As soon as you walked in you asked to sign in as well as given some papers, and then you could not help but notice the large model. People quickly gathered around the model, as MTA representatives as well as the Architect and community members struggled to figure out what it was and ask some questions. When I looked at the model, I couldn't orient myself what area this model represented, it was only half way through the presentation that I figured out how to read the model.
The meeting then began and people took their seats, MTA project manager for the regional connector opened with a few words and the MTA director also spoke a few words. The MTA Technical Consultant then began his presentation, it was a long presentation which included an overview of the 4 options, why they would benefit Little Tokyo, as well as computer renderings, a video flyby, construction information such as timeline, as well as where are they along with the project.
After the presentation the floor was opened up to for the community to raise their voice for questions, comments and concerns. This part of the meeting got very intense, many community members raised tough questions and serious concerns, about the impact of a regional connector on Little Tokyo. Metro staff took notes and recorded the feedback from the community.
The meeting ran until 7:30 an hour longer than initially planned, MTA representatives stayed around for a bit to answer more questions. The Project manager also said she is available to meet with any individual who would like to do so. The Regional connector is currently in the stage where they evaluate the options get feedback from the community and then they will make their decision around summer of next year. For the next year, they plan on having more community meetings and this was the first of those.
Watch a video flyby created by MTA here
Another Video with a recap of the slideshow you can see here
Disclaimer: The views represented here are my own, this information is accurate to the best of my knowledge, if you notice anything that is incorrect please email me at moguro@ltsc.org thanks
14 comments:
I wasn't able to attend the meeting, so I'm glad to see this blog.
I really hope that they go with the underground alignment.
Underground would be a lot faster than at-grade and underground would be a lot less disruptive than at-grade during construction.
Little Tokyo would get to keep the existing station at First/Alameda (which looks awesome, IMHO) and the community would even potentially gain a second station near the library and across the street from the Kyoto Grand... awesome!
Little Tokyo would go from being extremely difficult to get to, because of lousy parking and hard-to-navigate streets, to being extremely easy to get to, thanks to light rail connections to Long Beach, Pasadena and the westside.
I guess Office Depot would bite the dust, but you can't have everything. No big loss as far as I'm concerned.
Now, if they could get started on building that Nikkei Center (Mangrove) at the corner... and wow, Little Tokyo's would really see a growth spurt...
I think there's legitimate concern over what the underground option will do to the businesses in Little Tokyo while it's being built.
Second Street is already so narrow through Little Tokyo and many of the long-time businesses on that street are owned by individuals/families--Rafu Bussan, Kimura Photomart, Kouraku, etc. Many of the businesses down First St in Boyle Heights have closed during the current Gold Line Metro extension project. The most optimistic prediction puts this project at 4 yrs.
In addition to Office Depot, that lot also includes several other businesses, and the APS parking lot.
Second St. also has the entrance to one of the few parking lots left. The other major parking lot's entrance is on Central Ave between First & Second. If through traffic is taken away on Second Street, that would severely impact parking availability.
I guess the question is how much of Little Tokyo's community will survive by the time the project is completed to reap the benefits? Are there other options that might be less potentially destructive to the existing neighborhood that is finally showing signs of growth? Can the businesses already hurting because of the economy survive if people stay away for 4+ years while this digs up the streets?
If I remember from the meetings at Central Library, isn't the tunnel going to be done by Tunnel Boring Machines like the Eastside Gold Line and their impacts minimized. The only location where the streets will be opened up are at stations and I don't believe there will be a station at Little Tokyo.
VKM,
The comment about the lot being the last parking lot left stirkes me as odd because there are parking structures all over the place in Little Tokyo with a surface lot next the Geffen Contemporary Museum. And taking that very large lot (which can double as a place to stage the building of the line) is the sacrifice for not having to tear up all of Second Street to build this tunnel which further reduces the impacts to the local businesses.
thanks for the update, i personally think the subway to little tokyo would be an excellent solution. having lived in tokyo, i'm a sucker for good public transportation that actually connects places.
while i was a student at ucla, i remember several of my friends who often wanted to visit little tokyo, but we couldn't since we didn't have cars and there was no practical public transportation to get us there.
even today, i'm not a fan of having to drive through all local traffic just to pay for parking. i really think public transportation presents a great alternative, despite the problems that construction may cause.
honestly, there's been construction going on around little tokyo as long as i can remember, but that hasn't stopped me from going. but the lack of public transportation to/from there has.
Little Tokyo, one of my favorite areas of Los Angeles, will be enhanced greatly by the regional connector in terms of foot traffic in the fantastic and beautiful area, and the fact that so many rail line converge at this one point. I see this as an opportunity for Little Tokyo to become the new core of downtown. I understand that it won’t be easy initially, and that small business will suffer during construction, but the new Little Tokyo will arise stronger as the crossroads of Los Angeles the way Culver City used to be in the age of the Red Cars – all lines meet in Little Tokyo. My partners business was greatly affected during the Red Line construction (mostly because the sinkhole was down the street from his store) but now our area, Los Feliz, has a more urban vibe, better walkability, and a unique destination in the City of Los Angeles.
