Mayor Writes Letter to Metro
In an effort to emphasize the city's ongoing opposition to a subway route going under the high school, Mayor Barry Brucker has written a letter to the Metro CEO.
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Editor's Note: The following letter was written by Mayor Barry Brucker to Arthur T. Leahy, CEO of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority. Patch received a copy of the letter from the city of Beverly Hills on Monday, June 27.
Barry Brucker, Mayor
June 23, 2011
Arthur T. Leahy, Cheif Executive Office
Metropolitan Transit Authority
One Gateway Plaza
Los Angeles, CA 90012
Dear Art:
This letter provides you with an update of the Beverly Hills City Council's position regarding the Westside Subway Extension.
At its June 21 meeting, the City Council received significant public comment, urging the Council to oppose the entire Westside Subway Extension if the Metro Transit Authority board selects the Constellation Station alignment -- or any alignment that would involve tunneling underneath Beverly Hills High School.
Within the next few weeks, the City Council will be evaluating all options available regarding the entire Westside Subway Project as it is planned within Beverly Hills, as well as the America Fast Forward (formerly 30-10) initiative.
Please review this new information and call me if I can further emphasize the seriousness of the City Council's and the community's resolve.
Regards,
Barry Brucker, Mayor
City of Beverly Hills
cc: Beverly Hills City Council
Jeff Kolin, City Manager
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Chris Loos
11:48 am on Wednesday, June 29, 2011
Ah, Beverly Hills. The bratty, petulant child of Los Angeles county.
Matt Kelly
1:09 pm on Wednesday, June 29, 2011
Basically what the mayor is saying, "I'm not leaving any room for negotiation with the MTA. So I'm just going to oppose the whole project through Beverly Hills, including the two subway stops that will help businesses and residents that live along Wilshire Blvd."
I wonder what the Beverly Hills Chamber of Commerce thinks about this? Let's not forget the $400,000 in Measure E bond money that the BHUSD school board illegally appropriated to run interference on the Westside Extension Subway EIR using downtown law firm Best Best & Krieger and Century City public affairs firm Sitrick & Company. The BHUSD even retains a Tutor-Saliba executive as a consultant presumably to say the MTA's plan to tunnel under BHHS will undermine future construction on the site. I wonder why? Could it be that Tutor-Saliba and MTA have been involved in a lawsuit since 1995 over shoddy construction practices and overbilling?
John Mirisch
8:48 pm on Wednesday, June 29, 2011
Whoa, who's conspiracy theorizing now? If the consultant you're referring to is Tim Buresh, he's now the Southern California head of the high speed rail authority and a former COO of the LAUSD. That's hardly the "paid hack" you seem to want to make him out to be.
On the other hand, how does anybody know that the current and/or future contractors won't also engage in "shoddy construction practices and overbilling"? And if it is shoddy construction practices we're talking about, doesn't the Community have even more cause to have safety concerns?
Matt Kelly
9:40 pm on Wednesday, June 29, 2011
So Tim Buresh now works as the Southern California regional director for CHSRA and is a consultant for the BHUSD. Did I get that right? So how does Mr. Buresh plan to work with the MTA, who just recently bought Union Station, to bring high speed rail to downtown Los Angeles? I can just picture that first meeting with MTA CEO Art Leahy, "Hi I'm Tim Buresh, the guy that fought against your efforts to put the subway station at Constellation Blvd., can you help me with this high speed rail project?" It sounds like a huge conflict of interest for both the BHUSD and the CHSRA.
"...how does anybody know that the current and/or future contractors won't also engage in "shoddy construction practices and overbilling"?"
The EIR hasn't been finalized yet! There is no contractor until after the EIR is approved and funding allocated. I think we can eliminate Tutor-Saliba from bidding on the contract. I suspect that construction companies like Skanska and Balfour Beatty are in the running to build the subway extension. They are both international construction companies that specialize in rail projects all over the world and have excellent safety records. Skanska worked on the East Side Gold Line extension, on time and under budget. Balfour Beatty is currently working on the Expo Line.