Public Participating Hearings

With the unanimous consent of the parties, the ALJ conducted a telephonic Prehearing Conference (PHC) on March 6, 2001. A preliminary Scoping Memo was issued on March 23, 2001. Following receipt of many amendments or supplements to the various applications, another PHC was held on August 30, 2001 at the Commission Courtroom in Los Angeles. Unexpectedly in attendance were over 50 people who were concerned about the proposed at-grade crossing at Avenue 45. The ALJ permitted the public to address the Commission, in effect turning this portion of the PHC into an unscheduled public participation hearing, which was followed by a formal PHC. A final Scoping Memo was issued on September 28, 2001 outlining the issues to be considered and setting November 5, 2001 as the initial date of hearing.

At the request of Blue Line another public participation hearing was arranged to precede the evidentiary hearing. The auditorium for this hearing was packed with approximately 350 people, while another 100 people were not permitted entrance because of the danger of overcrowding. Speakers participated in this hearing for one and a half days. Petitions, letters, and polls containing the names of many thousands of participants were presented to the ALJ. Since that time we have received hundreds of communications urging various views on one or more of the crossings. There is near unanimous support for construction of the project. Where the controversy arises is Blue Line's proposal to have some crossings at-grade, rather than separated. This mirrors the controversy in the evidentiary hearing.