Long Beach West LA/ Santa Monica East Los Angeles Pasadena/ San Gabriel Valley “Make the Right Decisions to Connect the Southern California Light Rail Network” The Regional Gap

Long Beach West LA/ Santa Monica East Los Angeles Pasadena/ San Gabriel Valley “Filling the Gap ” Downtown Regional CONNECTOR

Filling the Gap: Filling the Gap: The Need and Purpose This connector will bring the currently unconnected Expo, Blue and Gold Light Rail Lines together into one Regional system, by bridging the 1.5 mile gap between 7 th St Metro Center (Blue / Expo Line) Station and Alameda / 1st St. (Gold Line) Station. By bridging the gap, two extra transfers between the Red, Blue, Expo and Gold Lines are eliminated. Eliminating these extra transfers reduces travel times. Reducing travel times makes the rail system more user friendly for current and future users. A user-friendly transit system promotes and encourages people to use the system as an alternative to the automobile.

Filling a Regional Gap The connector is more than a rail line serving Downtown Los Angeles, it is a regional transit link that will stretch from the Inland Empire to the Pacific Ocean!

Filling a Downtown Gap South Park / Staples Center / A LA Live / Convention Center Financial District / Central Library Bunker Hill / Grand Avenue / Disney Hall Los Angeles City Hall / Historic Core Little Tokyo / Artist District. The connector will allow residents and visitors access to cultural, commercial and civic attractions such as: Thus changing the perception that Los Angeles is 88 towns in search of a city.

Filling Downtown Gaps The South Park area (between Pico/Chick Hearn Station and 7 th Street Metro Center) is undergoing a major transformation that is turning the sleepy caterpillar of an industrial zone into a beautiful vibrant butterfly of urban life and 24 hour activity with projects such as LA Live, the mixed-use supermarket and other residential buildings. This area is primed to be a vibrant neighborhood that would require regional access. The Connector would help fill that gap.

Filling Downtown Gaps With new residents moving into the Pegasus and the Standard Hotel as well as the renovation of the Arco Towers and Shopping Center (now called 505 Flower), the Lower Financial District (between the existing 7 th Street/Metro Center and a future station near 4 th and Flower) anchored with landmarks such as the LA Central Library and the Bonaventure Hotel is primed to be another attraction that will transform the region. Imagine a visitor or resident being able to fly into LAX and with a single transfer from the Green Line being able to reach to their hotel or apartment Downtown. This can happen and The Connector would help fill that gap. LOS ANGELES ATTRACTIONS 2 FROM LANDMARKS AND TOURIST ATTRACTIONS TO CULTURE AND THE ARTS LOS ANGELES ATTRACTIONS 2 FROM LANDMARKS AND TOURIST ATTRACTIONS TO CULTURE AND THE ARTS LOS ANGELES ATTRACTIONS 2 FROM LANDMARKS AND TOURIST ATTRACTIONS TO CULTURE AND THE ARTS LOS ANGELES ATTRACTIONS 2 FROM LANDMARKS AND TOURIST ATTRACTIONS TO CULTURE AND THE ARTS

Filling a Downtown Gap The Bunker Hill/Music Center area (Future Station on Grand Avenue) with the Walt Disney Concert Hall, Museum of Contemporary Art and the high-profile Grand Avenue project, aspires to bring the people back to the Civic Center and generate the excitement of world class landmarks. But can these buildings do this by themselves? What are Times Square in New York, the Champs Elysees in Paris and Piccadilly Circus in London without the maze of subway and transit lines linking people from various areas to these attractions? Los Angeles’ world class civic attractions require access to mass transit. The Connector would help fill that gap.

Filling a Lifestyle Gap The connector will also allow existing regional residents and growing Downtown residents access to an urban lifestyle. There is a rapidly growing population living Downtown in areas near Staples Center, Bunker Hill, the Historic Core and Little Tokyo. Now is the time to sustain this momentum and prepare for future growth with the tools of rail.

Closing Gaps Closing Gaps By Working Together Constructing this connector will be relatively easy and cost- effective, when it is coupled with planned developments surrounding this corridor (such as the Grand Ave. Development) creating public–private partnerships in which both parties win! The parties can coordinate and preserve easements and rights- of-way that can allow grade separated trains removed from vehicle traffic while remaining pedestrian friendly which invites more people to the attractions. A local example is the Memorial Park Gold Line Station, that allowed for a below-grade station to be built at a reasonable cost. Street running of the connector will interfere with possible 90 second headways to be required for future service demands.

Downtown Regional CONNECTOR Long Beach West LA/ Santa Monica East Los Angeles Pasadena/ San Gabriel Valley Our Vision: We strongly support building the Gold Line east to Citrus Station in Azusa and the Expo Line to Santa Monica as regional priorities. To advance The Connector, we would like to: * attach The Connector to the Expo Line Phase 2 EIR/EIS. This could allow an Expo Construction Phase 2 to Santa Monica and a Phase 3 to 1 st / Alameda. * amend the definition of the project for Federal funding by redefining the eastern end of Expo as 1 st / Alameda and expanding the Expo JPA to that eastern point. * see the next round of Federal Funding cover Expo from Santa Monica to Little Tokyo. * ride the Gold Line from Pasadena to USC.

Downtown Regional CONNECTOR “Filling the Gap ” Post Office Box 567 * San Fernando, California Post Office Box 567 * San Fernando, California V: (818) * F: (818) * V: (818) * F: (818) * Designed and Prepared by Jerard Wright * Edited by Bart Reed Designed and Prepared by Jerard Wright * Edited by Bart Reed DTRC Downtown Regional Connector 12 page (Updated: 28 November 2005)