We're eight days from knowing if the Crenshaw Line light rail will include a stop in historic Leimert Park Village, according to County Supervisor (and station proponent) Mark Ridley-Thomas. One of the most contested stations planned for the burgeoning rail system, the LPV station is championed by many locals and politicians in South LA, but is currently only an optional station for the line, which is now in pre-construction. Metro has a definite stop planned a half-mile north at Crenshaw and Martin Luther King Boulevard and has agreed to build the LPV stop if a contractor can squeeze it in the project's $1.7-billion budget. Ridley-Thomas says in a statement, "the bids for the Crenshaw-to-LAX line are in and have been reviewed and on May 3, Metro staff is scheduled to make a recommendation to the MTA board on which bid to accept." There'll be a final vote by Metro's board on May 23. Rumors swirled last month that bids came in prohibitively high. Like Chinatown, Boyle Heights, and Little Tokyo, "Leimert Park is an iconic neighborhood in Los Angeles and it deserves to be treated on par with our county's other great cultural landmarks," Ridley-Thomas says. The 8.5-mile rail line will connect LAX, likely through a people mover, to the Crenshaw/Expo station on the Expo Line. It's an especially costly project because of numerous tunnels and bridges (though a community group is suing over a portion that runs at street-level in Park Mesa Heights).
· Crenshaw Line Archives [Curbed LA]
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