(rendering of what the Red Line route could be, provided by a map enthusiast on the SkyscraperPage Forums)
Today's Stab/Counter Stab takes a look at the topic on everybody's lips today - Dick Cheney Hunting People The Red Line to the Sea. [cue spooky music]. A Curbed LA reader writes in following up on our post earlier today in which we quoted from a Daily News article that questioned the high cost of the proposed line. He finds a bit of that Valley versus Los Angeles animosity rearing its ugly head again.
"There are so many things wrong with the Daily News' biased take on the subway extension, I don't know where to begin... There is more to the subway extension than just moving people from point A and B. It's also about supporting existing population density and facilitating future development. The revitilization of Hollywood and the surge of real estate development downtown would not exist without the Red Line subway. And without all that new development in Hollywood and Downtown L.A., Curbed L.A. would be a very, very boring website." The reader continues to rage in a follow-up email in which he also confirms that we're not boring. "We can't let an issue like this get hijacked by provincialism and apathy. I worked with the Friends4Expo grassroots campaign early on in their struggle to get light rail to the Westside. We faced similiar obstacles and inaccurate newspaper articles back then too." So, readers, are you willing to pony up a few more bucks each year to fund the extension? Or are you like us, completely ambivalent because you know an earthquake will destroy the city making the question of a Red Line extension moot.
· $5 Billion Commute to the Sea [Curbed LA]