CenterLine haters convene to voice displeasure

Deirdre Newman

A group of CenterLine opponents from throughout the county converged

at Avo’s Bistro on Wednesday to mobilize opposition to the light rail

project.

The 9.3-mile route for the light rail system was approved by the

Orange County Transportation authority in January to run from Santa

Ana to John Wayne Airport through Costa Mesa. Transportation

authority staff members are completing the final environmental report

to submit to the federal government for approval.

The owner of Avo’s Bistro, Avo Kilicarslan, offered to host the

event because it’s part of a property at 580 Anton Blvd. that’s in

the way of CenterLine and could be taken through eminent domain as a

worst-case scenario.

Speaker after speaker railed against the project and urged the 30

or so audience members to take immediate and strong action against

it.

“The main reason for tonight is we don’t have all the answers,”

said Tom Whitacre, a Parks and Recreation commissioner from Santa

Ana. “We just wanted to get the word out that this is the genesis

where we take our bayonets, take the hill and hold the hill.”

Chuck DeVore, a candidate to replace Assemblyman John Campbell,

charged that CenterLine is a huge waste of money. The authority is

trying to obtain $500,000 from the federal government for the project

and the other half from local and state funds.

“CenterLine is about inertia, bureaucracy and ‘spend money or you

will lose money,’” DeVore said. “It all comes down to your local

action to stop this boondoggle before we make a mistake we can’t

recover from.”

The speakers suggested several tactics to derail CenterLine, such

as writing letters to the Federal Transit Administration and local

Congress members. Mark Leyes, a Garden Grove city councilman,

proposed getting an amendment to Measure M on the ballot to redirect

funds the authority plans to use on CenterLine. Measure M is the

half-cent sales tax to fund transportation improvements in Orange

County.

Kermit Marsh, a Westminster City Councilman, urged opponents to

vote for Mike Berry and Eric Bever for the Costa Mesa City Council in

November so that, with Councilman Allan Mansoor, there would be a

majority against CenterLine.

“Costa Mesa pulls out of CenterLine, and CenterLine is dead,”

Marsh said.

Berry said he was glad to see so many people voice their

opposition to CenterLine on Wednesday.

“”It’s clear that what Costa Mesa has been doing is it never asked

for a vote on ‘Do you want to have CenterLine?” Berry said. “They’ve

asked for votes on do you want this color or that color or this study

or that study, but the vote on CenterLine has not been brought before

the public.”

Authority spokesman Michael Litschi said opponents used a lot of

false claims to make their case. He disputed the claims: the money

going toward CenterLine couldn’t be used for any other projects and

the authority’s work on CenterLine was not at the expense of other

projects.

“We’re working to start construction on the [Garden Grove

Freeway], we’re doing a $3 million study on ways to improve the

[Riverside Freeway], and we’re completing work on a major improvement

project on the San Diego-Costa Mesa freeways project,” Litschi said.

“It’s false to say we’re only focused on CenterLine and ignoring

other projects. The reason we’re doing it is because Orange County

needs a host of transportation options.”