The future of Los Angeles transit was the focus of a recent Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority (Metro) Board meeting, where directors considered progress on two major rail projects: the Sepulveda Transit Corridor and the long-planned extension of the Metro C Line into the South Bay.

While the meeting resulted in a decisive vote on one project, the other continues to generate debate among Metro officials, local cities, and residents.

Sepulveda Transit Corridor: Underground Heavy Rail Moves Forward

The Metro Board unanimously approved the Locally Preferred Alternative (LPA) for the Sepulveda Transit Corridor, marking a major milestone for a project that has been discussed for decades.

The approved alternative calls for a fully underground heavy rail subway connecting the San Fernando Valley to the Westside, running from the Van Nuys Metrolink Station to the Metro E Line’s Expo/Sepulveda Station. The line would pass beneath the Sepulveda Pass, UCLA, and other high-demand travel areas.

Metro officials emphasized that the underground alignment offers the fastest travel times, highest passenger capacity, and the fewest surface-level impacts when compared with earlier aerial or monorail alternatives. The project is expected to significantly reduce congestion along the 405 Freeway corridor and improve regional connectivity.

With the LPA now selected, the Sepulveda Transit Corridor advances toward final environmental clearance, engineering, and eventual construction — a process that will continue over the coming years.

Metro C Line Extension: South Bay Alignment Debate Continues

The Board also discussed the Metro C Line extension into the South Bay, a project intended to extend light rail service approximately 4.5 miles from the current Redondo Beach station to the Torrance Transit Center.

Metro has released the project’s Final Environmental Impact Report (FEIR), which incorporates years of technical analysis and public input. However, unlike the Sepulveda project, the Board did not take final action to certify the FEIR or formally adopt a locally preferred alignment at this meeting.

Hawthorne Boulevard vs. Metro Right-of-Way

At the center of the C Line discussion is the question of alignment.

Metro staff has identified a “hybrid” alignment using an existing Metro-owned rail right-of-way as the preferred option. This route would largely follow the historic Harbor Subdivision corridor, minimizing new street disruptions while blending at-grade, elevated, and below-grade segments.

Some South Bay cities, however, continue to advocate for a Hawthorne Boulevard alignment, which would place rail tracks within the median of the busy commercial corridor. Supporters argue it offers better street-level access, while Metro has cited higher costs, longer construction timelines, and greater traffic impacts as key concerns.

Metro officials indicated that additional coordination with local jurisdictions and further Board action will be needed before a final decision is made.

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What This Means for LA Transit

The contrast between the two projects was clear at the meeting: the Sepulveda Transit Corridor is now firmly on a defined path forward, while the C Line extension remains in a critical decision-making phase.

Together, the projects highlight both the ambition and complexity of expanding transit in Los Angeles County — balancing regional mobility goals, neighborhood impacts, and long-term funding realities.

Further Reading & Official Project Information

Metro Sepulveda Transit Corridor Project Page
– Official Metro overview of the Sepulveda Pass project, including alternatives, maps, timelines, and environmental documents.

Metro Board Considers Locally Preferred Alternative for Sepulveda Corridor
– Metro’s summary of the Board action and rationale behind selecting the underground heavy rail option.

Metro C Line Extension to Torrance Project Page
– Background, station concepts, and status updates for the South Bay light rail extension.

Final Environmental Impact Report: C Line Extension
– Details on the Final EIR, public comments, and next steps toward Board certification.

Metro Project Updates – The Source
– Ongoing Metro blog updates covering major transit projects, board actions, and construction milestones.

LA Metro Board of Directors
– Information on Metro Board members, meeting schedules, agendas, and voting records.

STM Daily News will continue to follow both projects closely, providing updates as Metro moves toward final approvals, construction timelines, and funding decisions that will shape how Angelenos travel for decades to come.

For ongoing coverage of Metro projects, transportation policy, and infrastructure across Southern California, visit STM Daily News.

A third major food-bank contribution since September

Food banks facing record-breaking demand

Where the 2025 food support has gone

• September: The PG&E Foundation awarded $1.12 million to support local food banks, tribal food banks, and senior meal programs.
• November: The PG&E Foundation donated $250,000 to the California Association of Food Banks’ Emergency Response Fund.

