Waterfront Transit Project Talks Stall

Negotiations that might have led to development of an automated people mover to serve the Long Beach waterfront have broken down, City Manager James C. Hankla said Monday.

Aeromovel USA, owned by a Saudi Arabia-based company, had been engaged in talks with Long Beach officials for about a year. The firm operates people movers in Indonesia and Brazil and said it was seeking a demonstration project in the United States.

Long Beach officials said they would support the project only if there was no financial risk to the city. Aeromovel was to seek independent financing and cover the system’s operating costs and debt service, according to a preliminary agreement with the city.

A feasibility analysis submitted by the company May 23 “demonstrated that the project is not viable without the city assuming substantial responsibility for its financing,” Hankla said in a report to the City Council.