LaBonge tells Valley VOTE he opposes huge project on Lankershim

L.A. Councilman Tom LaBonge recently spoke at a Valley VOTE meeting and affirmed his opposition to a massive office building project on Lankershim Boulevard at the site of the Metro Red Line station, across the street from the main entrance to Universal Studios.

He explained to Valley VOTE that his position is based on two issues, according to the organization's latest meeting report.

First, he opposes it because of the density caused by the proposed construction of two high-rise office buildings and a 10-story parking structure on an unusually small, "banana-shaped" lot.

Second, his opposition is based on the lack of infrastructure in the area to handle the vehicle traffic.

He noted that the thousands of jobs promised don't really reflect new jobs, as they are merely being transferred a few miles westward from the current NBC operations in Burbank.

However, new construction jobs would be needed to build the project. He also noted that the Lankershim site presents a particular traffic bottleneck because, unlike much of the Valley which provides alternative routes via a grid-based street network there, is no possibility of developing an alternative, the report states.

LaBonge distributed to the Valley VOTE attendees a copy of his Oct. 15 letter to Mayor Villaraigosa, in his capacity as chairman of the MTA, expressing his opposition to the project, which is a joint undertaking of the MTA and NBC/Universal.

LaBonge repeatedly insisted that we must "do it right!" He said that improving infrastructure must precede the project, as too often in the past (he cited the Hollywood/Highland Project) developers' promises to upgrade the infrastructure remain unfulfilled, according to the meeting report.

In LaBonge's mind, such improvements for this project should include additional lanes on both the 170 and 134 freeways to eliminate "choke points" and to widen several dozen surface street intersections in the area.

An interesting suggestion made by LaBonge was to extend the Red Line subway from its present terminus at Lankershim and Chandler northward to the Valley Plaza shopping mall at Victory Boulevard and then shift over to an above-ground light rail line down the center of the nearby 170 freeway, then north into the I-5 freeway, all the way to Santa Clarita.