By Rachel Uranga | LA Times
Blasting a $2-billion people mover that would link SoFi Stadium to one of Los Angeles’ newest rail lines, Rep. Maxine Waters is on a mission to halt a project she called “ridiculous.”
“To the degree that I can do anything to stop it, I will do it,” she said Wednesday. “It’s a project that has turned out to be totally unnecessary and totally much too costly.”
The veteran lawmaker argues the elevated people mover — once touted as a marquee piece for the 2028 Olympic Games — won’t help those living in the working-class but gentrifying community. She suggested the Inglewood Transit Connector, or ITC, will be more useful to ferry fans flocking to the cluster of multibillion-dollar stadiums that have come to dominate the city of 107,000.
In a letter to U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg sent last week, Waters (D-Los Angeles) argued the money would be “better spent on programs that improve access to affordable housing.”
“It will not provide convenient connectivity to employment or public services for local residents,” she said. “The ITC is designed primarily to allow public transit users to connect the extra 1.6 miles from Metro’s K Line to sports and entertainment venues. Shuttle buses could most likely accomplish the same goal at a fraction of the cost, but have not been seriously considered as an alternative.”
Buttigieg’s federal agency has committed $1 billion to the project, about half its expected cost. But after the letter went out to members of the the House appropriations subcommittee, its chair, Rep. Steve Womack (R-Ark.), stripped $200 million — an installment of the full funding amount — in a draft budget bill.
Read more at: LA Times
