Centerline protest held at South Coast Plaza

Deepa Bharath

A handful of people protested at a street corner outside South Coast

Plaza on Friday afternoon against a proposed underground section of

the CenterLine light rail system.

The Costa Mesa City Council is poised to vote on the issue on

Monday.

A final public hearing on the environmental report for CenterLine

was held Monday. The Orange County Transportation Authority has been

gathering feedback on the report, which delineates the four main

routes for CenterLine as well as an option not to build a light rail

system.

The authority will vote on the preferred route on Dec. 8. The

light rail is designed to go from Santa Ana through Costa Mesa to

John Wayne Airport.

On Friday, the busiest shopping day of the year, the protesters

stood at the corner of Bristol Street and Anton Boulevard holding

signs that said “Segerstrom, don’t bury CenterLine” and “Light rail

to the Plaza.”

Roy Shahbazian, who led Friday’s protest, said he was opposing the

underground project on behalf of the pedestrians, who will have to

walk a longer distance to get to their jobs.

“It’s a tough and tricky road to walk,” he said. “It’s a street

where traffic is heavy and there are no sidewalks.”

The city originally approved a resolution supporting a route that

would elevate the light rail along Bristol Street. But the major

property owners in the area worked intensively with the city to

hammer out another route that would divert CenterLine away from South

Coast Plaza onto Avenue of the Arts. They were concerned that having

the light rail buzz through South Coast Plaza would interfere with

existing developments.

Shahbazian, a teacher at Santa Ana College, said this was one of

the most traveled routes in Orange County. Burying the rail system

will also cost more money, he said.

The underground route would disrupt traffic on Sunflower, said

Chris Kroells, a Newport Beach resident who said he rides the bus and

is a potential user of the light rail system.

“And Avenue of the Arts is going to be insane,” he said.

Councilman Gary Monahan said a light rail system going down

Bristol “just doesn’t work.”

“We can’t shut down the street,” he said. “We’ve looked at this a

lot and this is the best route we’ve come up with.”

Monahan said he cannot imagine that shoppers who take the light

rail would have to walk with heavy shopping bags to the train

station.

“The Segerstroms are aware of what it’s going to take to get

customers to the plaza,” he said.