Eastside Gold Line train at 3rd near Rowan
Just read this on the LA Now blog:
L.A. NOW
Southern California — this just in
2 injured in collision between car, Gold Line train
November 26, 2009 | 11:05 pmTwo people suffered minor injuries this evening when their car collided with a Gold Line Metro train in East Los Angeles, authorities said.
The car turned in front of the eastbound train at a crossing near 3rd Street and Rowan Avenue about 8:20 p.m., said Sheriff’s Lt. Greg Hinkle. The two occupants of the car complained of pain and were taken to a hospital, he said.
A California Highway Patrol officer said the pair were riding in a Chevy Malibu, which was towed after the crash.
The one passenger on the train was uninjured.
— Jack Leonard
LA Eastside contributor Browne Molyneux pointed out some of the safety issues of the Eastside Gold Line Extension back in August. In particular she pointed out the nearby intersection where the above accident took place and asked why there weren’t more safeguards like crossing bars. Many of us felt that it would take an accident or worse for Metro to implement some of these much needed changes. How many accidents it will take before the area gets the consideration the residents of South Pasadena received?
Uhh, Francisco, college education was virtually free in the 70s and 80s because the Big Government spent more of the budget on education.
What happened was, the \”less government\” people got in power, cut at education funding, increased military spending, ran up big deficits and debts, and then blamed it on liberals.
They even cut back on paying for tax collectors, so cheats could get away with it. They cut back on enforcement of burdensome regulations, so kids could play with lead-tainted toys, people could eat unsafe supplements, employees could get cheated out of their pay, and landlords could allow slum-like conditions. Get the government off our backs, man.
Tax rates have gone down, especially for the rich. OR didn\’t you get your Reagan, Bush, and Bush 2 tax cuts? Were they too small to notice? Because I\’m sure some wealthy folks noticed.
Now, all this anti-tax attitude is so strong that the only taxes that ever seem to get raised are sales taxes. They\’re practically at 10%, and it\’s still not enough money.
Spokker, do you mean the same CPUC that approved the Angels Flight funicular line that killed Leon Praport back in 2001? http://www.thebusbench.com/2007/11/kiss-and-make-u.html
“Metro met CPUC standards on both the Gold Line in Pasadena and the Gold Line on the Eastside.”
Since you seem to think that the government is entirely, exclusively and wholly seeking to watching out for your safety, tell, me: what does your nanny state say when someone tells you that being an idiot is not good for your health?
That’s a sign that we all hope you’ll oblige.
Punko, I suggest you look up the tax rates of the 70’s and 80’s and compare it today’s tax rates.
There is a much larger percentage of the population working for the state government and collecting wages and benefits that the private sector can’t afford to pay. This is where the majority of our tax dollars are wasted. Just look at the work (relax) schedule of the LAPD and any other police department.
Ask an employee of the Sheriff department about their 4 day work week and generous vacation benefits, health plans and retirement benefits. Look at the compensation Councilman Bernard Parks and former cop receives.
Look into the work load and compensation package of the “engineers” at L.A. DWP, I have first hand knowledge of the lazy ass employees at the DWP, and this is where my hard earned dollars are being wasted.
Do you know even know what the state income tax rate was back in the 70’s and 80’s?
Francisco, since you hate big government, do you have any problem with all of the private contractors taking government money? All of the Iraq war contractors? Prison private contractors? How about the money spent on the war on drugs? Are you in favor of drug laws as is? Marijuana laws as is? Keeping marijuana offenders in prison? How about the private contracts going to unnecessary road construction? Drive down any freeway right now and at some point it will close down to one lane because they’re repaving a road that wasn’t that bad to begin with. I mean in this economy, if the road doesn’t have gaping pot holes, it can wait. Yet every freeway you drive down, it’s pave, pave, pave. They don’t use union labor anymore so virtually all of the money is going to the private contractors. Are you ok with all of these grossly expensive expansions of government, or is it just the label on your iron and the dreadful thought of guard rails on 3rd and Indiana that get you all flabergasted, and nostalgic for the old days when girls were girls and men were men?
I visited a friend today and I mentioned the Gold Line accident on Thursday. He asked me where it happened and I said 3rd and Rowan.
“That’s where I turn to visit my grandma’s house!”
“Haha, really?”
“Yeah, when they were doing construction I said to myself, there is going to be an accident here. It was a hard turn to make even without the tracks!”
We both had a good laugh.
“Im glad we can have some civil discourse, spokker:)
And I agree that this issue is not cut and dry, but the finite amount of space to write things and the fact that my wife doesnt like me spending hours on teh computer make me ration my comments.”
You make very good points and you are also changing my mind on some things. Keep in mind that I don’t think I was fighting with you, just browne and RobThomas 🙂
As far as inequality goes, I think the highway system has more to do with it than transit. I actually wrote a term paper on how the highway system created an unequal transportation network, and mentioned the Eastside as an example of an area that got shortchanged.
