Jae C. Hong/AP

Beverly Hills High School is seen in Beverly Hills, CA in 2009.

In a very expected progression of events, Beverly Hills Unified School District has sued Metro officials to stop the route of the Westside subway extension from cruising under Beverly Hills High School.

The contentious $5.6 billion brouhaha officially boiled into a lawsuit on Wednesday that alleges the Los Angeles County Transportation Authority's subway route is in violation of the CA Environmental Quality Act, the L.A. Times reports.

School and city officials say tunneling through the oil field could be detrimental to future development and/or could set off a deadly fireball gas explosion. Metro maintains that the project is safe.

Lisa Brenner can be reached via Twitter @lisa_brenner

Read More...

Screenshot via YouTube

Fireballs fade into school hallways in this screenshot from "No Subway Under BHHS," a video released by the school district's parent-teacher council.

"No Subway Under BHHS," a dramatic video by the Beverly Hills school district's parent-teacher council, is gaining attention for its catastrophic depiction of dangers that they say may exist in the plans for building the Westside subway extension under the campus.

The school, which sits atop oil wells that the video claims are not capped or mapped properly, shows fireball graphics fade into images of children as they walk to class, narrated with ominous voiceover.

There have been community protests and threats by the city and the school district to sue over the tunneling plan. Metro approved the environmental review for much of the plans last month, but is holding out on moving forward on the Beverly Hills HS portion until a meeting this month. The Metro maintains its plan is safe. 

Notes the L.A. Times:

Read More...