Extension of Gold Line Gets Support
By Fred Ortega, San Gabriel Valley Tribune, Calif.
Apr. 25–LOS ANGELES — College students from throughout the San Gabriel Valley and beyond converged on Metro headquarters Thursday to urge the agency’s board to approve construction of the Gold Line extension to Montclair.
The students — who came from Citrus College, Mt. SAC, Cal Poly Pomona, Azusa Pacific University and as far away as Chafee College in Rancho Cucamonga — waved banners and chanted “Build it!” and “Bring it east!” as they walked to Metro headquarters from Union Station, after arriving on the Gold Line train from Pasadena.
“This is our last chance to make our case to the board,” said Kristen Manes, 23, a media arts major from Mt. Sierra College in Monrovia who helped start the iwillride.org Web site.
The Web site has already collected more than 2,000 pledges from commuters promising to ride the proposed 24-mile light rail extension — if it is ever built.
The Metro Board must decide in June whether to include the $1.4 billion project on a critical funding list, a necessary step required to leverage up to $320 million in federal matching funds to build the first leg of the line to the Azusa-Glendora border.
The students — part of an 80-person convoy that made the trek by train from Pasadena to show support for the project — gave various reasons for wanting to see the extension completed.
“When I was in high school gas was $1.50 per gallon and now it is close to $4 a gallon,” said Mike Paolini, 19, an emergency management major at Citrus College. “As a student with limited money, I don’t like the idea of oil and automobile companies dictating where I can go.”
Improving the environment was the driving force behind Emily Romo’s support for the Gold Line extension.
“I feel the extension will help people maintain sustainable environment, because as the San Gabriel Valley continues to increase in population, traffic and pollution will only get worse,” said Romo, 21, an English major at the University of La Verne, who is also part of the school’s Green Institute for Village Empowerment.
Officials estimate that once completed, the extension will eliminate 126 tons of carbon monoxide from the air and save about 1.5 million gallons of gasoline each year.
Joining the students Thursday were local elected officials and business leaders from throughout the region, including La Verne Mayor John Blickenstaff.
“These students are one more example of the broad base of support for this project,” said Blickenstaff, also chair of the Gold Line Foothill Extension Construction Authority Board. “Education is a major factor with the many education institutions along the line, all in support of this project.”
The Gold Line extension does not just benefit those in the San Gabriel Valley, said Mark Harmsen, a spokesman for Rep. David Dreier, R-San Dimas.
“They have a lot of traffic pressure at LAX and we can take that pressure off by extending this line to the Ontario Airport,” said Harmsen. “That would benefit L.A., as well as the San Gabriel Valley.”
Manes, the Mt. Sierra student, said with speeds on the Foothill (210) Freeway projected to average just 10 mph by 2025, the region has no choice but to invest in mass transit projects like the Gold Line.
“You can run faster than that,” she said. “How are the students of the future supposed to get to school?”
The show of support for the Gold Line — nearly half of those in attendance at Thursday’s meeting were there in favor of the project — was acknowledged by Metro Board Chairwoman Pam O’Connor.
“I’d like to ask staff for a report on the Gold Line, its status and readiness, because of the support shown today,” O’Connor said.
If Metro does not include the project on the funded list of its long-range transportation plan — a move that would also require a roughly $80 million commitment from the agency — the beginning of construction on the extension could be delayed beyond the end of 2009.
Residents have until today to write to the MTA to express support of the project.
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Copyright (c) 2008, San Gabriel Valley Tribune, Calif.
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