If you have ever sat in Los Angeles traffic during rush hour, especially on the Westside near Beverly Hills or Westwood, you will undoubtedly agree that we are in desperate need of more efficient transportation. The Metro agency wants to build an overdue subway extension called the Purple Line that would connect Downtown Los Angeles to Westside Communities. Continuing from the current terminus of the Metro Purple Line at Wilshire/Western, the Westside Subway Extension will extend westward for about nine miles with seven new stations.
Metro claims the new part of the line would service an estimated 49,000 commuters a day, helping to create more transit options for residents dealing with snarling Los Angeles traffic. It will provide a high-capacity, high-speed, dependable alternative for those traveling to and from LA’s, second downtown‚ including destinations such as Miracle Mile, Beverly Hills, Century City, and Westwood.
A proposed subway stop in Century City, however, would require tunneling under Beverly Hills High School, a plan that local officials and parents say could endanger students because it could cause flammable gases to arise from old oil wells that sit under the school. The school district and city are both suing over the tunnel being built under Beverly Hills High School which Metro says is necessary in order to have a safe station location in central Century City. Beverly Hills city is also suing over construction staging for all the Beverly Hills stations.
The dispute has stirred tensions between Beverly Hills school officials and Los Angeles transit advocates, bringing to the surface old charges that the community, synonymous with wealth and privilege, does not want to open its borders to mass transit and the not-so-prosperous people who ride it.
“The NIMBY’s of B.H. should get on board,” read a recent Los Angeles Times editorial, using the pejorative acronym for “not in my backyard,” referring to those who oppose new public development. “Beverly Hills needs to live down its obstructionist reputation and be a team player for a transit system of benefit to Angelenos and visitors alike,” read another Times op-ed.
The city of Beverly Hills and its residents supporting lawsuit point out that they have not objected to two other stops near Beverly Hills, only the Century City stop, which requires a detour under the high school.
Regardless of who’s right, it’s this kind of bickering that has for decades prevented Los Angeles from presenting more public-transportation options to relieve residents who battle the worst traffic in the U.S.