MTA Postpones Decision on Seizing Land for Tunnel
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The Metropolitan Transportation Authority left 72 frustrated residents of the Hollywood Hills and Studio City hanging Wednesday when it postponed for a month a decision on whether to seize a subterranean ribbon of land beneath their homes to dig a Metro Rail subway tunnel.
The MTA needs to acquire the underground rights to 94 parcels of land in the eastern Santa Monica Mountains before it can dig and blast a tunnel from its Hollywood subway station to its Universal City station. The tunnel will be 72 to 800 feet beneath the houses--more than 400 feet deep for most of the route.
MTA real estate director Velma Marshall said 24 property owners have sold their subsurface rights for amounts ranging from $1,000 to $10,000. But 72 others have held out.
They range from the famous--such as Academy Award-winning actor Martin Landau and the estate of the late actor Burt Lancaster--to senior citizens who have lived in their homes since the early 1950s.
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