For decades, residents of Los Angeles have harbored a dream of bypassing the notorious traffic congestion of the Sepulveda Pass. Known for turning commutes on the 405 freeway into hours-long ordeals, this stretch of road has been a commuter’s nightmare.
A glimmer of hope emerged as Metro recently approved a preferred route for a heavy rail system that vows to slash travel time between the Valley and the Westside to just 18 minutes. In stark contrast, the current average journey can take up to 90 minutes.
However, not everyone is on board with the plan. Among the dissenters is a wealthy individual spearheading a lawsuit aimed at halting or at least delaying the project.
“The notion that this trip will take 18 minutes is pure fantasy… akin to saying pigs can fly,” remarked Fred Rosen, a Bel-Air resident and founder of Ticketmaster, in an exclusive conversation with the California Post.
Rosen challenges the fiscal logic behind the project. “Would you invest your own money in this? In 25 years, Metro hasn’t completed a single project on schedule or within budget, and it has the highest cost per mile of any metro system in the United States,” he argues.
According to Metro’s projections, the anticipated cost of the long-awaited rail line stands at $24.2 billion, a figure quoted in 2023 dollars on their official site.
“If you did that in a public company you’d be responsible for deceit, you might get sued by everyone” says Rosen who predicts the project will cost $40 billion, based on the per mile costs of other transportation projects in the state.
Where the money is coming from is unclear. Metro says it will build the project in phases “so that segments can be built as funding becomes available” the website says.
“Metro’s whole premise is not to work with the money they have.” the long time Los Angeles resident says.
A bigger concern for Rosen, he believes the project won’t be done until 2050 and points to where technology will be in 24 years with driverless cars and the arrival of Uber Copters flying over LA to get people around quickly.
“It will be obsolete before it’s finished,” says Rosen who also raises concern about the dangers of riding the city’s current Metro system. “How can you guarantee the Metro is going to be safe 20 years from now when it isn’t safe now.”
Metro provided five plans for the long awaited project – three were heavy rail and two were monorail. The approved plan touts a single-bore tunnel, which reduces areas of surface construction, a less costly route, and that the project won’t require a ventilation shaft in the Santa Monica Mountains.
Los Angeles residents have been begging for a solution to the traffic problems in the Sepulveda Pass, and the corridor remains one of the last parts of LA that’s not connected to the rest of Metro.
Rosen is well aware that many may perceive him as a rich guy trying to keep a train from running under his Bel Air mansion.
“Its not about not wanting it in Bel Air. The fact that I live here doesn’t make me wrong, I think the idea is essentially stupid.
“I’d feel the same way if this was under Cheviot Hills or Compton, you don’t go under a residential community.”
The 82-year-old adds he has the means to pick up and leave, “I can sell my house and move,” he says.
Rosen is putting his money where his mouth is. He’s spent “almost seven figures” on lawsuits against boring under Bel Air, and claims he demands answers from Metro and never gets them.
In one court filing Rosen, through the non profit Keep Bel Air Beautiful, claims one Metro Chief Planning Officer Ray Sosa consulted UCLA for years on the billion dollar project but never consulted Bel Air residents on the project.
In a deposition Sosa said Bel-Air “is a residential neighborhood, a number of homes” that doesn’t require “the same level of evaluation”, the papers said.
Rosen, who listened to the deposition live, was furious. “What we’re dealing with is one set of idiots versus another set of incompetence versus another set of morons. They don’t even understand the communities they are dealing with.” he told The Post
He was accused of threatening Metro Board members with violence, something he laughs at a vehemently denies. “I have never once threatened anyone physically in my life. I was out of shape when I was eight,” he said.
He says he’s not done with legal filings. “I can keep this in court for another 5 years,” Rosen said. Metro didn’t immediately respond to The Post for comment.
Rosen has also famously taken shots at LA Supervisor Lyndsey Horvath. As a member of the Metro Board of Directors representing the Third District of Los Angeles County, she’s a heavy stakeholder in the project. She shared bombastic texts from him on her X account and called him the “Man child of Bel Air.”
Rosen sent her a picture of a woman on her knees, stroking a man‘s leg and wrote, “Looks like you at a Metro Board meeting… Sucking up to the incompetent executives of Metro is simply disgraceful.”
When asked about Horvath, Rosen doubled down. “If you want to come at me that’s fine, if you don’t like me that’s fine but you can’t lie to me. I detest her, full disclosure.”
Rosen does offer a solution for a congested Los Angeles. He says the monorail made more sense because there was no digging.
Additionally he proposes that a three lane second deck be added to the 405. Two lanes for electric buses traveling to the airport and back, and one in case a bus brakes down. He predicts the project would come in around 10 billion dollars.
“My goal is that common sense gets brought to this.” Rosen said.