A couple skewed perceptions in comments above...
Little Tokyo has ALREADY been growing and the Goldline Extension is opening soon.
The 2nd street Alignment is underground *until* it surfaces in Little Tokyo at a diagonal. It's difficult to compare this situation to Redline because that line is entirely underground. This means significant traffic disruption and added density on the corner of 1st and Alameda. Because of the way the trains will surface and cross the street, there are MANY concerns for the community both short- and long term that need to be aired.
We probably won't get the second station due to politics and we technically already have a station (although not all connector trains will stop there).
Office Depot is not the only business lost. We would lose a whole block of longtime LT businesses such as Weiland's, Senior Fish, Izayoi, Starbucks, and Yogurtland. Okay, most of those are not Japanese, but definitely represent a big part of the night life and dining experience in the community today.
It's good to be pro-transit but there are serious implications for this community and current residents/workers.
Just saying...
Given the increase in the number of new developments with ground floor retail in the Little Tokyo area alone, these resturants could be relocated within the Little Tokyo/Artist District area and they don't miss a beat.
Paul, as you are accusing others of skewing things, you are doing the same thing as well because, how do you think they will build an underground station or new underground tie-in tunnel if the entire East LA Gold Line were underground there?
They'll have to cut open the street and businesses will still be impacted so the same things/concerns will take place, I'm not saying they wouldn't be looked at but, the same potential impacts will be there no matter what we do.
But now is a good time to review all of those impacts as it is still in the study stage.
Let's us also not forget that Alameda with it's heavy traffic will be placed below grade under First Street, This maybe testy during the construction period as with any major public infrastructure project will be but in the long term it would improve the foot traffic in the area because Alameda is a virtual highway that currently disconnects pedestrian traffic.
Darren, I'm not skewing anything- construction may be the same either way, but LONG-term implications between underground and surfacing/at-grade connection at 1st and Alameda would be way different.
current configuration:
... Trains crossing an intersection ever 1.5 min (revised from 2.25 after last meeting with MTA) at peak hours at-grade, traffic separated so you can't turn onto 1st st going north-south limiting access, a tunnel surfacing between Japanese Village Plaza and Savoy.
If you live/work here, this would not be an easy pill to swallow not just because of short-term construction, but long-term as well... how everything will look and how it will affect the community.
Yeah, things need to be sorted out, but to a certain extent a bird bridge is just lipstick on a pig when there's still a train tunnel poking up in the middle of Little Tokyo.
Underground is not gonna happen anyway the way everyone is hawking this project.
I work in the area and live in South Park,
Since when has 2nd/Alameda been closed off to Little Tokyo? Access would still be made there, Temple/Alameda is in the same boat. Also entrance to the Savoy would still be available along 2nd Street.
But to call the bridge "lipstick on a pig" when even if this was all underground, traffic is so bad on Alameda and with all the new development a pedestrian bridge will be needed in the area anyways.
Okay, no one is claiming traffic on Alameda is good now (minus Goldline extension construction, right?) but adding a train into the mix and shunting traffic to smaller streets (2nd) is going to fix that?
As for the pig: I'm referring to the tunnel spanning a whole block... all the snazzy pedestrian bridges of the world would not change the fact that an entire block will be been taken out of Little Tokyo for a tunnel. Good urban design? Not really.
The block taken out to place a train portal which could then be leveraged as a new development to serve as a hub of Little Tokyo.
Iamgine...
Having the trains in and out of the portal with wraparound glass windows creating a kinetic urban sculpture in the middle of great lobby of this new development. A good designer can make these things work to his/her advantage,
That is what great urban design is all about.
Shunting traffic to other streets that do not see much use and making them useful is another urban design strategy that has been used around the world.
There should be emphasis on making the station more like a mall that has space for any business in every nook and cranny.
Japan does this (major mall) with most of their stations and fully-utilizes the limited-footprint with shops from the basement floors to the Nth floors.
It's silly to do wasteful over-arches that do not add to pedestrian capacity. It just contributes to the wasteful (and difficult to walk) sprawls common to California "shopping" centers which are more parking lot than shopping.
NuShrike:
I like the way that they do things in Japan, and I really wish that we had more train station malls here in America.
There are several places in Los Angeles I can think of where they could have done a better job of integrating a subway or light rail station into the community as a whole.
I'm not certain that approach would work quite as well at the corner of First of Alameda.
The bridge really is needed because the wye will obviously take most of the intersection. I think a lot of people will use the bridge to get to Nikkei Center, which will have a lot of retail in and of itself. The Nikkei Center may be the closest we will have to station retail at that location.
A better possible location for some Japanese-style station retail might be the underground station at 1st/Los Angeles, since that will be across the street from the Kyoto Grand.
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