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Schools

Candidates Are Anti-Subway Route Under School

Candidates for the 50th Assembly District, which covers Beverly Hills, Santa Monica, Brentwood and Pacific Palisades, are voicing opposition to tunneling underneath Beverly Hills High School.

The four candidates running for the said in an interview airing April 2 that they oppose a subway stop at Constellation Avenue, a route that would go under .

The Westside Subway Extension is an expansion of the Purple Line to Century City, Westwood and the Veterans Administration campus. Beverly Hills, Santa Monica and Brentwood are in the 50th Assembly District, but Century City and Westwood are not.

Democrats Betsy Butler, Torie Osborn, Richard Bloom and Republican Brad Torgan all appeared on the program Inside Beverly Hills, a public affairs show produced by the Beverly Hills city government. The program is hosted by local journalist Rudy Cole, who told Patch that he asked the candidates their views on Metro’s plans to tunnel under BHHS as part of the Westside Subway Extension.

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"All four candidates agreed that the subway route should not go under the high school," Cole said.

The MTA released its Environmental Impact Report in which it endorsed a subway stop at Constellation Boulevard and Avenue of the Stars instead of a stop on Santa Monica Boulevard. Putting a stop at Constellation Boulevard would require tunneling under Beverly Hills High School.

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Metro is hosting an open house on the Westside Subway Extension in Westwood on Wednesday night. For more information, .

The Beverly Hills Unified School District has asked families to attend the meeting to voice their opposition to the subway route.

"Despite our protests Metro has decided that the Century City subway station should be at Constellation Boulevard—which means Metro will tunnel under Beverly Hills High School if the Metro Board approves this report," the email said. "We need your support and voice to stop this injustice."

All five Beverly Hills district PTAs made similar points in their school newsletters this week. The PTA Council, an umbrella group that represents the Beverly Hills PTAs, voted Tuesday to spend up to $3,500 on banners and signs at school sites opposing the subway route.

Beverly Hills  told the PTA Council that the City Council is "united and uniform" in its opposition to a subway route under BHHS.

The Beverly Hills City Council will hold a closed session April 3 to discuss possible new actions to take to oppose the subway route, Brien said. The mayor encouraged parents to attend the Thursday MTA meeting in Beverly Hills, although he will be unable to be there because of a prior commitment in Washington, D.C.  

Board of Education President Brian Goldberg is one of several board members who have visited PTA meetings to urge parents to attend the Thursday meeting. At a recent Horace Mann PTA meeting, he suggested parents contact County Supervisor , whose district includes Beverly Hills. Yaroslavsky is on the MTA board that must give the final approval on the Westside Subway extension.

"Email is not so effective anymore," Goldberg said. "Please pick up the phone and call Zev’s office."

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