Victory for ‘brain train’

It has been a long, rough road with many years of fighting for the Gold Line Foothill Extension, but it has paid off.

Victory came on Oct. 22, when the Metro Board of Directors passed a new Long Range Transportation Plan, committing to Phase 2A of extending a light rail service from East Los Angeles to Azusa and Phase 2B from Glendora to Montclair.

With the support of the community, businesses and schools, construction for the “shovel-ready project” is expected to start in 2010 and be completed by 2013.

At its completion, “the Gold Line Extension will reach to 13 colleges on or near the light rail line,” said State Sen. Bob Huff, who serves the 29th district of California. 

With the extension Citrus College students, faculty, and staff will be able to travel in a more economically efficient way. Student transportation problems and the struggle to find parking are expected to decrease.

“Having rapid transit will help students’ cost of living and it will reduce traffic on the freeway. This would have gone the opposite direction, westward to the ocean, and I’m really glad we are part of this success,” said Citrus College Board of Trustees member Edward C. Ortell, Ph.D., who has been a part of the fight since 2004. He was the first to bring this solution to the board.

Students fought alongside with the Board of Trustees advocating for the extension of the Metro Gold Line into the San Gabriel Valley.

“Our board lobbied for [the station at] Citrus Avenue for about four to five years; we’ve gone to Metro Board meetings, gone to our state legislators, gone to Washington, D.C., met with some of our congressional representatives. All of our legislators and people from Congress have been completely behind it,” said Marilyn Grinsdale, Citrus College protocol and government relations officer.

On Oct. 20, 14 Southern California congressional leaders, led by representatives David Dreier, Grace Napolitano, Adam Schiff, and Judy Chu, sent a letter to the Metro board insisting on the inclusion of the Gold Line Foothill Extension in the long-range transportation plan and its funding. 

“We are shovel-ready, meaning there’s stimulus money to encourage the economy, but some of the projects they put the money into won’t happen until five to 15 years, and that doesn’t give much stimulus when you need it right now,” Ortell said. “If anything could simulate the economy, it’s jobs that start immediately, not jobs that start 12 years from now.”

On Nov. 4, 2008, the voters of Los Angles County approved Measure R, a half-cent sales tax increase that finances new transportation projects and programs and accelerates projects that are ready to go. Yet the Metro board still delayed approval.

“They promised if Measure R passed, the Gold Line would be one of the projects included, which they did but put it on hold until 2017, instead of 2013,” Grinsdale said.
Ortell calls the project the “brain train.”

“We have buses that line up in front of our auditorium [Haugh Performing Arts Center] for all of our programs,” Ortell said. “This will be an alternative way to just step off the platform, and they would be right there in minutes.”

The fight for the “brain train” has been joined by representatives from the University of La Verne, Mount Sierra College, Mount San Antonio College, as well as Azusa Pacific University.

“Now we have to get federal funding, that’s the next fight,” said Ginny Dadaian, director of community relations at APU. “We are all partisans. We all came together. We see the need for transportation in Southern California, and this is an integral part, bridging the San Gabriel Valley and the Inland Empire to L.A. County. This is beneficial for our staff and students.”

“We’re going to have to ask our federal legislators for help in funding. We are one united voice here,” Dadaian said.

A kick-off celebration is scheduled at 10 a.m. to noon on Nov. 21. There will be an unveiling ceremony at the future Gold Line Foothill Extension Station in Monrovia at the corner of Myrtle Avenue and Duarte Road.

Elected officials and community leaders will be there.  Students, residents and families are welcome to participate.