Editorial: Metro must involve Westside residents in discussion plans

The Los Angeles County Metro is investing billions of dollars building rail that connects Westwood to the rest of the region, but unless it also invests in community feedback, its money might not be well spent.

To ensure the proposal is as strong as possible, Metro must involve the Westside better, both to inform voters of the plan’s benefits and to identify necessary alterations before it’s too late. Otherwise, a plan with potential could fall flat.

In March, Metro proposed a half-cent tax increase to raise $120 billion over 40 years for major transportation projects. This funding will help complete the Purple Line extension to Westwood by 2024 and a pay for a new train connecting Westwood to the San Fernando Valley by 2033. Metro will decide whether to add the proposal to the November ballot in June.

In preparation for the initiative, Metro has scheduled several community meetings across the county. Yet, none of these meetings take place further west than West Hollywood. In Westwood, a representative will discuss the Purple Line at a Westwood Village Improvement Association meeting Thursday, but not the tax proposal.

Metro isn’t doing enough to reach out to voters, and that’s a shame. Despite mixed reactions to the initial proposal, the tax increase will help commuters across the city and at UCLA. About 60 percent of student commuters get to UCLA using alternative transportation and more transit options could help revitalize Westwood by combating obstacles such as limited parking options.

While Metro commissioned a poll in 2015 that found more than two-thirds of county residents support the tax increase, it also showed that surveyed Westside residents valued bus and train improvements the least, favoring retrofitting freeway infrastructure and mitigating freeway congestion instead.

In his State of the City address last week, Mayor Eric Garcetti urged voters to approve the increase, highlighting the transportation projects he believed most critical to the region’s future, most of them involving rail.

Without more outreach, there is good reason to think that support will be lacking for the proposal come November. And convincing as many voters as possible is essential. Measure R, a half-cent tax increase approved in 2008, passed by less than 1 percent. The measure funded both the new Expo Line and the Purple Line extension, both of which are planned to stop on Westwood Boulevard.

To be fair, the last of Metro’s public meetings is virtual and accessible online. But not all voters are internet-savvy or have the resources to access the online meetings. Voters deserve a voice in this plan and also have a right to be informed in more ways than one before they fill out their ballots in November.

Westside residents, students included, deserve an opportunity to say what they think about Metro’s plan before it’s finalized and put on the ballot. Increasing transportation funding can help all parties involved if Metro considers each one of them.