Pictured: Mayor Willie Brien (right) is all smiles with L.A. Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa (left) at Metro?s Westside Subway Extension media event on Tuesday. Villaraigosa has been one of the strongest proponents of tunneling under Beverly Hills High School. Photo By Metro?s blog ?The Source?
Posted Wednesday, November 14?12:00 PM
By Courier staff
Confirming the worst fears of Beverly Hills residents and school families, Beverly Hills Mayor Willie Brien, M.D., showed his true colors yesterday as he was a featured speaker at Metro?s first ground-breaking for the Westside Subway Extension at Wilshire and La Brea.? Brien?s appearance and remarks confirms The Courier?s reporting over nearly two years that Brien has worked against the interests of the City and its school district to support the project that will impair and threaten the Beverly Hills High School campus.
For months, The Courier has reported how Brien, joined by Councilmembers Barry Brucker and Julian Gold, M.D., refused to join or support the Beverly Hills Unified School District in its efforts to restore the subway route to Wilshire and Santa Monica as Metro promised the City starting in 2006.? Succumbing to massive pressure inside the City, Brien and the others finally joined reform Vice Mayor John Mirisch and Councilmember Lili Bosse to authorize a lawsuit against Metro.? However, sources tell The Courier that the effort has been weak, late and half-hearted.
Brien is the Executive Vice-Chairman of the Department of Surgery at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center.? Gold is the co-chair of the department of Anesthesiology of Cedars, as well.? The renowned medical center is well known as an advocate for the Metro project.?
Metro?s own blog,?The Source, covered the groundbreaking event and called Brien ?the most eyebrow-raising speaker of the day.?
?Beverly Hills Mayor Willie Brien? lauded the subway as a necessary project that will help mobility in the region,? Gayle Anderson wrote. ?Brien did not address the lawsuits filed by the city of Beverly Hills and the Beverly Hills Unified School District against Metro over the Subway?s environmental studies and news media on hand declined to ask Brien or any public officials any questions.?
The Courier telephoned Mayor Brien today about his appearance at the Metro event.? He appeared to hang up as soon as The Courier?s reporter identified himself. The Courier?s next call to Mayor Brien?s cell phone went to his voicemail. Calls to City Spokesperson Therese Kosterman were not returned.
Beverly Hills Vice Mayor John Mirisch, who has stood side-by-side with the Board of Education against Metro, said Brien?s appearance feels like a ?slap in the face? to the school district and the City.
?While we can all agree that sensible mass transit is important for the region, I find it odd that? Mayor Brien would choose to stand by Mayor Villaraigosa at one of Metro?s self-congratulatory publicity stunts.? It feels like a slap in the face of our School District ? and even of the City itself, considering the ongoing litigation with Metro,? Mirisch told The Courier. ?Mayor Villaraigosa has been arrogant and dismissive of our School District and City?s concerns and his behavior at the Beverly Hills City Metro hearing was downright insulting to our City and all our residents who have issues with Metro and its inability to listen.? I am at a loss to explain Mayor Brien?s support for Metro other than to speculate that there may be some individuals for whom party loyalty trumps all else.?
?Considering Metro?s lack of transparency, disdain for local control, and lack of respect for civil rights and social justice, our mayor seems to be saying that regional special interests and party loyalty are more important than our schools and our own City?s well-being,? Mirisch added. ?I?m proud to stand by our schools, as well as groups fighting for transparency, civil rights and social justice such as the Bus Riders? Union, the Crenshaw Subway Coalition and the Congress of Racial Equality.?
City Council Candidate and current Planning Commission Vice Chair Brian Rosenstein said he is opposed to Metro?s plan to tunnel underneath Beverly Hills High School and that Brien?s appearance at the ceremony gives Metro the wrong idea.
?While our community has always supported the subway in general, we have been very clear in our opposition to Metro?s current plan to tunnel under our high school,? Rosenstein said. ?I do not believe that participating in the groundbreaking ceremony sends the message to Metro that our community is emphatically opposed to their current plan.
Former Mayor Nancy Krasne, who has pulled papers to run again for council, said that as a former mayor, she couldn?t imagine representing Beverly Hills and sitting side-by-side with Villaraigosa at a Metro press conference. She said Metro?s desire to tunnel under Beverly Hills High is ?totally unacceptable?.
?With the climate the way it is, and with the bait and switch that Metro has pulled, there is no way I would sit next to Villaraigosa as he puts our school children in harms way,? Krasne told The Courier. ?The School Board and City Council should be speaking as one voice. Anything that would undermine that combined voice is not acceptable.?
School board president Brian Goldberg denounced the appearance, saying, ?Anytime an elected official from Beverly Hills is seen speaking on behalf of this project, it gives the impression to MTA and others that our community is divided regarding the issue of a subway underneath instructional buildings at Beverly Hills High School. I?m disappointed that the mayor didn?t use that public opportunity to remind the MTA board and the broader Los Angeles community about our concerns regarding safety and tunneling underneath Beverly Hills High School. My contention from the beginning of this has been that we have to present a united front and make it as difficult as possible for Metro to tunnel underneath the high school. The only way for us to do that is if we?re working in close collaboration with our partners at City Hall and this was not a collaborative effort. Publically praising a plan that is designed to disrupt the educational process of our students in Beverly Hills is not helpful and is contradictory to all of the public comments that the elected officials in Beverly Hills have made.?
Brien is expected to run for reelection to the Beverly Hills city council in March.
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Source: http://bhcourier.com/mayor-brien-turns-beverly-hills-praises-metro-tunnel-project/2012/11/14
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