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Politics & Government

Q&A: Deputy Director of Transportation Aaron Kunz

Aaron Kunz talks with Patch about the Metro subway coming through Beverly Hills.

Aaron Kunz serves as deputy director for the city's Transportation Department. For more than a year, he's been the city's point man on providing City Council with updates on the Metropolitan Transportation Authority's plans for their construction of the Westside Subway Connection, or the "Subway to the Sea." At several recent meetings, residents expressed concern about two alternative subways plans for Beverly Hills, which would call for tunnels to be dug under private residences and Beverly Hills High School. Patch spoke to Kunz about residents' concerns and the process of approving the extension of Metro's Purple Line from Wilshire Boulevard and Western Avenue. 

Beverly Hills Patch: Why are you briefing the City Council next month?

Aaron Kunz: The reason is Metro is proceeding with their environmental process. So now they are at the point when they'll release the EIR (Environmental Impact Report) in August. It was planned for July, but it was delayed. So now that details are coming out and alternatives are being explored. I'll go in front of the City Council on Aug. 3 to answer any questions they might have. The EIR doesn't contain any recommendations, but now that people have seen where the lines could go there is more interest.

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Patch: What do you expect at that meeting?

Kunz: I'm going back at the request of the council to consider formulating an opinion on the proposed alignments. I'll also provide analysis of the information we have at this time. We've been updating them on a regular basis.

Find out what's happening in Beverly Hillswith free, real-time updates from Patch.

Patch: What Metro plan did the city initially approve back in August 2009?

Kunz: The council approved the Mass Transit Committee's recommendation of a Wilshire Boulevard alignment through the city to Century City. We wanted to get out ahead of the process and support what would best serve Beverly Hills.

Patch: Why have other plans (know as Constellation North and South) been explored outside of the originally proposed Wilshire/Santa Monica alignment plan?

Kunz: My understanding from Metro officials is that they came up in consultations that came out of the public process. When they went to Century City, there was an interest in having a station on Constellation Avenue rather than Santa Monica Boulevard. So they decided to include those alternative in the environmental document to study. They need to explore all alternatives.

Patch: What are the pros and cons of these plans?

Kunz: We are focused on Beverly Hills. Having said that the obvious pros and cons come from what alignment is used to get from Beverly Hills to Century City. If they choose to shoot down Wilshire, the pro from our perspective is that it would be consistent with the wishes of the Mass Transit Committee recommendations. Anything that goes under Beverly Hills High School concerns us and that's what we've been hearing from homeowners. We had over 170 people at the last meeting and an overwhelming number of them support the subway, but we don't want it to go under the high school.

Patch: Should residents fear noise and vibrations should a subway be built under a residential area?

Kunz: I think Metro is the best to answer that. I can say if you look at the Mass Transit Committee report, they determined that tunneling was possible.

Patch: How deep are subway tunnels?

Kunz: The tunnels Metro builds are around 65- to 70-feet-deep.

Patch: How long will construction take? How much is the project slated to cost and who is paying for it?

Kunz: Once it gets going, I would say around three to four years. The project will be funded by federal money and Measure R money. The city hasn't made an agreement to contribute to the costs of the subway. Los Angeles contributed and Santa Monica contributed to the Exposition Line. Any funding would have to be approved by the city council. That is something that is going to be worked out over the next several years.

Patch: What type of environmental impact would a subway have on Beverly Hills?

Kunz: What I can say is the council and Westside Council of Governments supported this because of the environmental benefits. Because we've been studying our regional transportation needs and you can't build anymore roads, and signal (timing) has its limits, so the subway is our best option. So the whole purpose of supporting the subway is to get more people out of their cars. That's driven the support for this project to date. Now on the flipside, there are a number of negative aspects, but will have to see what they are when the EIR is released.

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