Natasha Yaghoubi stood behind a podium in a conference room at Union Station on Thursday, facing a board of city officials.
For the fourth time in weeks, she had one minute to express support for the construction of a subway line that will run under Beverly Hills High School.
The fourth-year political science student and Beverly Hills High School alumna was running on two hours of sleep, a result of schoolwork and stress. But this was the end of the line for the campaign, one where she has been in stark opposition to some of her old neighbors.
Since the start of spring quarter, Yaghoubi has worked as a campaign organizer for the Westside Subway Extension campaign with the Clergy & Laity United for Economic Justice, an interfaith worker-justice organization.
Yaghoubi said the line could help workers commuting to the area, which motivated her to become involved. It will also help people gain employment in areas with costly parking, such as Century City, she said.
“Low-wage workers in Century City have to pay $30 a day for parking,” she said. “If you’re making something like $50 a day, then you’re not going to take that job.”
She had spent about 20 hours a week, on top of her full class schedule, trying to mobilize community leaders, speaking at the Los Angeles County Transportation Authority board hearings on the subject and communicating directly with the community.
Thursday’s Metro board meeting was the final hearing before officials voted to approve a stop at Constellation Boulevard.
At the end of the meeting, the stop was approved in a 7-2 vote ““ a victory for Yaghoubi’s campaign.
The building of the subway stop in Century City has been a hotly debated topic in recent weeks in the Beverly Hills community. While Beverly Hills residents are supportive of the subway line itself, they are at odds as to where stops should be located, said Brian Goldberg, president of the Beverly Hills Unified School District board.
Residents have raised alarm bells about tunneling beneath the high school, saying that the construction poses safety risks. A Metropolitan Transportation Authority survey had concluded that Metro could only mitigate, but not entirely eliminate, the possibility of methane gas and oil leaks or explosions during construction under the school, Goldberg said.
Since Metro announced the plans, anti-Metro signs have appeared on Beverly Hills lawns, and children have worn “Metro’s Studies are Flawed” T-shirts.
At the Thursday meeting, Susie Roberts, executive vice president of the Beverly Hills School Parent Teacher Association, said Metro should have more strongly considered a stop at Santa Monica Boulevard, which some residents say would serve the same purpose and not require tunneling through the school.
“I don’t see why other options besides Constellation (Boulevard) weren’t looked at seriously,” she said.
For now, Metro will move forward with the planned railway extension. A Metro statement released Thursday rebutted safety concerns, saying methane risks involved with tunneling under Beverly Hills High School have been dealt with before and are manageable.
The 9-mile subway extension will start from a station located at Wilshire and Western boulevards and will end at the Veterans Affairs Hospital near UCLA, according to an environmental impact report.
Yaghoubi, who is graduating this quarter, said that while juggling school and her internship has been difficult, organizing the campaign was a valuable experience. It sparked a career interest in grassroots politics, she said. She also said that while she is involved with the campaign, she has tried to remove herself from the politics surrounding tunneling under Beverly Hills High School.
Jessica Yousefi, Yaghoubi’s cousin who has worked alongside her, did say she’s seen another side of Yaghoubi through the campaign ““ at family events, she tends to be soft-spoken, but now Yousefi sees Yaghoubi as an advocate.
Yaghoubi said she learned to make points quickly and overcome self-consciousness.
“You can’t be shy,” she said. “You have to get things done.”