By Katrina Van Duzee/Garden Grove Journal
The second round of community meetings examining the potential uses for the Pacific Electric Right-of-Way is set to take place at various locations in Orange County starting inDecember, project manager at Southern California Association of Governments, Phillip Law said.
The Right-of-Way connects downtown Los Angeles to Santa Ana and when it functioned in the first half of the 20th century it offered locals an easy way to travel through 21 cities in Orange County and Los Angeles County.
With the rise of the car. the corridor was converted to freight train uses and later abandoned completely. It remains an untapped resource currently being studied by the SCAG for its potential uses, Law said.
“We haven’t screened any options out yet,” Law said. “The point of themeetings are to present our analysis, the different alternatives and howeach of them performs. This is why we want to get the community out, so wecan see which methods they might prefer.”
The first round of meeting were held over the summer and the secondround is scheduled for Thursday, Dec. 2 at the Courtyard Center, 12732 Main St., Garden Grove at 6:30 p.m., Tuesday, Dec. 7 at the Complex Building, 4th Floor, Room 414, Cypress College, 9200 Valley View St., Cypress at 6:30 p.m. and Saturday, Dec. 11 at 1 p.m. in the Stanton Community Center, 7800 Katella Ave.
Community members are encouraged to view project displays, presentations and engage in discussions about the benefits, impacts and trade-offs of proposed strategies at the meetings, Law said.
Along with “no-build” improvements the study will consider options such as increased bus rapid transit, a light rail transit and a high-speed rail and a commuter rail.
“It is our responsibility to at least examine the possibilities and this is an important opportunity for the public to weigh in on transit options that will enhance regional connectivity. We can have access to more jobs, stimulate more economic development and enjoy a new network of recreational paths along with the new transit system,” Mayor Art Brown of Buena Park, a Director on the Orange County Transit Authority Board and the co-chair of the Steering Committee said.
The AA study began in March and is scheduled to be complete by fall 2011.
After the SCAG has concluded its study it will recommend a course of action to the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority and the OCTA which owns the corridor and has the power to decide whether or not to implement the suggestions.
On the Los Angeles County side a voter approved sales tax called Measure R has funds provided for the project, so it is more likely that the Metro will implement the suggestions made versus the OCTA because there are no funds yet available for the project in Orange County, Law said.
It is not known whether either county will act on the proposals for sure.
Contact Philip Law, project manager at 213-236-1841 or law@scag.ca.gov or visit www.pacificelectriccorridor.com for more information.
why not build a monorail . it would start at union station and go through santa ana to anaheim