Red Cars Could Roll Through Downtown San Pedro

With all the attention and money that could be heading toward San Pedro's waterfront and the Ports O' Call redevelopment (which is stalled, but still somewhere on the horizon), downtown SP wants to make sure that some of the traffic and money spreads their way, and they think the funnest, most effective way to do this is to get the Red Car trolley line to extend into the shopping district, says the Daily Breeze. "We want to make sure with the redevelopment of Ports O' Call that the downtown doesn't become isolated," says a rep for the San Pedro Historic Downtown Waterfront's Business Improvement District, which has voted to lobby for the extension. They're hoping to get support for tracks to go along wider Fifth and Seventh Streets; those train cars would link up with the lines in use now along Harbor Boulevard. (The line runs only on Fridays and weekends between the cruise ship terminal and Twenty-Second Street). It's going to be a hard sell: it was estimated in a 2006 study that expanding the line (a 1.4-mile addition) could run $26.2 million. A rep for the Port of LA says sorry, but their focus is on the waterfront right now.
· Downtown San Pedro businesses make renewed push for Red Car trolley extension [DB]
· Ports O' Call to Get Huge Makeover With Hotel and Much More [Curbed LA]