Another subway scuffle

This one centers on efforts by the L.A. County Museum of Art to have the Fairfax station located at the corner of Wilshire and Orange Grove, just a few steps from the museum. (The stop has been planned for the northwest corner of Fairfax and Wilshire, next to the closed Johnie's restaurant.) CurbedLA reports that Metro staffers are warming to the idea. But...

The Miracle Mile Residential Association joined forces with the Disability Legal Rights Center at Loyola Law School to urge Metro in a letter not to "succumb to [LACMA'S] efforts to shift the subway portal from the intersection of Fairfax and Wilshire." The groups believe that an Orange Grove entrance will make it more difficult for the disabled to catch buses on Fairfax. "Although LACMA's counsel has offensively dismissed this accessibility issue as 'counting footsteps,' it is of real concern to the individuals DRLC represents," Michelle Uzeta, legal director of the DRLC, wrote to the extension's project manager, David Mieger. "Seniors and individuals with a variety of disabilities (visual, physical, intellectual and cognitive), will all be negatively impacted, unnecessarily burdened and at increased risk of harm should they be forced to navigate the extra distance inherent in LACMA's proposal."

Final environmental reports and staff recommendations are planned for a board meeting on Thursday, though the ongoing battle with the city of Bev Hills on where to put the Century City stop could delay things.

Metro rendering of proposed Wilshire/Fairfax stop