Bravo Redondo Beach!

This is from Ken Alpern of “Friends of the Green Line”

To All:

Although the state and federal governments continue to starve transportation funding (particularly for urban transportation initiatives) and fail to provide leadership in planning for the next century, at least it’s comforting to see local cities take charge whenever and wherever they can.

Although a long-overdue Green Line and/or Metrolink service does not yet access the South Bay’s transit hub via the dormant and publicly-owned Harbor Subdivision Right of Way (ROW), the Redondo Beach City Council, led by such responsible and visionary leaders as Councilmember Steve Diels, will upgrade this transit hub to prepare for that day when consensus and funding allows high-capacity rail to connect with local buses at the Galleria Mall.

Metro will upgrade its Metro Long Range Transportation Plan this year, as well as embark upon a Major Investment Study to evaluate Metrolink, Metrolink-compatible DMU service and other options for utilization of the Harbor Subdivision ROW between Union Station and the ports via the LAX and the Galleria Mall/South Bay transit hub.

The Bus

Lately I’ve been walking and riding the bus a lot. I always enjoy talking to the people I meet on the bus. In the last couple of weeks two of my favorite acquaintances have been; a fellow surfer, who grew up surfing on Lake Michigan (I’ve read about surfing on Lake Michigan, but never met anyone who’d done it before). The second was a young lady from Russia who was surprised by how limited our mass transit was.

I had, what I felt to be genuine and interesting conversations with both of these folks……. Sometimes I don’t think we realize how much has been lost. Meetings and conversations like this don’t happen when we’re driving in our cars.

It all happened on a short 6 mile commute to Lomita. The cost was a dollar. (round trip!)

Green Line Galleria Connection

Wouldn’t it be nice to have a Green Line connection at the South Bay Galleria? There’s even talk of it extending all the way up Hawthorne to P.C.H.