Downey mayor Mario Trujillo in DC to advocate for new Metro line

DOWNEY — Downey mayor Mario Trujillo is in Washington, DC with Supervisor Janice Hahn and a delegation of Southeast Los Angeles and Gateway Cities elected officials to champion the need for federal funding for the planned Southeast Gateway Metro Rail Line.

“Residents across Southeast LA and the Gateway Cities have been taking two, three buses to get to work, to school, and to doctor’s appointments,” said Hahn. “These communities need and deserve this high quality, reliable rail line, that will not only help people get to their jobs in other parts of the County but will be an investment in jobs and businesses along the route itself. This project has cleared every hurdle necessary and now it’s time to get it the funding it deserves from our federal partners and get it built.”

The Southeast Gateway Line is a new Metro light rail transit line that will stretch from Artesia through Cerritos, Bellflower, Paramount, Downey, South Gate, Cudahy, Bell, Huntington Park, Vernon, and unincorporated Florence-Firestone to Union Station which will provide fast, reliable transit service to communities that have long been underserved.

Along the route, one-in-five residents are transit dependent and do not have their own car.

In recent weeks, the project has gotten its official certification completing the environmental process, making it officially eligible for federal funding. Now, Hahn and members of the Gateway Cities Council of Governments are in Washington meeting with the Biden Administration and members of Congress advocating for the federal funding the Southeast Gateway Line needs.

In addition to Trujillo, the delegation includes Paramount Councilmember Vilma Cuellar Stallings, Paramount Councilmember Isabel Aguayo, Artesia Mayor Pro Tem Ali Taj, Maywood Councilmember Heber Marquez, South Gate Vice Mayor Maria Davila and Lakewood Councilmember David Arellano.

"The dozen communities along the Southeast Gateway Line are unified in supporting accessibility to jobs, cultural, and educational opportunities through this project,” said Stallings who serves as president of the Gateway Cities Council of Governments. “We are grateful to partner with Supervisor Janice Hahn in advocating with the Biden-Harris Administration and Congressional Leaders to improve our residents' quality of life."

The project was proposed over twenty years ago and was included in both voter-approved sales tax measures Measure R and Measure M with nearly $2 billion in local sales tax going toward its construction. Supervisor Hahn had partially blamed the project’s former name (the West Santa Ana Branch) for preventing it from getting the funding and attention it deserves. Earlier this year, Hahn held a renaming contest in which thousands of residents across LA County voted to name the project the “Southeast Gateway Line.”

Metro plans to begin the important utility relocation and pre-construction work later this Fall to prepare for major construction of the Southeast Gateway Line in the next few years.