In its latest edition, the Beverly Hills Courier has wrongly reported that “The final environmental impact report of the Metropolitan Transit Authority strongly favors the proposed route under Beverly Hills High School and 78 Beverly Hills homes according to a summary document obtained exclusively by The Beverly Hills Courier.”
The thesis of this story is incorrect, as the Courier was told by Metro prior to publication. The final environmental impact statement/report (FEIS/FEIR) is not complete, nor has it reached any particular conclusion and the summary document cited by the Courier is not part of the FEIS/FEIR.
Also, under no circumstances is Metro considering an alignment that would go under 78 homes within Beverly Hills. The alignment alternative now being evaluated would go under four residences.
For these reasons, Metro is asking the Beverly Hills Courier to retract its story and to publish a correction for readers and other media outlets who rely on the Courier for information on the Westside Subway Extension project.
The “report” cited by the Courier is a compendium of Power Point slides previously released to the public in meetings, other forums and on Metro’s website. The 22-page report was constructed as a briefing document about issues under study in the FEIS/FEIR and it does not express any preference for any particular subway route (watch it for yourself here). The route under Beverly Hills High School property remains under consideration, but other routes are also being analyzed.
The title of the slide-show describes issues now being considered in the the FEIS/FEIR process, not the official results of the ongoing study or any recommendations being made by Metro staff.
Metro and the Federal Transit Administration are following a deliberate and proscribed process for the completion of the FEIS/FEIR. The recommendation it makes for station location in Century City (and other places) as well as the overall alignment will be based on geotechnical, seismic and other studies performed in the last several years.
At this time, the FEIS/FEIR is scheduled to be released in the fall of 2011. After its release, the public will have the opportunity to review and comment on the report before the Metro Board of Directors considers whether to accept the report and decides the final alignment for the Westside Subway Extension.
Categories: Projects
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Just sue them and use the funds to do the construction.
I think we should run streetcars thru Beverly Hills to Downtown LA than a subway. Streetcar are faster and cheaper for MTA.
I really hope this does not deter metro from actually choosing the clearly most logical station which is of course at constellation. I wonder if metro can literally educate these folks on the technicalities of the deep bore tunnels and how they would do NOTHING to harm the integrity, tranquility, and safety of the school and how there are many, many examples all over the world showing that these peoples claims have no logical or technical accuracy.
It is truly unfortunate that Beverly Hills Courier is standing behind the inaccurate article taken from factual, neutral information posted at subway meetings by Metro to update and inform interested parties about the forthcoming Westside Subway during the EIR processes. I tried to post a comment but so far the moderator will not post and says no comments were posted.
I am saddened that the Beverly Hills Courier no longer offers reliable information.
It is unfortunate that the Beverly Hills Courier has become little more than a mouthpiece for the BHUSD in “reporting” on the conflict between Metro and the School Board.
How disappointing and improper that a handful of Beverly Hills opponents of a Metro station at Constellation Blvd in Century City continue to waste education dollars lining the pockets of lawyers, lobbyists and PR flacks to fight the best location for the station. Beverly Hills taxpayers and Los Angeles Metro riders deserve better than this. One wonders who the School Board feels it serves in doing so.