Rail lines are great, but what to do with the trains when they're not ferrying folks from hither to tither? After searching through 40 sites, the Expo Line Authority is struggling with that question as they try to find a place to build a maintenance yard for the forthcoming Expo Line (to reach from Downtown to Culver City in 2010 or '11 and Santa Monica in '15). The Expo Authority is considering the site of an old Verizon plant on Exposition in south Santa Monica near Pico Boulevard (possibly with mixed-use housing added). In an op-ed in the Santa Monica Daily Press*, Pico resident Oscar de la Torre says placing the yard at the Verizon site will be serving a triple-whammy of pollution, a "toxic triangle" to residents of his neighborhood who have to bear the brunt of the emissions that waft from the nearby 10, as well as three nearby waste facilities (that sounds like a toxic pentagon, but we digress). "Put another way," he writes, "the wealthier and more powerful will receive disproportionate benefits from the Expo Line and the less wealthy will receive disproportionate burdens." Meanwhile, the Lookout News recently reported that it's a done deal for the site. "Expo officials next week will ask the City Council to begin planning for the facility at the Verizon property neighboring residents oppose."
· Getting on the Train of Environmental Justice [SMDP]
· Start Planning Rail Yard at Verizon Site, Expo Officials to Tell Council [Lookout News]
· Expo Line Maintenance Yard Take 2 [Curbed LA]
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