South Side of Freeway Favored for Transit Line

A report delivered to Los Angeles County transportation commissioners Tuesday says any rapid transit line along the Ventura Freeway should be on the south side to better serve shoppers and others bound for Ventura Boulevard.

Also, elevating such a line along the freeway’s south side would disturb fewer residences, the commission’s consultants said.

On the other hand, tracks on the south side would force riders living to the north to cross under the freeway to board trains, the report noted.

After discussing the report, the commission’s five-member Transit Committee endorsed the findings and sent them to the full commission for consideration Jan. 25.

The commission is studying whether to extend the downtown-to-North Hollywood subway west for about 15 miles on elevated tracks along the freeway from Universal City to Warner Center.

A second Valley route under consideration would run along a Southern Pacific railroad right of way that parallels Chandler and Victory boulevards from Metro Rail’s northern terminus in North Hollywood to Warner Center.

That route could be fully underground, in a trench, at ground level or a combination of the three. Light-rail trolleys or heavy-rail trains, similar to Metro Rail, could travel along the route.

The freeway and Chandler-Victory routes have triggered vigorous protests from nearby residents who complain that the trains will bring noise, ground vibrations and traffic congestion to their neighborhoods.

$2.1-Million Study

A decision on a route and whether to build a light-rail line or a Metro Rail extension is expected after completion of a $2.1-million engineering and environmental report in October.

Protesters were absent from Tuesday’s meeting, apparently because the session, which had been scheduled today, was moved up late last week at the request of the committee’s chairman, Mike Lewis.

Encino homeowner leader Gerald A. Silver, who organized the Coalition of Freeway Residents to fight the proposed freeway route, said a south-side configuration would “make it that much easier to justify unleashing commercial growth on Ventura Boulevard, although I want to add that we oppose a rail line anywhere on the freeway.”

Silver also said he was “greatly disturbed by the apparent attempt to circumvent public discussion on this critically important issue.”

Brown Act

He accused Transit Committee members, who are members of the commission, of “violating the Brown Act, which requires that business be done in public with proper notice.”

A commission staff member said that in moving up the date, “we forgot that no mail was delivered Monday because of Martin Luther King Day.”

Lewis, chief deputy to County Supervisor Pete Schabarum, said he requested that the meeting be moved up because he would be out of town today.

“I don’t feel there was any violation of the Brown Act because no final decisions were made,” he added.

Violation of the Ralph M. Brown Act, which governs public access to government meetings, is a misdemeanor.