Suit Filed to Stop MTA Busway

By Wendy J. Madnick
Published on April 11, 2002

Opponents of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) East-West Transit Corridor, which was approved by the MTA in February, filed a lawsuit April 2 challenging the MTA's Environmental Impact Report (EIR), alleging that the report "understated the serious effects of the busway on Valley residents and ignored alternative transit projects that could have avoided these effects."

The controversial busway is slated to run along a 14-mile route through neighborhoods from Warner Center in Woodland Hills to the Metro Red Line subway station in North Hollywood. Supporters say it is a necessary and welcome means of improving mass transit. Opponents contend that the estimated $330 million project is too dangerous and expensive and that expanding the MTA's popular Metro Rapid Bus service would provide almost as many buses at 10 percent of the cost and with far fewer safety concerns.

An Air of Resignation

By Wendy J. Madnick
Published on August 16, 2001

It's the end of the line, or rather, the beginning. Last month, the board of directors of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) voted 8-3 to implement the San Fernando Valley East-West Transit Corridor.

That Run-Down Feeling

By Rabbi Dov Fischer
Published on July 5, 2001

The Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) plans to construct a grotesquely invasive "Bus Rapid Transit" corridor (the term is MTA's) along Chandler Boulevard in the East San Fernando Valley, and MTA's 300-page-plus environmental impact report (EIR) deceives the public in its effort to whitewash the plan. As one salient example of deceit, the EIR disingenuously tries to hide the rapid- transit's impact on community safety, conceding the possibility of increased "pedestrian/bus conflicts."

Chandler Busway:Round Two

By Wendy J. Madnick
Published on July 5, 2001

A proposed busway continued to spark fierce debate during two public hearings held in the San Fernando Valley during the last weeks of June.