Metro is once again considering building a 9 mile stretch of subway under Vermont Blvd, the 2nd busiest street in Los Angeles ( I believe 2nd to Wilshire, but don’t quote me) Metro has been talking about this for years, as I first posted on it back in 2011 but I think due to the Olympics Metro and LA City are maxing out on all ideas that can truly turn L.A. into a World City.
So apparently Billionaire Elon Musk has been boring under the City of Hawthorne in efforts to create this web of tunnels that would be attached to thousands of on/off stations the size of single parking spaces. The plans initially called for the the tunnels to transport cars but now has shift gears to transporting pedestrians and cyclist very close their destinations. Musk came up with the idea while stuck in traffic. The word on the street is that are already hundreds of abandon tunnels under LA, so creating a transport system to utilize these tunnels may not be so far-fetched. The Map of the completed project is pictured below, I’m starting to wonder if Elon and Metro are in cohorts. Metro proposed building an alternative to the 405 fwy through the Sepulveda Pass, that looking more and more like Elon Musk Tunnel. Musk is building a protype under Hawthorne, that h said eventually he wants to reach LAX.
The abandon parcel of land located on the northeastern side of Vermont and Manchester will be seized and developed into affordable housing, retail, Metro transit plaza, preparatory boarding academy, and a training center. LA Superior Court Judge Daniel Murphy ruled April 26th, that LA County could use eminent domain to seize the land. Judge Murphy stated that owner Eli Sasson wouldn’t lose any rents and has failed to develop on the land. Los Angeles County will take possession of a four-acre property on May 7th. Owner Eli Sasson has left the land undeveloped since the 1992 Civil Unrest. Back in May of 2015, Former Councilmen Bernard Parks proposed a Vermont Entertainment District and even hosted a ground breaking event for the project, the website, of-course has been removed so I’m assuming those plans fell through. I welcome the affordable housing; I think that’s a much better use of the land.
Phillip Washington, former CEO of Denver’s Regional Transportation District (RTD) was selected as the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Agency’s new chief executive officer, starting no later than May 29.
“There’s a lot of work to be done, and we will function as a team in doing it,” Supervisor Mark Ridley-Thomas said during a press conference at Metro on Thursday. “Phillip Washington’s experience in Denver of delivering projects on time and on budget is precisely what all of us have desired and expected, and we fully look forward to that happening here in Los Angeles as we move toward the implementation of Measure R.”
Washington said he was looking forward to delivering “the best possible transit experience and infrastructure for the LA area.”
