Via Light Rail for Cheviot comes news that while the legal battles over the Westside extension of the Expo Line may be pending, local real estate agents are talking the train with prospective clients.   Naturally, the agents are hedging their bets, and have invited both Hello Expo! and Neighbors for Smart Rail to contribute to a new flyer.

Neighbors for Smart Rail uses the space to blast the environmental documents for the project before explaining their view that below-grade crossings are a better choice.  In all honesty, I found their statement overly filled with jargon and borderline incomprehensible to a first-time audience.  For example, this is their opening paragraph.

NSFR claims that, in violation of the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA), Expo did not adequately study alternatives to, or impacts of, running more than 280 street level trains daily (at-grade) through residential communities, 20 feet from homes and 70 feet from Overland School, in some of the most congested traffic in Los Angeles.  Experienced CEQA attorney, John Bowman, will represent NSFR in California Superior Court on December 14, 2010

No wonder Light Rail for Cheviot co-chair Karen Leonard writes, “Some smart real estate brokers are taking notice of the light rail that is coming, the Expo Line, and we welcome their showcasing the two (now familiar) positions on one of their (attached) fliers!”

Compare the difficult-to-read paragraph above with the reader-friendly one from Hello Expo!

Hello Expo is a coalition of people from West Los Angeles who welcome the Exposition Light Rail Line.  The line is scheduled to start service from Downtown LA to Culver City in 2011.  The construction of the line from Culver City to Santa Monica will start next year.  We will ride electric light-rail trains to Santa Monica by 2015!

Expo proponents may have won the battle of the real estate brochure, but the larger battle will happen in the courtroom on December 14.  Streetsblog will update you on the case as we move forward.