When the Gold Line Eastside Extension light rail train begins running from downtown to East Los Angeles this summer, it will have two names -- one in English and one in Spanish -- the Metro board decided Thursday.
Supervisor and Metropolitan Transportation Authority board member Gloria Molina, who represents the largely Spanish-speaking East Los Angeles area, proposed naming the line in Spanish, which would make it the first Metro route to have a Spanish name.
Her proposal passed without comment, but was then reconsidered at the request of Los Angeles City Councilman and board member Jose Huizar, who wanted to refer the naming to a committee to generate more public input.
But rather than revisit the prickly issue of whether government agencies should use languages other than English, after nearly 20 minutes of intense discussion, the Metro board decided to give the route a double name -- the "Edward R. Roybal Metro Gold Line" in English, and "La Linea de Oro, Edward R. Roybal" in Spanish.
Roybal was a Hispanic politician from Los Angeles who served for 30 years in the Legislature and 13 years on the City Council. He died in 2005 at age 89.
As for the signs along the Gold Line itself, "All of the station signs, I'm fairly confident, have been fabricated at this point," a Metro staffer told the board. She promised to report on the matter later.
