From downtown to the sea

As the population of Los Angeles continues to flourish at an  accelerated rate, the need for adequate transportation will remain a hot  topic.
Councilmember Jan Perry (CD-9), the featured speaker for the  Urban Issues Breakfast Forum, addressed the need for a viable public  transit system.
Although the tentative completion date of the Expo  Light Rail Line is scheduled for 2010, a sizable amount of dissention  surrounds the issues of traffic congestion, noise pollution, and  especially safety and other environmental concerns in the neighborhoods  that the line will traverse on its way to the ocean.  These include the  areas governed by the Councilmembers Bernard Parks (CD-8), Herb Wesson  (CD-10) and Perry.
Perry pointed out that the line itself will be  built on the existing decades old Southern Pacific railway.  Some of the  primary concerns include safety particularly in the area around Dorsey  High School, which to the line comes as close as 100 feet.
When  Perry mentioned that the exorbitant increase to a construction budget  already reaching $800 billion plus renders the possibility of a tunnel  (which would significantly improve safety) out of the question, a member  of the audience said that the proposed subway to the sea (an  extension of the Red Line already in place) is predicated on tunneling.    Perry then pointed out that approval for that venture is still pending  (not to mention complicated by the prospect of drilling through large  pockets of methane gas), with cost being a key worry.
Safety  concerns will then be addressed by way of crossing gates, fences, and  landscaping.  Towards this end, Perry noted that the already in  operation Gold Line has been in existence for four years, and by passes  at least one school, South Pasadenas S.E.E.D.S. School (research  indicates that S.E.E.D.S. was a private school which closed as long as  three years ago).
A logical offshoot of this discussion includes  the possibility of minority job opportunities.  Adrienne Sasser-Gardner,  Jobs Program Manager for the joint venture design-building contractors,  FCI/Fluor/Parsons (FFP), informed the crowd that 30 percent of the  employment opportunities have been reserved for people determined to be  at risk.  Of these approximately 200 jobs, 30 percent have been  earmarked for inhabitants of the Expo Corridor, which translates to 75  jobs for community residents.
The population explosion of  Southern California and Los Angeles in particular, dictates that rail  expansion is certain.  An additional factor in the whole equation is the  latest (2000) Census data that shows nearly 30 percent of the  households along the Exposition Corridor do not have access to an  automobile.  This merely adds to the on going debate weighting community  benefits versus tax payer costs and safety concerns affecting residents  living in those same neighborhoods.