LOS ANGELES — Today, Councilmember Eunisses Hernandez introduced a motion instructing the City to suspend any actions related to advancing the Los Angeles Aerial Rapid Transit – more commonly known as “the gondola” – until the Department of Transportation completes a thorough assessment of Dodger Stadium traffic and accessibility.
The Environmental Impact Report for the proposed gondola has been released by Metro and will soon be considered by the Metro Board before potentially heading to additional City, County and State agencies for review. The proposal has garnered significant pushback from community members in neighborhoods surrounding the stadium who note that it overlooks critical concerns about potential environmental and economic impacts.
In her motion, Councilmember Hernandez points out that the most recent analysis of potential traffic mitigation measures at Dodger Stadium was completed over thirty years ago while the current proposal is being considered in a vacuum rather than weighed against a menu of solutions and how they will solve issues in the present day landscape. There has been no study from local transit agencies that demonstrates that the gondola will offer a robust solution to the impact of stadium traffic on surrounding communities compared against other zero emission transit solutions such as enhanced and targeted park and ride regional bus systems, improved pedestrian infrastructure, moving escalators and walkways, or other transit technologies.
“The communities that surround Dodger Stadium already bear the burden of the traffic congestion and increased pollution that stems from an increasingly year-round schedule of events at the stadium,” said Councilmember Hernandez. “Now, Metro is asking them to absorb the impact of constructing a gondola that would fly just feet over their homes and fundamentally change the landscape of their neighborhoods, without ever demonstrating that this is the most effective and efficient way to mitigate stadium traffic. The last analysis was done over 30 years ago. As public agencies, we owe it to our constituents to conduct a real study of this issue and present evidence-based solutions.”
“This is the most sensible order of operations to determine the best solutions for traffic congestion around Dodger Stadium,” said Jon Christensen, adjunct assistant professor in the UCLA Institute of the Environment and Sustainability. “The gondola and other alternatives should be studied fairly and objectively to determine what impact they are likely to have on traffic and greenhouse gas emissions as well as their contributions to the city’s overall goals for electrifying our entire transportation system. It is unfortunate that this was not done in the environmental impact review for the gondola. But it should be done before considering the gondola proposal in any way.”
“I am grateful that Councilmember Hernandez is introducing a motion to suspend the advancement of this gondola until the Department of Transportation considers all the alternatives to reducing traffic and facilitating access to Dodger Stadium,” said Philip Murphy, President of Friends of Elysian Park. “It should be noted that the stadium is nestled in Elysian Park, which is a ‘Dark Park,’ meaning it closes down at night to give the wildlife that live there a rest, as well as the neighbors who live nearby. If the gondola is operating from 6 a.m. until 12 midnight, which is indicated in the Final EIR, we might as well live next to City Walk for all the peace and quiet we’ll get.”
Councilmember Hernandez’s motion instructs City departments to study policies and procedures at other stadiums and high-capacity venues throughout the region, including the Rose Bowl, Hollywood Bowl, SoFi, BMO and the Coliseum, to provide recommendations for how to alleviate traffic, community queuing, and local parking impacts.
###
Follow Councilmember Eunisses Hernandez at @cd1losangeles on Twitter and Instagram.