Last fall, seismic experts hired by Metro reported that a subway tunnel could safely be built under Beverly Hills High School (allowing a station in central Century City), so the Beverly Hills city council commissioned a study of that study, and have now, unsurprisingly, found them flawed, reports the Beverly Hills Patch. The Beverly Hills evaluation by Exponent Failure Analysis "casts doubt on [Metro's] Parson [Brinkerhoff] study and its methods. Exponent found that the Parson study employs a 'simplistic' methodology of studies and that post-construction operational safety issues were never considered in stating that tunneling under BHHS would be safe." Coincidence or not, Beverly Hills has railed against the Purple Line extension running under Beverly Hills High School, arguing for different route that would put a station at Santa Monica Blvd. and Ave. of the Stars (which is near an earthquake fault, according to Metro). Meanwhile, the very-anti-tunneling Beverly Hills Unified School District is doing their own evaluation. Though preliminary findings made it seem like those findings may reinforce the Metro report, a comment on the Patch story from BHUSD's board of education president implies the reverse.
Responding to the Patch story, board president Brian David Goldberg, another opponent of the subway tunnel running under BHHS, writes: "Between the City's experts and the upcoming report on the seismic work being conducted by BHUSD we will have a one two punch based on actual science and not predicated on a predetermined outcome. This is what the District has been stating from day one. It is refreshing to have an independent third party review confirm what our experts have been saying[.]"
So, it looks like the BHUSD study will also negate the Metro findings. How this will complicate the inevitable lawsuit brought by Beverly Hills over the subway is anyone's guess. Metro should be releasing its final environmental impact report on the subway extension any day.
· City-Ordered Analysis Says Unsafe to Tunnel Under BHHS [BH Patch]
· 90210's Way or the Highway [Curbed LA]
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