Hundreds of community members filled a conference room Thursday to tell Metro's board of directors whether they support or oppose Gondola proposed by Frank McCourt for Dodger Stadium. The board has already made it clear that intention to approve the project without any discussion among the directorsbut then the board chairman announced that he would not listen to any community members before the vote.
This caused an extraordinary uprising. In an act of defiance rarely seen in the staid and often formulaic halls of bureaucracy, the public shut down the meeting.
At the opening of the meeting, board chairman Fernando Dutra explained that the public would have their say after the vote.
It was immediately drowned out by chants of “Let’s talk!” from anti-gondola forces and responses of “You already told me!” from pro-gondola forces, as this meeting was Metro's fourth on gondola transportation and the second directly related to the adoption of a revised environmental impact statement.
Dutra tried to calm the crowd by saying, “Public comments are allowed at the end of the meeting.” Instead, it inflamed the community, and the chants only became louder and more repetitive, with Dutra threatening to have Metro officers clear the premises.
The directors decided to go into a private room for 75 minutes, do other things, and then decide what to do with the insistent audience.
In the conference room on both sides, the chants faded in and out. The anti-gondola forces passed around the megaphone. Progondolary forces danced around the room. More than a dozen subway and LAPD officers stood guard, positioned between the audience and the empty platform.
The directors said they would give in. They will allow one hour for public comment before voting.
Calm reigned and the directors returned. Of the 52 speakers, 42, including three Los Angeles City Council members, spoke against the gondola project.
Dutra congratulated the board for developing “the right process” to hear from the public.
“This is what happens when you have a democratic process,” Dutra told the crowd with a straight face.
The crowd spoke more than an hour late after the board tried to delay public comment until perhaps hours after the vote, sparking an insurrection. Then a vote took place – and, as expected, the gondola project was approved.
The progondolian forces applauded. The anti-gondola forces again chanted: “Shame on you!”
Next steps? And how much?
Artist's rendering of a potential Dodger Stadium gondola.
(Courtesy of Aerial Rapid Transit Technologies/Kilograph)
As Metro certifies the revised environmental impact report, various government agencies and the Los Angeles City Council will consider whether to approve the gondola project. The council is unlikely to move ahead with the project until late next year, after it receives a study assessing traffic around Dodger Stadium and options to ease it.
The 2023 environmental impact report projected construction costs of From 385 to 500 million dollars.. Construction costs are only rising, and a project spokesman did not provide an updated cost estimate this week.
In 2024, Metro's original approval required Metro staff to work with the organization responsible for commissioning the gondola to “provide the Metro board with quarterly updates on the project's progress and funding.”
Those updates “were not released because work on the project was paused during the litigation,” a Metro spokeswoman said.
Thursday's approval means the lawsuit is over, so updated cost estimates should be available in the spring. It was promised that the project would be privately funded, but no funding agreements were publicly announced.
Bass says
The City Council voted 12-1 last month to approve a resolution calling on Metro kill the gondola project. The resolution was referred to Mayor Karen Bass, who did not sign or veto it.
The resolution was supported by three council members from the districts closest to Dodger Stadium.
“What matters to me is how the council feels,” Bass told The Times. “But if a member from that constituency is passionate about a project, then other members will support it.
“We have a lot more time to work things out. I just didn't feel it was appropriate to stop it now.”
Councilwoman Eunisse Hernandez, whose district includes Dodger Stadium, said she has worked hard to win the support of her fellow council members to provide them with an alternative to the gondola by the time the council is expected to vote on the project next fall.
“In a year, you will see the fruits of this,” Hernandez said. “I hope my colleagues will see this and continue to help us move in this direction.
“I hope people take seriously what the council said. To get a 12 to 1 vote on any issue, especially an issue like this, is no easy task. It's a big deal.”
Bass said she would like to explore how the community can use the gondola to address area priorities.
“My interest in the project as a whole lies in the benefits to society – the potential benefits, first of all, for the area around Homeboy Industriesand Chinatown. I was very saddened by the deterioration of the Chinatown I knew growing up,” she said.
“There are groups that are pushing for more resources to be put into it and for Frank McCourt to contribute more to the development, redevelopment and revitalization of Chinatown.”
