Re: (rshsdepot) Lankershim (North Hollywood), CA

["Paul Luchter" <luckyshow_@_mindspring.com>]

As seen in http://www.americassuburb.com/home.html 

http://www.laconservancy.org/issues/issues_list.php4  also includes the
preservation fight for Los Angeles County's last single-screen drive-in, the
Azusa Foothill Drive-In Theater.  

- ----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Bernie Wagenblast" <brwagenblast_@_comcast.net>
To: "Rail Depot List" <rshsdepot_@_lists.railfan.net>
Sent: Tuesday, August 30, 2005 5:38 PM
Subject: (rshsdepot) Lankershim (North Hollywood), CA


: From the 8/28 Los Angeles Daily News.
: 
: Bernie Wagenblast
: 
: 
: 
: Preservationists Aim to Save Train Depot
: 
: 
: Aug. 28--NORTH HOLLYWOOD -- The price tag for renovating the historic 
: Lankershim train depot has jumped 70 percent to $2 million, MTA officials 
: say, stalling the work and upsetting preservationists who worry the 
: structure will be lost before it can be restored.
: Metropolitan Transportation Authority officials said they're considering 
: various options, but residents say the agency is squandering the chance to 
: save the 1896 depot.
: 
: "It needs to be shored up now," said resident Guy Weddington McCreary, who 
: is leading a group trying to save the depot and has the backing of a local 
: civic and conservation organizations. "They need to keep working on this 
: thing. They need to get on top of this problem real fast."
: 
: However, the MTA is reluctant to fully restore the depot now as it tries to 
: develop the property in a prime redevelopment area across from the Metro Red 
: Line subway and the new Orange Line busway.
: 
: Instead, the MTA's focusing on sprucing up the site for the debut this fall 
: of the Orange Line.
: 
: "We are committed to getting it looking good for today, then making it as 
: healthy as possible, and then letting joint development take it from there," 
: said Kevin Michel, director of San Fernando Valley area planning for the 
: MTA.
: 
: "We want to leave some flexibility to the developer as to whether some 
: possible movement of the depot is possible, though I think there's a lot of 
: sentiment the depot could more than likely stay where it is."
: 
: But residents vow to protest any attempts to relocate the depot, arguing a 
: move would dilute its authenticity.
: 
: Councilman Tom LaBonge wants to get the depot renovated at the intersection.
: 
: "That's a very important building that has to be restored and put to a 
: positive use," LaBonge said.
: 
: The project ran into trouble shortly after the MTA and the Community 
: Redevelopment Agency set out to renovate the structure, which served both 
: the Pacific Electric Red Cars and Southern Pacific Railroad.
: 
: The agencies committed $1.2 million to the project and expected to have work 
: completed by 2003. But a series of delays derailed the project.
: 
: Now, improvement costs are estimated at $2 million.
: 
: Earlier this month, the MTA's Valley governance council stepped into the 
: debate by asking what it would take to use the depot as a customer center 
: where riders can get bus passes, schedules and information once it reopens.
: 
: That move won backing from the Southern California Transit Advocates, which 
: has been concerned about the lack of customer centers.
: 
: The council's staff will study the issue.
: 
: "This is a first step," said Kymberleigh Richards, the Valley council member 
: who initiated the study. "What we are hoping to do is to once again provide 
: a single location for all of our passengers' needs."
: 
: But residents remain worried that the depot will only decay further as time 
: goes by.
: 
: "It's really a sad state of affairs," Weddington said. "When you think of 
: your history like this and it's so close to your modern one. What a great 
: contrast it is... between what transportation for rail and Red Car was 110 
: years ago, and today with the modern system across the street."
: 
: =================================
: The Railroad Station Historical Society maintains a database of existing
: railroad structures at: http://www.rrshs.org
: 

=================================
The Railroad Station Historical Society maintains a database of existing
railroad structures at: http://www.rrshs.org

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