LOS ANGELES — Every morning, Chinatown resident Julie Rico embarks on a walk to the Los Angeles State Historic Park, less than one mile from her home.

She has been going there since 1986.

“When you’re living in Los Angeles, especially in downtown LA, you live in a sea of cement. It’s hot, it’s hard, it’s dirty,” Rico said. “When you go to the park, you see green, you see animals, you see birds that maybe you have never seen before in your life.”

Rico said her walks in the park are a valuable chance to enjoy nature, but she is worried those peaceful strolls may be disrupted with the proposed Los Angeles Aerial Rapid Transit, a gondola system that would carry baseball fans between Union Station and Dodger Stadium, with a stop in Chinatown, next to the state park.

Rico said the proposed gondola will sail right past her apartment building and she is worried the project will speed up gentrification in the neighborhood, forcing long-time residents to leave and businesses to shutter.

“There is a lot of seniors in Chinatown and the building I live in is a senior building and we walk and use the park a lot,” she said. “I just can’t imagine the seniors running into the Dodger crowds right at the entranceway to the park.”

However, others welcome the extra foot traffic, including Don Camacho. He owns El Paseo Restaurant on Olvera Street, across from Union Station. He said this part of downtown LA is often overlooked for development.

“Frankly, the other parts of downtown really probably get more of the share of resources and certainly more of the limelight,” he said. “So for us here, this is a rare opportunity which can actually benefit this area and really bring much-needed resources and really it’s about being safe and being clean.”

Camacho said the zero-emissions aspect of the gondola ride, which is just over a mile, appeals to him.

“I’m the father of two young kids and I really think about what we can do to help improve not only in this region but beyond,” he said.

Jennifer Rivera, a spokesperson for LA Aerial Rapid Transit, said the gondola system would remove 3,000 cars off the road before and after each Dodger game.

“The hope is that people will take public transit, that is as we are standing here in front of Union Station, that people will take that Metro line in order to get on the urban gondola and get up to their end destination,” she said.

Former Dodgers owner Frank McCourt backs the company and partnered with Metro on the proposed project. The transportation agency declined to comment on the project due to pending litigation since the California Endowment, a charitable foundation, filed a writ of mandate asking a judge to stop the agency’s efforts to move forward with planning, claiming it fast-tracked the project without enough public input. 

Rico said she is also worried the gondola ride will turn into a tourist attraction, but Rivera said that is not a bad thing.

“In other parts of the world and in the United States, it started as transit and then turns into a tourist opportunity. We think that’s great,” she said. “There will be amazing views of Los Angeles.”

She said the company wants to have the gondola built in time for the 2028 Olympics. In terms of how much it will cost to ride, Rivera said anyone who has a Metro TAP card could ride it free on non-game days and the company will have a special fare on game days.

Metro is releasing an environmental impact report this summer to the public.

In the meantime, Rico said she is focused on preserving the peace in her neighborhood.

“To have that disturbed with that constantly active gondola project would disturb that rhythm that we have come to kind of expect here in Chinatown,” she said.