CC 4/11/23 J/
Niki Negrete-Mitchell, Redondo Beach ROW homeowner
There are 486 households in Redondo Beach that share property lines with the ROW, 600+ in Lawndale. It is very concerning to us that people outside of our community and cities could decide on preference based on outdated misinformation. The following is to correct the record on some of that.
Metro owns the ROW so they WILL build on it whatever they want.
TRUTH: Metro owns 15' located south of 190th St. in Torrance. They have usage rights and often sell what they don't use as EXCESS PROPERTY ACQUISITIONS. Georgia Sheridan directly told Torrance City Council any decision should not and will not be based on this ownership talking point.
You bought your house next to the tracks knowingly...
TRUTH: The basis for which we and lots of others bought our ROW adjacent homes stems from the SBCCOG/BNSF 2002 South Bay Rail Studies conducted after freight was rerouted to Alameda. A selling point at that time was the lightly used or abandoned corridor could easily become a linear parkway greenbelt.
The new Transit center is for trains.
TRUTH: The RB transit center was conceived 19 years ago as a bus depot.
The ROW At Grade is $1B cheaper.
TRUTH: There is no 100% At Grade option, which was confirmed by Metro. That $1.9B figure shown on the cost chart is an old red herring. Metro admitted that they haven't yet costed out necessary trenching mitigations for the Proposed Project but have that listed as another alternative.
Hawthorne Blvd. has too many residents that would be impacted.
TRUTH: There are 8 houses along Hawthorne with a "Little Hawthorne" frontage road divider so they are much further from that alignment, plus one small building with 5-7 units. On the ROW 486 Redondo residential properties are 12 - 25 feet from where the freight track would be reloacted so they could add TWO new tracks..
Hawthorne Blvd. Station forces riders to take a long walk across the Galleria parking lot.
TRUTH: Artesia and Hawthorne has major bus stops where any rider can board and continue their commute in any drection. A safe, accessible hybrid stop would be configured with City's input. Riders won't need that bus depot but can easily shuttle there on one of the many buses that loop around.
Hawthorne Elevated will negatively impact businesses located in that commercial corridor.
TRUTH: Businesses there need a boost and elevated passing rails will give those businesses valuable visibility. Metro has their Impacted Business Fund to aid small businesses during construction and are open to solutions in engineering and planning around the larger ones.
ROW At Grade can be ready by the Olympics.
TRUTH: ROW At Grade is not available, no timeline has 2028 as an option. Expediting a project of this magnitude two whole years would bring the cost way up and for Metro to say it is "challenging" does not guarantee to a deadline.