Cheviot Hills and the Expo Line

LA Times columnist Steve Lopez has complained that, while traffic approaches gridlock, the Metropolitan Transportation Authority has owned 15 miles of right of way for the past 15 years. The Expo Line, which would run from USC to Santa Monica, has never been built, in part because of neighborhood opposition. As recently as last month, the Cheviot Hills Homeowners Association voted against it. Former Assembly Transportation Committee Chair Richard Katz, who now chairs the board of the MTA, recently stated that racism was partially to blame for the lack of mass transit on the Westside.  CHHA President Kevin Hughes responds.