A key vote on Tuesday will help determine whether the proposed gondola from Union Station to Dodger Stadium will move forward.
A Metro committee will vote on whether to advance the project to the Board of Directors, which would allow the board to approve the environmental impact report next week. But community members are still wondering where the money for the $500 million gondola is coming from.
“This project still has no funding plan, and this is something that’s been promised to us for a long time,” said Phyllis Ling, founder of Stop the Gondola. “As residents who would have to live under this project, we’re really concerned about where the money would come from to maintain it and operate it safely.”
The 1.2-mile aerial gondola, formally known as Los Angeles Aerial Rapid Transit (L.A. ART), was proposed by former Dodgers owner Frank McCourt. It would be privately owned and operated, but it remains unclear how the project will be funded or how much money Metro will contribute as part of their partnership.
The gondola has faced pushback from Chinatown residents, who worry it will lead to further gentrification in the neighborhood. Councilmember Eunisses Hernandez, who represents the area, also raised concerns last month about the impact on traffic and accessibility.
A report by the UCLA Mobility Lab questioned the environmental impact report’s claims about reducing vehicle traffic around Dodger Stadium, finding that the gondola would likely only remove around 608 cars from the roads.
“It's not really going to take as many cars off the road as they claim,” Ling said. “They’re making a lot of wild assumptions about people using transit for their entire journey.”
If approved, the gondola would open in 2028.
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