The issue was the exact route west of the Wilshire&#x2F;Rodeo stop [1] in western BH. The possibilities were running north of the high school, with a third stop in the city of Beverly Hills, around the Santa Monica&#x2F;Wilshire intersection [2] and its commercial district; or to run southwest, under the high school, to the office towers of Century City [3].<p>The distance look close on a map, but the terrain is EXTREMELY unwalkable - what looks like regular roads on the maps of Century City are laid out more like highways, with hundreds of meters between crosswalks, and large blocks without paths to cut across them.<p>The MTA wanted the Century City route, both because it would have been better placed to catch commuter traffic and because the Wilshire&#x2F;Santa Monica route would have gone too close to a fault line; Beverly Hills, clearly, preferred the extra commercial activity to contribute to its own tax revenues. So they made up this &quot;oh my god the kids are going to die!&quot; scare; the local congressman, Henry Waxman, backed them by getting the BH route blocked at the Federal level until 2007.<p>The MTA then brought up the alternative of sending the train through West Hollywood instead, bypassing BH altogether, and the city caved right quick.<p>God I love local politics.<p>[1] <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.google.com&#x2F;maps&#x2F;place&#x2F;@34.0670703,-118.401029,17z&#x2F;data=!3m1!4b1!4m2!3m1!1s0x80c2bbf8e2bb5727:0xcea858680180beed" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.google.com&#x2F;maps&#x2F;place&#x2F;@34.0670703,-118.401029,17...</a><p>[2] <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.google.com&#x2F;maps&#x2F;place&#x2F;Beverly+Hills,+CA+90210&#x2F;@34.0670136,-118.4104353,17z&#x2F;data=!3m1!4b1!4m2!3m1!1s0x80c2bbf5fe3bf84d:0x34e887f3a4feb0c2" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.google.com&#x2F;maps&#x2F;place&#x2F;Beverly+Hills,+CA+90210&#x2F;@3...</a><p>[3] <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.google.com&#x2F;maps&#x2F;place&#x2F;2000+Avenue+of+the+Stars,+Los+Angeles,+CA+90067&#x2F;@34.0587061,-118.4161226,18z&#x2F;data=!4m2!3m1!1s0x80c2bbf321bfc969:0xe46a66e8c6d5c48" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.google.com&#x2F;maps&#x2F;place&#x2F;2000+Avenue+of+the+Stars,+...</a>