Metro approves Dodger Stadium gondola project despite protests

Hundreds of community members filled a meeting room Thursday to tell Metro’s board whether they favored or opposed Frank McCourt’s proposed gondola project to Dodger Stadium. The board previously signaled its intention to approve the project without any discussion among trustees, but the board president then announced he would not listen to any community members before voting.

This sparked an extraordinary rebellion. In an act of defiance rarely seen in the staid and often formal halls of bureaucracy, the audience shut down the meeting.

At the opening of the meeting, board president Fernando Dutra explained that the public would have a say after the vote.

It was quickly drowned out by chants of “Let’s talk!” » from the antigondola forces and the responses of “You have already spoken! » pro-gondola forces, since this meeting was Metro’s fourth on the gondola, and the second specifically related to the adoption of a revised environmental impact report.

Dutra tried to calm the crowd by saying, “Public comments are allowed at the end of the meeting. Instead, it inflamed the audience, and the chants became louder and more repetitive, and Dutra threatened to have the subway officers clear the room.

Administrators opted to retreat to a private room for 75 minutes, taking care of other business, then deciding what to do about the persistent public.

In the meeting room, chants came and went from both sides. The antigondola forces bypassed a megaphone. Pro-gondola forces danced around the room. More than a dozen Metropolitan and Los Angeles police officers stood guard, positioning themselves between the audience and the empty stage.

The administrators have indicated that they will relent. They would allow one hour for public comment before the vote.

Calm reigned and the directors returned. Of the 52 public speakers, 42 – including three Los Angeles City Council members – spoke out against the gondola project.

Dutra praised the board for developing “the right process” to hear from the public.

“This is what happens when there is a democratic process,” Dutra told the crowd, with a straight face.

The crowd had its say, more than an hour late, after the board attempted to delay public comment until what might have been hours after the uprising broke out. Then the vote took place and, as expected, the gondola project was approved.

The pro-gondola forces applauded. The antigondola forces again chanted: “Shame on you!

The next steps? And how much?

An artist’s rendering of a potential gondola to Dodger Stadium.

(Courtesy of Aerial Rapid Transit Technologies/Kilograph)

As Metro certifies the revised environmental impact report, various state agencies and the Los Angeles City Council will consider whether to approve the gondola project. The council is unlikely to embark on the project until late next year, after receiving a study assessing traffic around Dodger Stadium and options for relieving it.

In 2023, the environmental impact report predicted a construction cost of between $385 million and $500 million. Construction costs are only rising, and a project spokesperson did not provide an updated cost estimate this week.

In 2024, Metro’s initial approval required Metro staff to work with the organization responsible for commissioning the gondola to “provide quarterly updates to the Metro Board of Directors on the progress and funding of the project.”

Those updates “were not produced because work on the project was halted during legal proceedings,” a Metro spokeswoman said.

Thursday’s approval means the legal process is complete, so an updated cost estimate should be available in the spring. The project was promised to be privately funded, but no financing agreement has been made public.

The bass speaks

Last month, the City Council voted 12-1 to approve a resolution urging Metro to end the gondola project. The resolution was submitted to Mayor Karen Bass, who neither signed nor vetoed it.

The resolution was sponsored by the three council members whose districts are closest to Dodger Stadium.

“How the council feels is important to me,” Bass told the Times. “But if one member of that district is passionate about a project, then the other members support it.

“There’s still plenty of time to sort things out. I just didn’t think it was appropriate to stop this now.”

Councilwoman Eunisses Hernandez, whose district includes Dodger Stadium, said she has worked hard to build support among her council colleagues and offer them alternatives to the gondola between now and when the council is expected to vote on the project next fall.

“A year from now, you’ll see the fruits of it,” Hernandez said. “I hope my colleagues will see this and continue to help us move in this direction.”

“I hope people take seriously what the council has said. Getting a 12-1 vote on any issue, especially an issue like this, is not an easy task. It’s a big deal.”

Bass said she would like to explore how the community can leverage the gondola to meet neighborhood priorities.

“My interest in the project, as a whole, is about the benefits to the community – the potential benefits, particularly to the area around Homeboy Industries and Chinatown. I have been very saddened by the deterioration of the Chinatown that I experienced growing up,” she said.

“Some groups are pushing for more resources and for Frank McCourt to contribute more to the development, redevelopment and revitalization of Chinatown.”