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Metro Votes to Do Wilshire Bus-Only Lanes, Minus a Mile
Photo by Payton Chung via Flickr
Photo by Payton Chung via Flickr
The Metro Board of Directors unanimously voted today to support LA County Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky and the vocal condominium residents and will remove a contested one-mile segment of the proposed Wilshire rush hour bus-only lanes from the project, reports Streetsblog Los Angeles.During the over one hour period of public testimony, the Board heard largely arguments in favor of the full project, including the segment between Comstock and Selby to which local residents raised objections. "Roughly 10-15% of those testifying were Westside residents opposed to the project," whereas the remainder of the speakers, "representing environmental groups, urban planners, bike riders, the Bus Riders Union, and residents of West L.A." addressed the benefits of the plan.
Streetsblog summarizes Yaroslavsky's turn expressing his opinion on the project:
In what was both an extremely condescending and revealing statement. Yaroslavsky commented that the Metro and LADOT staff did an amazing job but he thinks that they’re wrong about the impact of removing this mile of street based on his years of obstructing transit projects his solemn responsibility to make sure things work. Yaroslavsky then went on to claim the mantle of champion of bus-only lanes, commenting that the people who would be sitting in their cars have organizations too. And, these organizations would halt all future bus rapid transit projects after he demonstrated how easy it is to do so if we upset them.
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