A series of community meetings begins Tuesday, as part of a 22-month long transportation study exploring the re-use of the West Santa Ana Branch of the unused 20-mile Pacific Electric railroad right-of-way.
The meetings are sponsored by the Southern California Association of Governments (SCAG, in collaboration with the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority (LACMTA) and the Orange County Transportation Authority (OCTA).
The study will focus on new transportation options, station locations, and recreational and economic development opportunities. The study, will also examine tradeoffs associated with different types of transportation, including light rail, street cars, dedicated bus lanes, commuter rail and high speed rail options. Community input is central to the study.
All weekday meetings are set for 6:30 - 8:30 p.m., while the Saturday session (June 19) is 1 - 3 p.m. :
• June 15, Garden Grove Community Meeting Center, 11300 Stanford Ave., Garden Grove.
• June 16, Huntington Park Community Center, 6925 Salt Lake Ave., Huntington Park.
• June 17, Cypress Community Center, 5700 Orange Avenue, Cypress.
• June 19, Cerritos Park East Community Center, 13234 East 166th Street, Cerritos.
• June 22, Progress Park Plaza, West Auditorium, 15500 Downey Ave., Paramount.
• June 23, Stanton Council Chambers, 7800 Katella Avenue, Stanton, CA 90680
Transportation planners hope that the community input at these meetings will lead to identification of an initial set of alternative strategies, and the criteria for evaluating these strategies as part of the technical analysis. A second round of community meetings is slated for fall 2010 to present a recommended set of possible transportation alternatives, including station locations.
A technical assessment of the alternatives will be performed and the resulting information, such as engineering viability, estimated capital costs and environmental issues will also be presented. In fall 2011, a third set of community meetings will solicit input on the "preferred alternative."
"We want to encourage the community to look at this resource with new eyes, and realize that the possibilities are significant - access to more jobs, along with recreational, educational, and economic development opportunities when cities need it most," said Lakewood Councilmember Diane DuBois, co-chair of the steering committee for the study,
For more details, visit www.scag.ca.gov/perow
Joe Segura, a mild-mannered reporter for a major metropolitan newspaper, has covered Gotham City, er Long Beach, for 34 years. During his very, very long -- endless -- tenure, he's covered almost every beat, and he was the main writer for BeachWeek, which focused on life and lifestyles of the shoreline communities from downtown Long Beach to the Huntington Beach pier.
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