Mayor, San Gabriel Valley officials meet over sales tax

In the wake of yesterday's MTA Board meeting, a contingent of San Gabriel Valley officials and other elected officials met with Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa on Friday for 90 minutes to talk about the proposed sales tax hike on the November ballot and funding for a Gold Line extension from Pasadena to Duarte.

It doesn't sound like any deal was reached, but it does sound like it was a substantive discussion that could pave the way for the sales tax to make it to the ballot and get support from a wide sea of public officials. The proposal is to raise the sales tax by a half-cent, from 8.25% to 8.75%, to pay for more road and mass transit projects.

Among those who have paid a visit to City Hall today: Duarte Councilman and MTA board member John Fasana; MTA board member Richard Katz; state Assembly members Kevin de Leon, Mike Eng, Mike Feuer, Ed Hernandez, Bob Huff, Anthony Portantino and Cam Smyth; and state senators Gil Cedillo and Gloria Romero. MTA chief Roger Snoble also was present.

According to two sources, both of whom would speak only on background, the mayor said basically three things (the mayor's office declined to provide details, but confirmed the meeting took place):

1. San Gabriel Valley officials need to chill out and stop fighting the congestion-pricing proposal for the 10 and 210 freeways. Villaraigosa pointed out that the region is set to get $213 million in bus and Metrolink equipment and that the equipment will still belong to the region even if the tolling doesn't work out.

2. It's unrealistic to expect the federal government to pay most of the cost of extending the Gold Line, as some San Gabe Valley officials suggest it will. Villaraigosa said that's why he didn't vote on Thursday to provide the Gold Line with $80 million in seed money from the MTA -- in addition to his dislike of the fight against congestion pricing.

3. He's open to working with those officials on language in both the state bill, AB 2321, that allows the MTA to pursue the sales tax, and the MTA sales tax ordinance.

Why are those two pieces of legislation important? The state bill, by Feuer, details how about $4 billion would be spent. But the sales tax -- if successful -- is expected to raise $30 billion to $40 billion, and it would be up to the MTA ordinance to divvy up that pie. Needless to say, everyone wants a slice.

San Gabriel Valley officials in particular want some level of certainty that if the sales tax passes, there will be money sooner rather than later to build an extension of the Gold Line from Pasadena to at least Azusa. Several cities are in talks with or have made deals with developers for transit-oriented development along the line and are trying to avoid having those deals go stale while waiting to see if the train will be built. In other words, they've been engaged in real urban planning and don't want to see that work wasted.

And without some certainty over the Gold Line, officials are saying they may not support the sales tax if it goes to the ballot. And that could be a problem for those who support the sales tax -- as the mayor does. The San Gabriel Valley has more than 2 million residents, and the sales tax would have to be approved by two-thirds of voters to pass. Lose a Valley, the saying goes, you may lose the election.

So now the clock is ticking. The MTA must write a sales tax ordinance that wins approval from the MTA board at its meeting in late July. And AB 2321 is facing an upcoming hearing in the Senate's appropriations committee.

That, bottleneckers, could get interesting. Ready for another wrinkle? Not included in Feuer's bill -- at least for now -- is any money dedicated to improvements to the Green Line. And I hear that is causing some concern in the Senate.

I talked to Feuer about 5:30 p.m. today. He wouldn't talk about the meeting at Villaraigosa's office, other than to confirm it happened. He also said that he's been in talks about the Green Line in the past week but would like to stick with the original funding allotment in the bill, which was based on ridership estimates and other formulas.

Feuer also reiterated something he said the other day: that he hopes that infighting over funding for particular projects doesn't pull the rug out from under the sales tax effort.

"This is a historic moment, and if we fail to take advantage of it, we'll be judged very poorly by history," Feuer said. "There is a realization that we can't miss this opportunity and we have a possibility of a highly interested voting base [in November]. I think if we miss it, we won't get it again, at least not for many years."

--Steve Hymon

Comments

[lsm]

Ginny-Marie Case -

Uhhh...Thanks for your kind invitation, but I believe you are confused. I never mentioned anything about families downtown; did you mean instead to invite Vira-bozo?

lsm

[Ginny-Marie Case]

Ism -

Uhhh...families are already downtown. Come on down, we'd love to have you!

