BUSES DRAW PROTEST RESIDENTS ASSAIL GREYHOUND PLAN.

Byline: Erik N. Nelson Staff Writer

MISSION HILLS - Egged on by the supportive honking of car horns on Laurel Canyon Boulevard, about 80 Mission Hills and San Fernando residents and their elected officials protested Saturday against plans for a bus terminal in their neighborhood.

Demonstrators, many of them with small children, carried signs reading, ``Stop the buses,'' ``Traffic, Fumes, Noise, Crime. That's what Greyhound's all about'' and ``Buses destroy our environment, our air, our health, our safety, our lives.''

``We don't need any more garbage here. We worked hard to keep this place clean and neat, the way we like it,'' said neighborhood activist Joe Lozano, who organized the demonstration and has collected more than 400 signatures on a petition against the terminal, which is scheduled to open Feb. 1 after moving from its current location on Truman Street in San Fernando.

Greyhound's lease on the Truman Street property has expired and it signed a 10-year lease with La Rinda Plaza, investing $300,000 in its free- standing, adobe-style building that backs up to Rincon Avenue. Shopping center representatives have noted that the property is zoned to allow a bus terminal and a Greyhound spokeswoman said the new terminal will benefit the community.

Greyhound spokeswoman Kristin Parsley said the new location is just off the interstate, instead of 15 blocks away, so buses will not spend as much time on local roads after the move. She added that an average of 17 cars are taken off the road for each bus the company operates.

She said Greyhound has reduced the number of daily trips to the terminal from 38 to 24 in response to community concerns.

Ben Reznick, an attorney for the shopping center, said the bus terminal would not be a burden on the neighborhood.

``It's only 24 buses a day, 12 going south, 12 going north,'' he said. ``That's not a lot of buses to generate all the pollution that people are thinking about, and it's a great convenience to the community (to have bus service).''

But a number of local community leaders said they supported the protesters.

``We're not going to stand idly by; we're not going to sit on our hands and let them put it here on Laurel Canyon,'' Los Angeles City Council President Alex Padilla promised the demonstrators.

Padilla reminded the crowd that he had already convinced his fellow council members to post signs on nearby streets banning vehicles of more than 6,000 pounds.

The councilman was joined by state Assemblyman and City Council candidate Tony Cardenas. Two candidates for Cardenas' assembly seat, Cardenas' district director, Yolanda Fuentes, and San Fernando Mayor Cindy Montanez, also appeared and declared their support for the demonstrators.

Bart Reed, who runs the activist Transit Coalition, said the new location is not all that convenient, even for those who ride Greyhound.

``It's a major injustice to the working poor, transit-dependent Greyhound customer,'' said Reed, arguing that the new location is too far from other transit, such as the Metrolink commuter rail station, which is in Sylmar, a few blocks northwest of the current Greyhound terminal.

Christine Tuazon, a 28-year-old Mission Hills resident, brought her sons, Alex, 6, and Airon, 3, to show why she objects to the terminal.

``I don't think it's good for our neighborhood when it's hard to come out of this little intersection (at Rincon Avenue and Laurel Canyon Boulevard) at 7:30 in the morning to take the kids to school,'' Tuazon said.

She also complained that the boulevard is clogged with youths cruising on weekend nights, and buses would further complicate traffic.

Reznick said the buses would not operate late at night, however.

Padilla said his staff has been meeting with Greyhound representatives, and he contacted Greyhound's president to urge him to find a more appropriate site for the terminal.

CAPTION(S):

2 photos

Photo:

(1) City Council President Alex Padilla joins a protest rally against a proposed bus terminal.

(2) Joe Lozano organized a group of 80 protesters to rally against a new bus terminal.

John McCoy/Staff Photographer