A group of Rancho Park and Cheviot Hills NIMBYs dead set against the under-construction Expo Line light rail to Santa Monica have lost every time they've attempted to convince courts or government agencies to stop the project. After the state Supreme Court tossed their suit out earlier this month, it appeared the last legal hurdle had been cleared. But NIMBY missions die harder than John McClane. The local homeowners, who go by the name Neighbors for Smart Rail, just petitioned the court to rehear their case. NFSR were emboldened by the high court's ruling, which said that Metro violated the California Environmental Quality Act during the preparation of the environmental impact report because they studied traffic impacts in 2030, as opposed to impacts in the near future. While the court thought Metro should have looked at present conditions, they said it was a relatively minor oversight since the results won't be radically different just 15 years after the line opens--so they refused to mandate another EIR and allowed construction to continue. While the state Supreme Court will probably not rehear the case, this back-and-forth over the measurement of traffic impacts could be a harbinger for other transit projects facing NIMBY assaults (all of them).
· Expo Line Phase II Archives [Curbed LA]
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