Column: A $300-million (minimum) gondola to Dodger Stadium? Why is Frank McCourt really pushing it?
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We need your help. Click here to sign the petition to Stop the McCourt Gondola.
LA Metro has given McCourt and LA ART the green light without meaningful community input or oversight. At every turn, LA ART has failed to provide a forum for honest dialogue or answered communities’ concerns about their privacy, safety, or costs associated with this project. In an apparent effort to distance himself from the project, McCourt “gifted” the project to a newly formed non-profit Zero Emissions Technology (ZET), an organization affiliated with Climate Resolve. Neither organization has any experience in construction of this kind and the transfer of the project has not been approved by Metro. Yet, ZET serves as the spokesperson for the project while McCourt remains silent.
The construction price alone is likely to be $500 million, and even more money will be needed for ongoing maintenance and repairs. History has shown that these projects always run past schedule, go way over budget, and leave taxpayers stuck with a huge bill. We shouldn’t ask taxpayers to pay for a billionaire developer’s pet project.
There is already a free shuttle bus that takes people to Dodger Stadium. Why are we going to spend hundreds of millions of dollars, endure years of traffic caused by construction, and tear up the community? LA didn’t ask for this project and who is going to ride it? A better, easier and more viable solution is to enhance the existing and popular Dodgers Express with a more robust zero-emission shuttle bus system.
It’s no accident that very few people know about this project. LA ART has engaged in limited community input likely hoping to get this gigantic project approved before anyone notices. But it’s not too late to stop this wasteful and unnecessary billionaire’s pet project!
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