Los Angeles Times columnist Steve Lopez is not too pleased that the Purple Line extension will only (initially) extend to the VA hospital in Westwood/West LA, and not the beach. Jamie De La Vega, the city's deputy mayor for transportation, does his best to explain the reasoning for the planned terminus--money and politics. In passing Measure R, the ballot measure had to appease the entire county, so countwide transit and highway projects were promised; after building out the Expo Line, Gold Line, Regional Connector, freeway projects, et al, there's just not enough bucks to get the subway to Santa Monica (though the Expo Line will hit the beach city in a few years). De La Vega agrees with Lopez that the 3-mile stretch from the VA to the Pacific is full of ridership potential, so much so that it would attract more people than some of the other Measure R projects (which ones he doesn't specify), and says there's no reason to think it can't be built in future years decades; you can also argue that a West Hollywood line is more important than another line to Santa Monica, De La Vega says. Lopez calls on city fathers like Eli Broad and David Geffen to foot the bill to get the subway to the sea. If that doesn't happen Lopez says he'll consider hitchhiking from the VA with the mayor--sounds like good column material.
· Subway to the Sea Shouldn't End Three Miles From Sand [LA Times]
· Westside Subway Approved, Work Begins Next Year [Curbed LA]
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