Getting up to speed, June 26

Big, big, big MTA board meeting today

The MTA board has two huge decisions to make. The first is whether to adopt a long-range plan that funds a few really big projects -- such as the Expo Line light rail -- and lists most of the rest as "unfunded." In real-life English, that means "transit fantasy." The other decision involves voting to draft language for a half-penny sales tax hike that would appear on the November ballot in Los Angeles County to fund more of those projects. Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa announced his support for such a hike on Wednesday, but said more needs to be done to build consensus on the issue. The guess here: The board delays adopting the long-range plan but favors going forward with the sales tax.

Don't forget the 626ers!

Residents and public officials from the San Gabriel Valley are expected to be out in force at the MTA meeting today. They've been campaigning for an extension of the Gold Line from Pasadena to Azusa to be included in the funded portion of the long-range plan so that it can go forward. Will the 626ers torpedo the sales tax if they don't get some kind of commitment to money for the Gold Line? Stay tuned.

Sales tax bill moves forward in the state Senate

Meanwhile, AB 2321 by Assemblyman Mike Feuer (D-Los Angeles), which would allow the aforementioned sales tax to go forward, was approved 5-0 the state Senate's committee on revenue and taxation late Wednesday afternoon. It now must clear the appropriations committee in the Senate, the full Senate and then the Assembly, which already approved an earlier version. Feuer believes voters are willing to approve it, but fears that fighting over the sales tax money and the projects it would fund could bring the whole thing down. "If we don't do this now, we're consigning a generation or more of people to unbelievable congestion," Feuer told me Wednesday.

Yaroslavsky says he's leaning toward sales tax, but has concerns

County Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky has been playing it close to the vest with the sales tax hike, even with considerable pressure in his Westside and Valley district to do something about traffic. Yaroslavsky told me Wednesday evening that while he's leaning toward supporting the sales tax, "the devil is in the details. I don't want a tax adopted as one thing that ends up another." Yaroslavsky's main concern is that protections are in place to ensure sales tax revenue is spent on what it's supposed to be spent on. This is a huge point: Feuer's bill spells out how some of the money would be spent, but leaves it up to the MTA to decide how to spend the rest.

Rosendahl says half-cent sales tax hike isn't big enough

Los Angeles City Councilman Bill Rosendahl told me Wednesday that voters should be asked to pay for a full penny sales tax hike because that's the only way to fund all the mass transit projects that need to get built. Otherwise, he said, all the usual parochial fights will break out. "Why should we be fighting?" he said. "The people want to get on mass transit now." He may have a point, albeit not a politically popular one. An MTA staff report sliced up how $40 billion in sales tax revenue could be spent and determined about $16 billion would go to big bus and rail projects.

Former mayor of Santa Monica says sales tax starts the subway to the sea

Denny Zane, the former mayor of Santa Monica and currently a consultant, has for months been trying to build a coalition to rally for the sales tax increase. "It will not get the subway to the sea," he told me on Wednesday. "But it will move the subway much farther down Wilshire -- my guess is to Beverly Hills and Century City. And that creates the momentum to finish it." Zane said the sales tax increase would fund multiple light rail lines and road projects. Zane thinks the money can be transformative if spent properly and results in better planned communities around mass transit. "I think people have seen the future already," he said. "Even if gas prices come down, people know they will go back up."

Something the MTA isn't putting out press releases about

While the agency has been touting its long-range plan in numerous ads and press releases, it's often up to the blogosphere to provide a reality check. This week's comes courtesy of our friends at LAist, who have a sweet entry about an 80-minute delay on the subway during the Tuesday afternoon rush hour when one of the trains broke down in between stations. Hey, that's a good way to get people to stop driving and take mass transit!

--Steve Hymon

Comments

[Dan W.]

"Why doesnt the MTA simply put two long range plans

plan 1: LRTP w/o sales tax
plan 2: LRTP w/ sales tax

plan 1 will NOT fund the extension and plan 2 will. "

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That's a good idea.

[Jeremy R]

"A) Why can't MTA get more funding from the state or the feds?

B) Why can't we raise money from more progressive sources, such as corporate profits or property? "

Wow. Money from the state and Fed. What a brilliant idea. I wonder why Metro has never thought of that before? MTA has worked that angle, and continue to wrork it, but that is not enough

LA does not need anymore corporate taxes. It is one of the least business friendly regions in the country.

With LA being the least affordable region in the country based on incomes, I doubt higher property taxes are the answer.

Sales tax is regressive but tourists pay it to, which increases the tax base considerably. Also, groceries and rent is not taxed, and clothes can be purchases online. Also, the poor use transit 3x more than the middle class, so asking them to pay an extra half cent is not morally deplorable.

[Jeremy R]

"Residents and public officials from the San Gabriel Valley are expected to be out in force at the MTA meeting today. They've been campaigning for an extension of the Gold Line from Pasadena to Azusa to be included in the funded portion of the long-range plan so that it can go forward. Will the 626ers torpedo the sales tax if they don't get some kind of commitment to money for the Gold Line? Stay tuned."

Why doesnt the MTA simply put two long range plans

plan 1: LRTP w/o sales tax
plan 2: LRTP w/ sales tax

plan 1 will NOT fund the extension and plan 2 will.

If SGV wants the line they will be forced to put their money where their mouth is!

Done deal.

[Bonaficio de Brentwood]

Why does revenue have to be raised by sales taxes? That's the most regressive form of taxation.

A) Why can't MTA get more funding from the state or the feds?

B) Why can't we raise money from more progressive sources, such as corporate profits or property?

[Morgan Wick]

"The guess here: The board delays adopting the long-range plan but favors going forward with the sales tax."

Then they condemn the tax hike to failure, if not at the polls then in the future they're trying to "imagine". On the other hand, if they don't make sure they get it right that'll consign it to failure as well.