[BOB2]

Antonio's stupid "price the carpool lane" idea is an idiotic Bush administration proposal, but he'll do anything to get money. So now he wants to hold the San Gabriel Valley hosatage and blackmial our elected officials over this and the Gold Line? I guess that's not a problem with Fasana, beause he's already sold us out on the "toll the carpool lane" stupididy. Maybe some of the other members of our Congressional, Assembly, and Senate delegation can show these incompetent MTA Board Members that they won't get away with blackmail?

[Dana Gabbard]

Very encouraging news.

Feuer should consider adding to the bill a 1.5 mile extension of the Green Line to serve a proposed Transit Center adjacent to the South Bay Galleria. For a relatively small investment would do a lot to boost Green Line ridership and also finally give it an anchor destination.

[LAofAnaheim]

The San Gabriel Valley has Metrolink and the I-10 busway. What does the Westside have?

[Leonard Pihlak]

Mayor Villaraigosa wants the SGV to chill over the toll lanes? Toll lanes are designed to discourage drivers from driving and to make them think about using public transportation. The problem with this is that the Gold Line doesn't exist east of the 605 so drivers don't really have any good public transit options. It seems like the MTA gave up $380 million in Gold Line funding to get $213 million in congestion pricing money.

We need the Gold Line and we need the Expo line. The Subway to the Sea would be a good idea except subways are too expensive. Let's just call it Light Rail to the Sea for now. I will vote for another half cent sales tax if it is 100% for construction and maintenance of new rail projects only. It seems that anytime we vote new money for something it winds up funding the old stuff with the money being shifted using government smoke and mirrors.

[lsm]

In "Two Years Before the Mast," Richard Henry Dana vividly described risking life and limb to slog ashore at San Pedro in the 1830s. Barely six decades later, we built a breakwater and developed a treacherous shore into one of the busiest ports in the world. This investment did not occur in the San Gabriel Valley, but picture the incredible economic and cultural benefits the San Gabriel Valley has reaped from this regional asset. Shortly after the turn of the last century, Los Angeles faced limited water supplies. In 1905 we decided to build an artificial river that allowed our region to boom. Beverly Hills, with its own wells, did not not need this water supply, but picture the benefits Beverly Hills reaped from the growth this regional asset allowed. By WWII, the sprawling Los Angeles metropolitan region choked in surface traffic. After the war, we built a regional freeway system which allowed us to maintain suburban lifestyles amidst urban amenities and--until overwhelmed a half century later by its success--was envied and copied around the globe. Palos Verdes lies nowhere near this regional freeway system, but picture the benefits Palos Verdes reaped from this regional asset.

These vital regional assets were not born immaculate. The San Pedro Breakwater sounded the death knell for the Port of Santa Monica and its Long Wharf. All who live in the Owens Valley and anyone who has seen "Chinatown" know the chicanery leading up to the LA Aquaduct. Today only the most myopic can miss the pitfalls of our freeway system. But despite the labor pangs of their births, these assets allowed us to grow as a region and contributed mightily to the economies and lifestyles of regional communities not immediately adjacent to them.

Just as yesterday we faced vital regional choices when we decided to build our harbor, our water supply and our freeway system, today we face vital choices about preserving our mobility as our regional population soars. Hopefully at this critical juncture, we will understand that developing the transportation infrastructure we need will by no means be immaculate, but is necessary. Further, we will also appreciate that to grow in our individual communities, we must invest in projects that do not immediately impact us. Although political compromises will not build the ideal transit system, we must make them to build a workable transit system. And although my taxes may not build the next slated transit project next to my home or work, they will build a system that will benefit me and my children and my grandchildren. We can no longer afford to threaten to kill our region by opposing a county sales tax unless our local community gets a local project built first.

[Vira-bozo]

We need to start moving our families closer to skid row and the destitute downtown. Mass transit should be only approved when it is costly and is abhorred by the local community. Enough of these inexpensive and logical mass transit infrastructure programs that run along major transit paths. If people in the 'other' valley want to go east or west, they can either walk, or pay to use the wealthy-lanes.

[Bronte]

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