Nearly a month after supposed fault lines below Beverly Hills High School were debunked by the California Geological Survey, the Metropolitan Transit Authority is still refusing to alter their initial conclusions.
The Metropolitan Transit Authority has alleged that due to earthquake faults beneath the school, the existing buildings could be declared seismically unsafe and new construction would be blocked. With these allegations, the Metropolitan Transit Authority has routed tunnels directly below the high school and subsequently drastically lowered the land buyout price Beverly Hills Unified School District would receive if the high school is ultimately destroyed.
Not only has the Metropolitan Transit Authority refused to change their position, but they have also refused to even admit they were wrong in their initial findings.
The lack of acknowledgement has led many to question what else could be wrong in their findings and given the recent track record, whether or not the Metropolitan Transit Authority’s methodology can be trusted and deemed safe.
“It took MTA five years to determine the faults under Beverly Hills High School were unsafe, yet it only took us months to prove them wrong,” said Jake Manaster, current president of the Beverly Hills Unified School District’s Board of Education. “These types of results make me wonder what they could have gotten wrong about Santa Monica as well.”
After being blindsided by the Metropolitan Transit Authorities allegations, the Beverly Hills Unified School District went on the offensive and tasked a team, led by engineer Tim Buresh of the Alameda Corridor Transportation Project, to definitively investigate the matter once and for all.
However, even with the school district’s beliefs verified, the Metropolitan Transit Authority refused a delay of the final decision.
In response to the hasty refusal, the Beverly Hills Board of Education scored what seemed to be a serious coup when securing the California Geological Survey to intervene and review their data.
As per the California Geological Survey’s findings, “The consultants [hired by the Beverly Hills Board of Education] performed a thorough fault investigation program at the subject site and it appears evidence of active faulting related to the west Beverly Hills Lineament or the Santa Monica Fault Zone was not encountered within the limits of this investigation . . . CGS has reviewed the interpretations and much of the original data provided by the consultants and finds that their conclusions are consistent with the available data.”
Yet even with incontrovertible scientific evidence, backed by the state’s own agency no less, the Metropolitan Transit Authority has continued to steadfastly stand behind their initial findings.
With Beverly Hills High School having been proven safe, many are beginning to question the validity of the Metropolitan Transit Authority’s science. By failing to at least acknowledge that their assumptions were wrong and potentially wreckless, they have opened the door to seemingly justified criticism and skepticism from both sides of the issue.
“At this point and time, it is very difficult for me to trust anything the MTA tells us,” says Dr. Brian David Goldberg, former president of the Board of Education and current governing board member. “Until members of the MTA board change, I will continue to have trust issues with their science, reports and motivations.”
MEDIA CONTACT
Glenn Selig
PR Firm: The Publicity Agency
(310) 598-3367
Email:
SOURCE: Beverly Hills Unified School District
Print Friendly
This press release is distributed by PR NewsChannel. Your News. Everywhere.
