UPDATE: As of March 2022, the City of Inglewood has certified the Final Environmental Impact Report for the Transit Connector Project. This EIR reflects the substantial modifications made in the recirculated Draft Environmental Impact Report (EIR). Some of these changes are in response to concerns raised by the Conservancy. We greatly appreciate consideration of our comments as we provide them with the intent of improving and making proposed projects better. Already we see some clear improvements in this proposed project.

The City of Inglewood is proposing an elevated automated people mover (APM) that will travel through the heart of its downtown. As it is currently planned, the Inglewood Transit Connector (ITC) and an APM structure will travel through, and cast a shadow over, the core of its historic Market Street.

In December 2020, the City of Inglewood released its Draft Environmental Impact Report (EIR) for the Inglewood Transit Connector (ITC) Project to connect the Forum and SoFi Stadium with Metro’s Crenshaw Line.

While the project states that it will activate the downtown area and “complements and preserves the historic fabric of Downtown,” there is no planned stop there, the APM radically alters the downtown’s physical environment, and there are no measures in place to ensure it will not do the exact opposite. We believe the project as currently envisioned will lead to greater disinvestment, infeasibility of reusing and activating storefronts, and demolition of additional historic buildings in the future.

Under the current plan, the APM will be elevated approximately forty feet in the air with large concrete support columns that will dominate and dramatically alter the existing lowrise Main Street commercial district. The Conservancy is concerned about what type of environment will result for pedestrians once the APM is constructed.

Within the Project Area, there are ten identified historic resources, nine of which are located within the Downtown area. In their analysis, Historic Resources Group (HRG) found significant impacts to several resources, most notably the National Register of Historic Places-listed Fox Theatre. Under the current plan, the Federal Building and Loan Association building will be demolished to facilitate a radius turn for the APM.