivity? I think raising questions on how street closures in a highly mass-transit oriented community is a valid concern. Saying construction could have and should have been handled differently and citing reasons why it could have been is constructed. I call your allegation racial profiling bullshit. probably because i’m disgusted at your assertion that the line’s completion will innundate your community with “valley boys”, as you put it. Who’s racial profiling now? Then again I am just a white boy from orange county. don’t bitch about racial intolerance while being racially intollerant and you’ll be taken more seriously.