Mountain Views News          Saturday, May 9, 2015

6

AROUND SAN GABRIEL VALLEY

Mountain Views-News Saturday, May 9, 2015 

REP. SCHIFF WRITES LETTER TO METRO BOARD MEMBERS OPPOSING 

710 TUNNEL ALTERNATIVE AFTER EIR RELEASED

Washington, DC – Today, Rep. Adam Schiff 
(D-Burbank) sent a letter to Chairman Eric 
Garcetti and members of the Los Angeles Metro 
Board opposing the SR 710 North freeway tunnel 
alternative proposed in the SR 710 North Study 
by the California Department of Transportation 
(Caltrans) and the Los Angeles County Metropolitan 
Transportation Authority (Metro). In the letter, 
Schiff pushes the Board and Metro to instead study a 
more innovative, multimodal approach, combining 
mass transit, bikeways, new parks to improve air 
quality and more efficient ways of moving cargo.

 “Metro could help reshape the transportation 
future of Los Angeles by thinking outside the box to 
get people outside their vehicles, by integrating parks 
and better urban planning, smart traffic lights and 
smarter mass transit, all of this and more, and all 
for less than the cost of a tunnel,” said Schiff. “At the 
beginning of this process, many in the community 
were afraid that Metro would plow ahead with a 
predetermined conclusion that the freeway must be 
finished, and other ideas would only be entertained 
so that they might be rejected in a process with only 
the appearance of deliberation. As the challenges 
facing Los Angeles are new, I urge Metro to 
think anew, reject the tunnel, and give serious 
consideration to other, more forward thinking and 
more suitable options.”

 The full letter that Schiff sent it below:

Dear Chairman Garcetti and Metro Board Members:

 I write to express my opposition to the SR 710 
North freeway tunnel alternative proposed in the 
SR 710 North Study by the California Department 
of Transportation (Caltrans) and the Los Angeles 
County Metropolitan Transportation Authority 
(Metro). After review of the draft Environmental 
Impact Report/Environmental Impact Statement 
(EIR/EIS), it is my belief that a tunnel would be cost 
prohibitive and detrimental to the communities 
overall, including many cities that I represent in 
Congress.

 When the idea of a tunnel was first raised and 
it was believed that the rare common ground 
in the decades-long fight over the 710 might be 
underground, I was willing to explore its fiscal, 
technical and community feasibility. At the time, 
Metro represented that due to improvements in 
tunneling technology, a below ground option might 
cost the same or only fractionally more than the 
discredited at-grade proposal – or roughly $1.5 
billion. 

 This estimate would prove wildly optimistic. 
Whatever the technological feasibility, a single-bore 
or dual-bore tunnel is cost prohibitive and could cost 
anywhere between $3.15 billion and a whopping $5.65 
billion. All of the four other alternative proposals put 
together would cost less than even the more modest 
tunnel option. Furthermore, experience on other 
major transportation projects teaches us that even 
these costs are likely to be considerably higher than 
the estimates produced in an EIR/EIS report.

 It was also believed by Metro at the time a 
tunnel was first proposed that the agency would 
be able to garner strong community support for 
the idea. This has also proved not to be the case. 
To the degree a consensus has formed around the 
tunnel – at least insofar as the communities along 
its path are concerned – it is a consensus against the 
proposal, finding it too costly, too disruptive and 
too backward a solution to transportation needs 
in the 21st Century. Our communities want new 
and innovative ways to move people and improve 
air quality, not more freeways above or below 
ground with their smokestacks for ventilation and 
even more vehicles belching exhaust through their 
neighborhoods. 

 I was discouraged to see that the draft EIR/EIS did 
not seriously consider a more innovative, multimodal 
approach, combining mass transit, bikeways, new 
parks to improve air quality and more efficient 
ways of moving cargo. These are the approaches 
favored by so many constituents who have written 
in to the Board. Many urban areas in the United 
States, including Los Angeles, are starting to take 
an “all of the above” approach to addressing their 
transportation needs using bus, light rail, and other 
forms of transportation to address their commuting 
needs. While I believe the bus rapid transit and light 
rail transit approaches are good starting points, I 
encourage Metro and Caltrans to continue seeking 
community input to further explore a multimodal 
approach that combines the best of these options 
and makes our communities more interconnected, 
not divided.

 Metro could help reshape the transportation 
future of Los Angeles by thinking outside the box to 
get people outside their vehicles, by integrating parks 
and better urban planning, smart traffic lights and 
smarter mass transit, all of this and more, and all for 
less than the cost of a tunnel.

 At the beginning of this process, many in the 
community were afraid that Metro would plow 
ahead with a predetermined conclusion – that the 
freeway must be finished, that it must proceed along 
its historic route, above or below ground it did not 
matter – and other ideas would only be entertained so 
that they might be rejected in a process with only the 
appearance of deliberation. As the challenges facing 
Los Angeles are new, I urge Metro to think anew, 
reject the tunnel, and give serious consideration to 
other, more forward thinking and more suitable 
options.


ASSEMBLYMEMBER HOLDEN’S BILL TO ENSURE 
VICTIMS OF HUMAN RIGHTS ABUSES GET THEIR 
DAY IN COURT (AB 15)

Sacramento – As we remember the horrors of the of the Armenian Genocide some 100 years ago and 
the Nazi Holocaust during World War II, Assemblymember Chris Holden has introduced legislation to 
extend the statute of limitations for the victims of human rights abuses.

 AB 15 was approved today with unanimous, bi-partisan support in the Assembly Judiciary Committee. 
The vote was 10 to 0. The bill now goes to the Assembly floor for consideration.

 AB 15 will bring California law into line with federal regulations for filing civil lawsuits based on acts 
of genocide, torture, war crimes and human trafficking. In California, these human rights abuses are 
brought as assault, battery or wrongful death claims and carry a two-year statute of limitations. AB 15 
extends the statute of limitations to ten years aligning the time limit for filing a human rights claim in 
California with current federal law. 

 “This reform is long overdue. Victims often suffer mental and physical problems that prevent them 
from filing quickly,” pointed out Assemblymember Holden. “Because of that, many of these crimes are 
never prosecuted and the abuse continues. This bill would help the victims and their families find some 
measure of justice in the face of these horrific crimes.”

 “In 2001, I was trafficked from my village in Mexico and forced to work 18-hour days sewing dresses 
in a factory in Los Angeles,” said Florencia Molina, one of the witnesses testifying in support of AB 15. 
“Once I was able to escape, I wanted to bring a claim against my trafficker. But no one knew much about 
trafficking back then, and I was not sure what I could do. If AB 15 had been around, I would have been 
able to get restitution for the abuses I suffered and the wages that were stolen from me. I want other 
survivors to know that justice is never too late” 

 This bill would also revive eligible claims finally allowing victims of the Holocaust, Armenian 
Genocide, and other historic incidences of human rights violations to seek a remedy for the abuse they 
suffered. 

 “Passing this measure would be a critical step towards re-balancing the scales in human rights cases 
where short filing deadlines currently favor abusers over victims,” said Amanda Werner, Legal and Policy 
Fellow with International Corporate Accountability Roundtable. “Though the number of cases brought 
under AB 15 would be small in number, they would be significant in allowing a remedy for survivors, 
ensuring that perpetrators of the worst human rights abuse cannot find safe harbor within California’s 
borders.”

 AB 15 is supported by a number of local, national and international human rights advocates including 
Armenian National Committee of America (ANCA), American Jewish World Service, Amnesty 
International, Consumer Attorneys of America, EarthRights International, International Corporate 
Accountability Roundtable and Oxfam. 

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