Activists Get Agreement for Talks on Stalled Trains

Concluding a dramatic confrontation between Southern Pacific Transportation Co. and the United Neighborhoods Organization, railroad officials this week agreed to hold discussions about lengthy train stoppages in Southeast Los Angeles County but refused to comply with UNO’s seven-point proposal for improving the situation.

The concession from the railroad came during a community forum Monday night in Pico Rivera called by UNO, during which residents had their first chance to vent frustration at the lengthy stoppages that have interfered with Southeast streets for years.

A parade of officials and residents from several cities stepped up to the podium, describing, among other hazards, how the stoppages force children to climb between train cars on their way to school. They said that the railroad has ignored complaints because the area is considered unfashionable and without much political clout, and presented Southern Pacific with UNO’s “Good Neighbor Agreement.”

George Fetty, Southern Pacific’s superintendent in Los Angeles, told the angry assembly of about 150 that parts of UNO’s proposal were ambiguous and unacceptable, and that he would not sign it.

Railroad Has Been Fined

Instead, Fetty pledged that the railroad would enter “a dialogue” on the seven points, with the intent to draft a list of recommendations to help reduce stoppages and to work with local law enforcement officials to improve public safety when the stopped freight trains block the streets.

Southern Pacific has been repeatedly charged with allowing its trains to illegally block intersections and has been fined $6,750 in the last two years. The railroad faces six more charges stemming from separate incidents in a case that has drawn the attention of Los Angeles County Dist. Atty. Ira Reiner.

“It is obvious to us, as it is obvious to you, that Southern Pacific regards these criminal charges and the attendant fines simply as a cost of doing business,” Reiner told the crowd, adding that the next step is to file criminal charges against Southern Pacific officials.

“If there is one message I hope you take back,” he told railroad officials, “it is that this community simply will not be denied. You can do it the easy way or you can do it the hard way.”

The UNO meeting brought together city leaders from Pico Rivera, Santa Fe Springs and Norwalk, four representatives of the state Public Utilities Commission, four Southern Pacific officials, a sergeant from the Pico Rivera sheriff’s station and representatives of 11 parishes from 16 Southeast cities.

Manager Away on Business

Southern Pacific representatives, outnumbered by the hostile audience, did not win any points by announcing that General Manager L. L. Phipps had been called to corporate headquarters in San Francisco and could not attend the meeting. After listening to passionate testimony about the hazards from train stoppages, Fetty had to explain why he could not sign UNO’s proposal.

“There are certain things about this good neighbor agreement that are ambiguous . . . I don’t want to be held up to some things that I know cannot be done,” Fetty said. “I’ll be glad to work with UNO on an agreement, but it can’t be this agreement.”

Rev. Gerald McSorley of UNO pressed Fetty. “We are simply asking you to be a good neighbor,” said the pastor of St. Marianne de Paredes Catholic church in Pico Rivera. “It is not a legal document, it’s a moral document.”

“You have my public commitment to be a good neighbor,” Fetty said.

“Then sign the agreement,” said William Harmon of UNO.

“No. I’m not going to sign it,” Fetty said. “I told you I will enter into a dialogue. I would rather have an agreement saying that we will enter into a dialogue.”

Ed Caire of UNO then took a black marking pen and wrote “We pledge to enter into a dialogue on these seven issues” on a large white poster to be signed by the officials present. Fetty then signed it, followed by city officials and UNO representatives as the audience applauded vigorously.

Fetty, who was given only five minutes during the hour-long meeting to present Southern Pacific’s position, told the crowd it is important to understand that not all blockages of intersections are illegal. He was referring to a state Public Utilities Commission regulation prohibiting trains from blocking intersections for longer than 10 minutes unless there are mechanical problems or other unforeseeable violations. The rule does not apply to trains traveling steadily in one direction, but only to ones standing still or moving back and forth.

A typical Southern Pacific train is 7,000 feet long--about 1.3 miles--and it is inevitable that intersections will be blocked, Fetty said. He also pointed out the railroad’s commercial importance, citing the jobs and business it brings to the area.

But the crowd was in no mood to hear Fetty’s explanations.

“I can’t begin to tell you how many times I have seen children crawling underneath the trains--your trains,” UNO member Dan Razo of Pico Rivera told Southern Pacific officials. “And I’m tired of it . . . We all want results.”

Death or Injury Feared

McSorley, whose church is next to the tracks, said lengthy blockages would not be tolerated in more upscale areas such as West Los Angeles. “I am angry that someone may die or at least be severly injured because their trains are illegally blocking our intersections,” he said. “The people of this community are not going to tolerate this any longer.”

Pico Rivera Mayor Garth Gardner said that trains stopped across streets in his city also prevent emergency vehicles from responding to calls in the southern part of town. “It’s not only the children that are affected. It’s every one of us,” Gardner said.

Since 1984, Southern Pacific has been charged with 25 misdemeanor counts of illegally blocking intersections, and on Monday in the Whittier branch of the Los Angeles Municipal Court the company entered a not guilty plea to the six latest counts of that charge. Through plea bargains, the company has in the last two years pleaded no contest to eight of the charges and has been fined, said Deputy Dist. Atty. Rob Miller.

UNO’s Southeast chapter, formed in June, has made train stoppages the first target of its neighborhood activism.