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Commentary submitted by Beverly Hills resident and Beverly Hills High School alumnus Shlomy Kattan. By filing lawsuits against the Metropolitan Transportation Authority to halt progress on the Westside Subway Extension, the and leaders have demonstrated that their decisions are not guided by the best interests of residents and students. City leaders are using spurious information and faulty assumptions to delay environmental and quality-of-life improvements that would benefit Beverly Hills residents while diverting school funds to chase bugaboos.

BHUSD's primary claim is that the MTA's environmental review process "failed due to a rush-to-judgment." This claim is disingenuous, at best. As the school board states in its own filing, the MTA reviewed at least nine seismic studies of the Constellation Boulevard and Santa Monica Boulevard station and tunnel alignment alternatives since October 2011. This does not include the numerous studies conducted in prior years. In fact, when the city petitioned the Federal Transportation Administration to require MTA to conduct further studies, the FTA declined to do so on the grounds that no further reviews were needed. One wonders, then, what the school board would not consider a "rush to judgement." The BHUSD lawsuit further claims, "the Project was approved without the full disclosure and analysis of the Project's environmental impacts." Yet, MTA held regular public meetings discussing the seismic, environmental and structural impacts of construction of the Westside Subway Extension; sent out mailings to residents about the results of studies; and posted numerous updates on the process to its website.

The suit also states, "Metro's…studies were not based on sufficient technical or scientific investigation." The reality is, the MTA Board reviewed reports produced by its own consultants, and by consultants hired by BHUSD and the City of Beverly Hills, by the California Geologic Survey and by the U.S. Geological Survey. Even the consultants hired by BHUSD noted in their report that the Constellation Boulevard station is "generally in a more favorable location with regard to faulting issues." To date, BHUSD has spent an estimated $2 million of school funding fighting MTA, funding that would be better spent by investing in students or in improvements to existing school structures. And BHUSD's central claims about what it calls the "adverse impacts" on the high school are faulty, as well.

For example, the school board has argued that tunneling under the school would result in increased costs of additional construction as the school's student population grows. In making this claim, BHUSD assumes that BHHS's student population will grow from its current average of 2,500 to a strikingly large 4,000, which would make it one of the largest high schools in California. To put these figures in perspective, such a growth trajectory implies that the city's population will increase from its current 34,000 to approximately 55,000 residents at a time that the population of California is declining. Such population growth would mean that, with the city's current boundaries, population density would increase from 6,000 residents per square mile—an already high figure—to around 9,000 persons per square mile. For that to happen, half the houses in the flats would need to be converted to multi-family dwellings.

In the end, BHUSD's suit rests not on substantive claims, but on technicalities and procedural bickering. That BHUSD has resorted to arguing its case on the basis of such technicalities is a testament to its lack of grounding and a reflection of its true motives. The school board is showing itself not to be concerned with the best possible solution, but rather with obstructing progress on the subway project by any means possible. Such obstructionism is not in the best interest of Beverly Hills residents. Progress on the Westside Subway Extension means reduced congestion and emissions, and greater access to downtown and the Westside for residents.

For too long, Beverly Hills' elected leaders have gotten in the way of progress on the Westside Subway Extension, and it seems that they are in search of any and every reason to continue to delay progress on this meritorious project. It is the duty of our local elected officials to represent us and our interests. Our City Council and school board have demonstrated that for them, the outrageously loud voice of the few is more important than the reasonable and reasoned voices of the many. As citizens of Beverly Hills, we need to tell our elected leaders, "Enough is enough! Stop wasting school dollars chasing bugaboos. Start working to build the Westside Subway Extension." Shlomy Kattan, a resident of Beverly Hills and an alumnus of BHHS, received his Ph.D. in Education from the University of California, Berkeley, and recently left The Boston Consulting Group to start an educational technology company.