Metro board chooses Hawthorne Blvd. for South Bay light rail extension

by Garth Meyer

By unanimous vote today, the Metro board of directors chose the Hawthorne Boulevard route to extend light rail to the South Bay.

A total of 172 people spoke in public comment in Los Angeles, Thursday, January 22. Those against the Hawthorne Boulevard route cited concerns about lost sales tax dollars and disrupted businesses on the commercial corridor. Those in favor of Hawthorne cited quality of life issues on the other proposed route, a railroad right-of-way between neighborhoods in Lawndale and North Redondo Beach.

“There is no moral equivalency,” said Metro Board Director and Inglewood Mayor James Butts. He, fellow Metro Director, 2nd District County Supervisor Holly Mitchell and two other board members put forth a proposed motion days before the meeting in support of the Hawthorne Blvd. route.

Mitchell presented the motion to the crowd today, noting that it would establish a business interruption fund to help businesses along Hawthorne during construction of the light rail’s raised tracks.

Metro Board Director Janice Hahn gave her vote in the end to the Hawthorne route, “with apologies to Torrance.” She asked Mitchell to work with her to assure that if the Metro-owned right-of-way now goes up for sale, the Metro board will have a say in who it would be sold to.

Hahn suggested that, if it indeed is sold, and a freight company buys it, it could “do to this (Lawndale and North Redondo) community exactly what we’re trying to avoid.”

Mitchell assured Hahn she will work with her to draft such a motion for a later meeting.

The South Bay light rail extension would offer a single-seat ride from Torrance to LAX. The earliest Metro projection for when it would be complete is 2036. ER