Metro will be holding an advisory group meeting for the first section of the Metro Purple Line Extension Project on Wednesday, Jan. 29. Here’s the release from Metro with all the details:
The Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority (Metro) will be holding an advisory group meeting for the first section of the Metro Purple Line Extension Project on January 29, 2014. Members of the public are invited to observe the advisory group meeting as local stakeholders discuss construction-related issues for the first nearly four-mile subway segment between Wilshire/Western and La Cienega. Meeting details are as follows:
Wednesday, January 29, 2014
5:30-7:30 p.m.
Petersen Automotive Museum
6060 Wilshire Blvd – 4th Floor
Los Angeles, CA 90036This location is served by Metro lines 20, 720, 217, 780.
Validated parking is available in the structure behind the museum. Motorists should enter the parking structure from Fairfax and bring their parking ticket with them.
During the meeting, the Metro project team will provide an update on pre-construction activities and also focus on station design and art.
The advisory group consists of individuals representing the residents, businesses, property owners and key institutions around each of the three stations in the first section of the project. Those stations are at Wilshire/La Brea, Wilshire/Fairfax and Wilshire/La Cienega. Residents, businesses and property owners in the vicinity are especially encouraged to attend. City staff are also invited to attend the meeting, listen to the discussion and answer questions.
Construction on the first section of the project is expected to begin later this year and scheduled to open in 2023.
Special accommodations are available to the public for Metro-sponsored meetings. All requests for reasonable accommodations must be made at least three working days (72 hours) in advance of the scheduled meeting date. Please telephone the project information line at 213.922.6934 or California Relay Service at 711.
For more information about the Metro Purple Line Extension Project, visit metro.net/purplelineext. Follow the project on Facebook at Facebook.com/purplelineext or on Twitter at Twitter.com/purplelineext
Categories: Projects
The reason we have been waiting since before 2000 is that Congressman Henry Waxman pushed thru legislation to block the subway down Wilshire Bl. He finally saw the light and sponsored legislation about a year or two ago to allow it to continue.
Metro,
Is there some stupid federal or state regulation that specifically states that Metro has to hold these events and meetings at a physical location and not replaced with more efficient online meetings?
It’s not like people need to be physically there in order for you guys to show them a bunch of PowerPoint slides, graphs, photos and diagrams. It’s not like you can’t afford online webinars like GoToMeeting, WebEx, Skype or any number of online meeting programs for the public to attend online with the amount of tax dollars we pay you guys.
And, before you say it, don’t give me the canned response that “not everyone has a computer.”
Not everyone has a computer (yes, quite shocking indeed) but today, a vast majority of the people in LA today do have access to a computer, smartphone, or tablet one way or the other and are capable of voicing their public opinions online. The public sentiment and opinions are easily searchable on the internet by reading comments of many transit related news articles and blogs. Do we really need to be doing costly, physical meetings for the sake of a small, and growing smaller by the day minority of people who do not own a computer, smartphone, or tablet?
The reality today is that a vast majority of the people in Los Angeles neither have the time or the interest to go and physically attend these meetings. And realistically, not everyone is able to speak their full concerns out in the limited time you guys have. That is why you end up restricting talk time to 3 minutes – so many people want to talk, so little time for those in power to listen.
There are no restrictions like that in typed, written text commentaries on the internet. By reading and glancing through the collective comments, you get to “hear” the real voices and concerns that people have, instead of an abridged 3 minute time limit version, from far more people than any physical meeting can possibly do.
Look at what Mayor Garcetti and President Obama is doing. They are both using technology and the power of the internet to outreach and listen to the voices and concerns of all Angelenos and Americans.
You want to know the public sentiment of Americans regarding Obamacare?
It’s on Google, Facebook, and Twitter.
You want to know the public sentiment of Californians regarding the “must wear gloves when preparing sushi” law?
It’s on Google, Facebook, and Twitter.
You want to know the public sentiment of Angelenos regarding the Purple Line extension?
Right, it’s all on Google, Facebook, and Twitter.
Get with the times man.
Everyone — Love your passion for the project but these are not like all the (71!) meetings we had during planning for the project. We are getting ready for construction and we work with the community throughout the process to ensure they know what is happening, why, answer their questions, etc. It’s what we do on all our projects under construction. Meetings are just a part of that outreach. Thanks.
Transit Rider – it comes down to available bonding & funding resources. Without an extension of Measure R that can be used as collateral against a federal loan, the Project has to be spread out based upon how the funds will come in from Measure R. In addition, these meeting are required by the Federal and State Environmental Process.
9 years to build!!! We’ve been waiting since 2000. Let’s get the ball rolling before someone files a lawsuit.
Another meeting? How many of these meetings do we need just to build a line!? No wonder Metro keeps going broke. All the money is spent on these meetings!
What happened to the Wilshire / Crenshaw stop. The MTA owns property at that location that was to be used as a station. Also it would connect with the Crenshaw Light Rail line.
Oh just build it already! Enough with the hundreds of meetings to discuss a measly 4 mile extension to La Cienega. This is an extremely important line (replacing one of the most heavily ridden bus routes in the country) and should be built all the way to Westwood (or better yet, Downtown Santa Monica) in one swoop, not 3 segments over 3 decades.