Letter to the Editor: What Will Happen to the Westside if the Subway Never Comes?

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Letter submitted by Carol Spencer, a Westwood resident and member of the Westwood Community Council.

Each time I read yet another alarming headline in the Beverly Hills Patch or the Beverly Hills Courier, I wonder if the entire dream of a Subway to the Sea will only remain a dream.

Beverly Hills Councilmembers Bosse and Mirisch have stamped their collective feet and said there will be no tunneling under all of Beverly Hills if Metro insists on a tunnel under their high school.  Is this what their business community really wants?  Haven’t they already met to choose designs for the stations at La Cienega and Rodeo?

What will happen to the entire Westside of the City of Los Angeles without the subway? Will those living and working west of Beverly Hills lose the dream of taking the subway to Disney Hall or Staples Center? 

So much for lawyers getting to court on the subway rather than driving through traffic.  So much for the tens of thousands of employees who were looking forward to a quicker way to get to and from their jobs.

Will cut-thru traffic so clog the city streets affecting local merchants' ability to thrive? Will tourists and shoppers alike stay away from the famous Rodeo Drive and nearby department and other shops in Beverly Hills because they cannot easily get there?

Will Beverly Hills become a ‘Yesterday Venue’ with competition taking over that is easy to reach?  Will the rest of the world bypass Beverly Hills?

Will the workers west of Beverly Hills move closer to their jobs in order to get to work on time? This attitude of only having concern for one’s private corner of the world harms everyone.  When even their own experts say it is safe to tunnel under the school, it is still not enough.  It’s like a child so worked up in his tantrum that he can no longer see anything but the tantrum itself.  And the tantrum is fed hundreds of thousands of dollars to keep going until the populace forgets why they’re even worked up.

Has anyone considered the future of Beverly Hills and the Westside of Los Angeles as well as Santa Monica if the Subway to the Sea becomes mired in legalities and ceases to exist?

-- Carol Spencer, resident of Westwood