Kevin Cody
A parade of Redondo Beach officials and residents urged the Hermosa City Council to oppose a Metro light rail line, to be called the K Line, being built along the railroad right-of-way (ROW) that passes through North Redondo.
The four-mile-long K Line would extend the C Line (formerly the Green Line), from the Redondo Metro Station at Marine Street, to the Torrance Transit Center on Crenshaw Boulevard, just north of Torrance Boulevard.
The Redondo speakers want the K Line to be routed along Hawthorne Boulevard, they told Hermosa’s Council at its Tuesday March 25 meeting. Torrance officials and residents oppose the Hawthorne route.
The controversy has become so heated, that early last month Metro reported armed security was assigned to its K Line workers due to an online threat to shoot the workers. A Lawndale resident was arrested this week on suspicion of posting the threat.
The Redondo speakers encouraged the Hermosa Council to write Metro in support of the Hawthorne Boulevard route
Instead, the council voted 3 to 2 to delay deciding which route to support until after reviewing the K Line Environmental Impact Report, scheduled for release in September.
Mayor Dean Francois and Councilmember Michael Keegan voted against waiting.
Redondo Councilmember Paige Kaluderovic began her comments to the Hermosa Council by noting she had spent the day at the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors meeting, accompanied by Manhattan Beach Councilmember Joe Franklin.
“I am a member of the LA County Executive Committee for Regional Homeless Alignment (ECRHA). A lot of times the Beach Cities get lost in the mix with the City of Los Angeles and Los Angeles County. But working together, we can accomplish a lot. We did that today to get Measure A funds, and we expect to do that on many other issues in the future,” Kaluderovic said.
(Measure A is a tax increase approved by voters in November to raise funds for homeless services. The .25% tax increase went into effect on Tuesday, April 1).
Kaluderovic was followed by Redondo Councilmember Zein Obagi, who left no doubt one of the future issues Kaluderovic was referring to is the Metro K Line.
“We have gone up against the State together on tough issues like forced density in our communities… Together, we’re leading the way on homelessness. I ask for you to stand with us on this one very important issue. We’ve got elderly residents living at Breakwater Village who don’t want a freight train carrying fuel next to two Metro trains passing by every seven minutes,” Obagi said.
Redondo Planning Commissioner Wayne Craig said to the Hermosa Council, “What if Metro said, ‘You know, the old Red Line route was pretty darn good. Why don’t we take back Hermosa’s Greenbelt and put the trains down there?’”
“Please reconsider putting this item back on tonight’s agenda. I don’t think you need the final EIR to tell you why 200 trains running behind people’s homes daily is going to have a detrimental impact on their lives.”
“I’ve had a real estate office in Hermosa for 15 years. At one of our office meetings, a gentleman came by to talk about this brand new, wonderful thing happening in Hermosa Beach. No one in our office said, ‘We’ve got to wait for the environmental impact report to come out.’ We all said, ‘No.’ We fought with you to stop oil drilling in 2015.”
One of the final speakers was Lawndale mother of two Chelsea Schreiber.
“I’m spending $75 on a babysitter to be here tonight. So even if the item has been tabled, I’m speaking. The Draft EIR is out and filled with detailed information. There’s no excuse to stay silent any longer.
“Delaying only signals indifference to the impacted communities. The ROW alignment would bring a freight train just 10 feet from homes and Metro trains within eight feet. These are homes where children play, where families sleep, where seniors live. And it’s not just one train—Metro plans to cram three train lines [two light rail and the current freight train line] into the narrow corridor where only one freight track exists today. A freight train has already derailed twice in the past two years.
“The ROW is our community’s only green space—our version of your Greenbelt. It provides shade, peace, and connection. How would you feel if Hermosa’s green belt was taken away? That’s what our community is fighting to protect,” Schreiber said. ER
I live in Lawndale, and we opposed this extension down the ROW because it will eliminate between 3,000 and 5,000 homes. Metro does not care. We told them to go down Hawthorne Blvd., which was built to support a light rail system. Metro does not care. Money is the motivating factor. All the properties affected by building on the ROW will see a massive drop in equity. This will make it easier for developers to come in and offer below-market offers so they can build tenement housing we see in Chicago and New York. We are losing our single-family neighborhoods to these robber barons. Hawthorne Blvd. would be the perfect place to build an elevated system that would be accessible to all and build up the flagging small businesses along Hawthorne Blvd. in the affected cities.