Equity-focused grant distribution

About the PG&E Corporation Foundation and PG&E

Why this matters

• California Association of Food Banks
• PG&E (Official Website)
• PG&E Newsroom

High Demand Marks “Veggies for Veterans” Event Amid SNAP Delays

Artistic Image: R Washington and AI

In the early 1970s, Lynwood, California, dreamed big.

City leaders envisioned a new, modern downtown — a sprawling shopping and auto mall that would bring jobs, shoppers, and a sense of pride back to this small but growing city in the southeast corner of Los Angeles County. At the heart of the plan stood a gleaming new Montgomery Ward department store, which opened around 1973 and promised to anchor a larger commercial center that never fully came.

But for those of us who grew up in Lynwood during that time, the promise never quite materialized.

Instead, we remember acres of empty lots, chain-link fences, and faded “Coming Soon” signs that sat for decades — silent witnesses to a dream deferred.

The Vision That Stalled

In 1973, Lynwood’s Redevelopment Agency launched what it called Project Area A — an ambitious plan to clear and rebuild much of the city’s downtown core. Small businesses and homes were bought out, land was assembled, and the city floated bonds to support new construction.

For a brief moment, it looked as if the plan might work. Montgomery Ward opened its doors, serving as a retail beacon for the area. Yet the rest of the mall — the shops, restaurants, and auto dealerships — never came.

By the mid-1970s, much of downtown had been bulldozed, but little replaced it. And by the time Ward closed its Lynwood location in 1986, the vast lots surrounding it had become symbols of frustration and unfulfilled potential.

What Happened?

Some longtime residents whispered about corruption or backroom deals — the kind of speculation that grows when visible progress stalls.

But newspaper archives and redevelopment records tell a more complex story.

Lynwood’s plans collided with a series of hard realities:

The construction of the Century Freeway (I-105) disrupted neighborhoods and depressed land values. Environmental cleanup and ownership disputes slowed development. Economic shifts in retail — as malls in nearby Downey, South Gate, and Paramount attracted anchor stores — drained the local market. And later, political infighting among city officials made sustained redevelopment almost impossible.

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To this day, there’s no public record of proven corruption directly tied to the 1970s mall plan. What did exist was a tangle of bureaucracy, economic change, and missed opportunity — a perfect storm that left Lynwood’s heart half-built and half-forgotten.

Growing Up Among the Vacant Lots

For those of us who were kids in Lynwood during that era, the story is more personal.

We remember the sight of the Montgomery Ward building — modern and hopeful at first, then shuttered and fading by the mid-1980s.

We remember riding bikes past the empty dirt fields that were supposed to become shopping plazas. And we remember the quiet frustration of adults who had believed the city’s promises.

Those empty blocks became our playgrounds — but they also became symbols of the gap between what Lynwood was and what it wanted to be.

A New Chapter: Plaza México and Beyond

By the late 1990s and early 2000s, the dream finally resurfaced in a new form.

Developers transformed the long-idle site into Plaza México, a vibrant commercial and cultural hub that celebrates Mexican and Latin American heritage.

It took nearly 30 years for Lynwood’s downtown to come alive again.

The result is beautiful — but it’s also bittersweet for those who remember how long the land sat empty, and how many local businesses and residents were displaced in pursuit of a dream that took a generation to fulfill.

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Looking Back

The story of Lynwood’s lost mall isn’t just about urban planning.

It’s about hope, change, and resilience. It’s about how a community tried to reinvent itself — and how the children who grew up watching that effort still carry its memory.

Sometimes, when I drive through that stretch of Imperial Highway and Long Beach Boulevard, I still imagine what might have been: the bustling mall that never was, and the voices of a neighborhood caught between ambition and uncertainty.

📚 Further Reading

• Montgomery Ward will close its Lynwood store. (Jan 3 1986) — Los Angeles Times. 

  Read it here

• Montgomery Ward Won’t Confirm Deal: Lynwood Council Says Retailer to Stay Open. (Jan 16 1986) — Los Angeles Times. 

  Read it here

• “Las Plazas of South LA” — academic paper by J.N. Leal (2012), discussing retail and redevelopment challenges in the region including Lynwood. 

  Read the PDF

• Proposed Lynwood Development Draws Support and Criticism. (2007) — Los Angeles Sentinel. 

  Read it here

• Wikipedia page: Lynwood, California — overview of the city including mention of Plaza México redevelopment. 

  Read it here

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