“The original goldline was going to have 2 stops in la city limits, and a dozen in pasa and southpas.”
Which two stops would those have been?
Spokker, I’m glad Art has the patience for born liars like you, but I don’t. We didn’t fight or argue. You put words into my mouth. You brought race into this discussion before anyone else (something anyone can see by reviewing the entire blog entry and comments), yet accused others here of being race mongers. You’re a troll, an instigator, and most of all a drama queen. You’re not looking to make life better for any residents of Los Angeles. You just have a lot of time on your hands and money to spare, and you get your rocks off antagonizing those less fortunate than you who seek to change their conditions through public protest. You use ideology and a disagreement with their means as a front to get into the discussion. Once you’re in, your singular goal is to say things that you know will offend people. Condescending lectures about people learning to read crosswalk signs, knowing that’s beside the point. But you have no intention of addressing the point. Your mission is to see how many people will object to your snide. From there, you just keep punching away. Now that you know what makes them mad, you hit their soft spot repeatedly until they either bail out on the discussion, or they decide to be the adult in the conversation, as Art did, and give you the benefit of the doubt, which is the last thing you deserve. Once that happens, you then coil back into your innocent, concerned citizen shell, and confide in that person with a “whoa is me” complaint about all of the people starting shit with YOU. And, to emphasize how far above the fray you are, why not call out your manufactured bullies by name for an added touch? Just like Republicans who get caught in sex scandals, people like you wind up getting flattened by light rail trains moving at speeds of 3 mph while you’re changing the battery in your camera, because the train operator assumed people in Santa Monica were too smart to walk in the train’s path and decided to check his text messages.
The above comment is a classic case of “the pot calling the kettle black”. A rudimentary observation of the commenter’s prior posts will reveal he uses similar tactics with similar results. Focused comments are the reason for these threads, to build on the topic and reach some common ground. Unfortunately some individuals see it as a place to exercise their bulbous egos, and the bulk of the readership suffers.
Rob,
I don’t like big government wasting money on a fruitless drug war. Yes we wasted billons in Iraq, and now we are wasting billons in Afghanistan.
I’m pretty sure the private contractor fixing our roads is still less cost than a state payed employee. A private contractor won’t keep a lousy employee around like our state government, the state employeee unions see to that.
Try barking at another tree, Mr. Thomas, and I agree with the comment above. I have read your comments before, and Rob Thomas seems to be pretty bitter about something.
Francisco, you whined about people wanting safety barriers on light rail routes, and tied the concept in with big government in general, yet for some reason in all of your criticism of big government you left out the expansions of government related to the war and prison industries. I had to haggle with you to get you to criticize those expansions of government. No haggling necessary for you to criticize guard rails and warnings on toaster ovens, though.
As far as Afghanistan goes, do you not believe we should be there? Should that war be ended, outright, in your view? Regarding the prison industry, do you believe non violent drug offenders should do prison time? Do you believe marijuana should be legalized for all adults? I’m asking you these questions because they all tie in to big government, government spending, etc. It all costs money.
Regarding road paving, I’m not sure how much money the private contractors get, the cost of asphalt, paint, etc. has to be in the millions. The labor is cheap, that’s obvious. You made your point about state workers and their wages. But big government expansion doesn’t stop there. Do we really need to pave roads right now that aren’t severely damaged? Don’t you find it funny that with the fiscal trouble the state is in, they have money to do these unnecessary repairs? Heard you loud and clear on state workers and the cost of their payroll. But you didn’t really answer the question on private contracts to unnecessary construction/repair projects. Come on, Mr. Small Guv. Let’s hear where you stand.
Gustavo
November 29th, 2009 | 5:38 am
The above comment is a classic case of “the pot calling the kettle blackâ€. A rudimentary observation of the commenter’s prior posts will reveal he uses similar tactics with similar results.
……………
For example?
Choo, choo 🙂
It took 8 weeks of trains doing test runs at full schedule before this happened. That’s roughly 240 trains a day, or 1 crash per 13,440 train trips.
There is definitely a learning curve. Living in Highland Park along the crossing-guard-free section, I am surprised and glad to say there hasn’t been an accident all year. In the first years there were many, but drivers, people, chickens and dogs have seem to come to reckon with the train.
That being said, there is no way in Hell the conditions Metro has in Highland Park would have been acceptable in Southpas. The Marmion Way section would have been tunneled for sure.
OK, I’ve said too much. I just wanted to be the 63rd commenter and say THANKS for keeping this blog ad-free.
Sorry to change focus here, but did anybody note that there was exactly ONE PASSENGER on the train when the accident happened at 8:20pm Thursday night?
I realize it was a holiday, but it still seems to illustrate the ludicrousness of the splurge—all while north-south transit options on the Eastside continue to be nearly nonexistent and while riders on all bus routes at all times continue to wait inordinate amounts of time to get to their destinations because buses don’t have their own lanes.
Anyway, just sayin’ (again).
esto esta mejor que una novela!!! =)
thank god for laeastside