Politics & Government

UPDATED: Challenge to Expo Line Is Dismissed; Neighborhood Group Reacts

A neighborhood group's petition against the project was dismissed by a judge on Tuesday night.

(Updated at 5:25 p.m.): On Wednesday afternoon, County Supervisor Zev Yarovslavsky spoke about the Expo Line outside his office in downtown L.A., according to City News Service.

He said he was "gratified that the judge found that the [Metropolitan Transportation] Authority did an adequate environmental impact report."

Yarovslavsky—who is on the MTA board—said the project is a "milestone" in Westside efforts to reduce traffic and boost usage of public transportation.

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

He also said McKnew's ruling would be upheld despite an appeal.

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

(Updated at 4:05 p.m.): NFSR President Terri Tippit gave Santa Monica Patch a statement from the group on Wednesday afternoon.

"While NFSR would have preferred to prevail at the trail court level, NFSR has always believed that the issue would be resolved at the appellate level as either side was certain to appeal the trial court's decision," the statement read. "NFSR will be filing an appeal and is confident that the appellate court will review the plain facts of the case and find that the Expo environmental review was fatally flawed and must be corrected."

The statement continued: "NFSR remains dedicated to making sure that key north/south streets, such as Overland and Sepulveda, are not blocked 24 times per hour, that West LA traffic is not edged closer to gridlock by an ill-conceived light rail plan, that children are not put at risk by trains running just feet from their schools and that first responders will not be hampered by blocked arterials in their efforts to save lives and property."

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(Updated at 1:12 p.m.): NFSR is planning to appeal the judge's decision, according to Neon Tommy, an outlet that is part of Annenberg Digital News.

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An attempt to derail the Expo Line failed Tuesday night when a Superior Court judge dismissed challenges to the project's Final Environmental Impact Report (FEIR). The petition had been made by Neighbors for Smart Rail (NFSR), a neighborhood group that had also proposed mitigation measures.

Judge Thomas McKnew handed down the decision, dismissing the group's legal challenges to multiple aspects of the FEIR. The decision followed a tentative ruling that was issued in December.

The challenges were made to Phase 2 of the project and, according to the Exposition Metro Line Construction Authority, included:

• standards for conducting an environmental review of the impacts the project would have;

• baseline data used in projecting future conditions surrounding impacts;

• cumulative impacts of traffic, parking, noise, air quality and other proposed corridor developments;

• selection of alternatives carried forward for study in the FEIR; and

• the recirculation of the draft environmental impact report (DEIR) for review

The Expo Authority has conducted multiple community-related meetings and briefings pertaining to the project, which will connect Santa Monica with downtown Los Angeles. Phase 1, which will run from downtown L.A. to Culver City, is 86 percent finished. Part of the phase is slated to open in the fall.


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