Posted on 10/06/2012 7:03:30 AM PDT by BenLurkin
INGLEWOOD (CBSLA.com) — Some South Los Angeles residents are disappointed they won’t be able to get a close-up look at the space shuttle Endeavour as it makes its way from LAX to its permanent home at the California Science Center next week.
A year ago, Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa said there would be a celebration after Endeavour circled Los Angeles.
“Then we’re gonna have a parade. The mother of all parades,” he said.
Villaraigosa, however, has loudly changed his tune.
“First of all, it’s not a parade. It’s a route. The shuttle is traveling a route. Now, people will be along that route,” he said.
According to the carefully planned route schedule, the shuttle will head northeast on La Tijera Boulevard to Manchester Parkway. Then, it will make a stop at the Inglewood Forum.
From there, the shuttle will head east on Manchester to Crenshaw Boulevard.
It will continue down from MLK to Bill Robertson Lane and into Exposition Park.
Unless a person lives along the route or has access to a rooftop, the number of residents able to see the historic shuttle will be limited because sidewalks and streets will be closed about a mile ahead and a mile behind Endeavour as it goes through the streets.
“I feel double-crossed. But life goes on,” said one woman.
“I’m very disappointed because I thought we could stay in the street,” a man told KCAL9′s Dave Lopez.
Officials said the reason residents can’t be close to the shuttle is because of safety concerns.
Villaraigosa jokingly indicated he is okay with being the scapegoat of the situation.
“They can always blame it on me, isn’t that what we do?” he said.
Secret NASA documents reveal that George Bush denied access to viewing the shuttle as it wound its way to the museum.
I wonder how many taggers were hoping to have a field day with the space shuttle.
No, they just wanted to take pictures using their Obama phones.
Why should people who never supported the thing have a ‘right’ to view it now?
Maybe NASA didn’t want them to steal Endeavor’s hubcaps.
Man do I hope nobody bashes it’s head in with a cinder block when it’s on Crenshaw. Will the wheels still be on it by the time it gets to it’s “final destination”?
Helping keep mankind warm for 65 years.
P.S. Worked on the Shuttle program for 36 of those years.
Some enterprising person with an office building next to the route should sell tickets.
Stick some hydraulics on the Endeavour and watch all the homies turn out.
I've asked you this several times, but you never responded.
If it's a secret, or if you're embarrassed to say, just say so.
You have FReep mail.
“IngleWatts”
Why are they complaining? The route that the shuttle will be taking—La Tijera, Manchester and MLK (I still call the latter street Santa Barbara Avenue) is a lot closer to South LA than is North Orange County, where I live.
LOL, they probably just don't want the thing pock-marked with bullet holes.
Well we know one thing: All the residents along the route where those 400 trees were cut down so that the shuttle could pass by will have a clear view of it.
A lot of those trees were cut down in the median. Will probably improve trafffic safety.
or just encourage more u-turns.
*
I moved from Connecticut to Orange County, in 1981. During a Christmas visit a few years later, my Dad asked me to go see his pal, Carmen, who went to USC in the ‘30’s. “I used to live on Santa Barbara Av., had a great apartment, good times, wish I could go back” Carmen told me. “How is the neighborhood, these days?”. “Ah, well, nowadays, Santa Barbara Av. is called MLK” I replied. Carmen looked down at his shoes, and immediately changed the subject.
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