The LA Metro Board of Directors has given their final go-ahead for a controversial gondola project in Los Angeles that would offer an alternative transportation route from downtown Union Station to Dodger Stadium to baseball fans by the start of the 2028 Summer Olympics. The board voted unanimously in favor of the final version of the plan’s Environmental Impact Report on Thursday.

As was pointed out by LAist, the proposal still needs approvals from Los Angeles City Council, Caltrans, and California State Parks to begin construction. The Metro’s decision came with a steep set of 31 conditions, which include a fund for affordable housing plus marketing opportunities and other concessions directed to small business owners in Elysian Park and Chinatown.

The proposal is marketed as being able to transport a total of 5,000 people per hour on a 7-minute ride with three stations along a 1.2-mile path. The Dodgers say this will reduce traffic by 3,000 cars for each of their 81 home games per year. (A report from the UCLA SEAS's Mobility Lab has called into question at least some of these claims.)

Former Dodgers owner Frank McCourt is behind the proposal, which was revealed for the first time in April of 2018. As we reported in January, many of those opposed to the plan are scrutinizing his ambitions to create a fan experience destination similar to LA Live, where parking lots exist currently. Cost estimates for its realization are currently around $500 million, considerably more than the $125 million figure that was proposed originally.

At odds with this development are many families and local community activists espousing their quality of life concerns, citing the proximity and presence of the cable cars, noise pollution, the potential for displacement, and a variety of other concerns. Mainly, as the Metro’s Board stipulations address, there is a concern about affordable housing not being included in the final plan. This could be assuaged by the new mandate to have 25% of parking spaces converted into housing, though its final status remains to be seen.

“It's profiting on our ancestral land, it's profiting on what they did 50 years ago when they displaced all those residents from Chavez Ravine to build the stadium,” Chief Anthony Morales of the San Gabriel Band of Mission Indians Gabrieleno-Tongva stated his opposition bluntly.

The plan currently calls for the gondola to be run from 6 AM to midnight year-round, likely at an increased volume on gamedays. The Los Angeles Aerial Rapid Transit (or LA ART) says it will be “emissions-free.” An entity called Zero Emission Technologies will operate the gondolas.

Several local outlets also reported the LA Parks Alliance's stated intentions to file a further lawsuit to block the proposal as it moves forward.