Thanks to Director/Mayor Butts, Metro has been changed to further study BOTH the Hybrid Row and Hawthorne Blvd options for the C-line expansion. (The alternative would have been to ONLY focus on building down the ROW, so we are sincerely and deeply grateful for his leadership!
The 13-member Los Angeles County Metro Board of Directors (Metro Board) oversees and governs the operations of the LA Metro, but they cannot properly fulfill their duty to their constituents if we are all relying on the transparency and credibility of Metro staff.
Throughout this process, staff have been misrepresenting facts, withholding important information, downplaying present and potential problems, being extremely non-transparent in dealing with the community, and pretending that the freight right-of-way (ROW) is the “locally preferred” alternative for the C-line extension project.
At last Thursday’s Metro meeting, the Board made an important decision for LA South Bay communities about where they will focus their efforts to build the C-line extension. Despite the Board’s clear instructions to study both options, Metro staff immediately went to social media and misrepresented what occurred as an “approval” to build down the ROW. NONE OF IT IS TRUE OR ACCURATE!
Not only did they not mention the “Butts-Mitchell” substitution, Metro staff even posted information saying that construction begins in 2029!
To make matters exponentially worse, Metro staff’s misrepresentation was quickly picked-up by many other community members and news organizations and spread like wildfire!
Director Holly Mitchell stated in her email of May 24th: “This is not the end of our discussion about the extension. I look forward to a comprehensive and community-informed environmental impact report and to continuing to work together to meet the transportation needs of the rapidly growing South Bay and throughout the 2nd District.”
Metro’s “information” was so misleading that Director Butts had to send out a rebuttal over this Memorial Day weekend! https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/67nuizlzckgoc6d9d4sq7/2024.05.24-Letter-of-Clarification-on-Butts-Motion-for-C-Line.pdf?rlkey=47i1b5hf2rymhocnw15cdsqsd&dl=0
A careful read of the letter (linked above) reveals what REALLY happened: Director Butts put forth a SUBSTITUTE motion (Butts-Mitchell.) It was voted on and unanimously passed. You can even watch a video of Director Butts explaining the motion on Metro’s website. (See timestamp 2:52:00)
Here is a direct quote from Director/Mayor Butts’ letter (linked above:) “Yesterday's approval to move the environmental process for the C Line Extension to Torrance forward was not the project approval.”
Here is another video of Director/Mayor Butts explaining what actually happened at the Metro meeting to the South Bay Council of Governments later the same day (See timestamp 1:16:40)
So far, I have found one source that reported what happened correctly: The esteemed LA Times:
This is yet another example of the MANY lies Metro staff continue to tell our community and their own Board! They have simply been ignoring us, misleading their own Board, and spouting whatever nonsense they need to plow through the ROW to avoid dealing with CalTrans and Federal agencies.
As the governing body of Metro, the Board—through majority votes—gives directives to Metro staff. Motions adopted by the Board are binding instructions that Metro staff must follow and implement. But Metro staff is—and has been—disrespectfully ignoring the Board’s directives.
The Metro Board is charged with making decisions on what transportation projects to fund and build. But they cannot do their important work if Metro staff continues to mislead. Our work is not done: let’s hold their feet to the fire to make sure they do their UNBIASED due-diligence when making this important “100-year” decision!