Anyone who takes the time to read the MMLB Proposal is immediately struck with its utopian vision of a day where, for instance, enormous numbers of Southern Californians will drive short distances to rail and transit lines and move effortlessly and efficiently between the eastern San Gabriel Valley and employment centers in Downtown Los Angeles, East Los Angeles and points further south. Implicit in the premise underlying the MMLB Proposal is that the region is ready to move to this utopia of limited growth, increased transit and ridesharing, and dramatic shifts in land use patterns to recreate the world of the nostalgic Red Car Rail Lines. That day will not happen in the foreseeable future and the latest SCAG and MTA long-range transportation plans show this to be true.

Multi-modalism is a goal of federal transportation policies, and the 710 Freeway Gap Closure contributes to this multi-modal vision by including HOV facilities for bus transit vehicles, vanpools, and carpools. The MMLB Proposal, while tossing around terms like multi-modalism and livable communities, fails to link these transportation concepts with a concrete proposal. Instead, the MMLB Proposal is a cynical, manipulative piece of sophistry intended to distract public officials and provide an excuse that one more thing has not been examined as part of the environmental planning process for the project. As a result, significant local, state and federal resources and expertise have already been wasted evaluating the MMLB Proposal that was not credible from the date it was first released.