Afternoon reading in the transpo-sphere

Longtime bicycling advocate Dennis Crowley dies

Crowley was well-known in the Pasadena area, where he pushed the city to adopt a bicycle master plan. I don't have much in the way of details, but the Pasadena Star-News has a small item on its website saying it was a heart attack. I met him in 2003 at ArroyoFest, the event where the Pasadena Freeway was closed for a few hours on a Sunday morning for pedestrians and cyclists. Without looking up my notes, I recall two things he told me: the first was that he would like to see the old cycleway between Pasadena and L.A. rebuilt.  The other was his hope that, at the least, a good bike trail between Pasadena and L.A. could be built along the Arroyo Seco. He envisioned people biking downtown -- it's downhill -- then using the Gold Line as a "ski lift" to get them back up the hill.

Researchers say you want tolls

The National Cooperative Highway Research Program says they've done the polling and that "our study indicates that in the aggregate there is a clear majority support for tolls and road pricing." The report is a little on the dry side.

Steamed at the San Gabriel Valley Tribune

The paper's recent editorial says the proposed sales tax in Los Angeles County doesn't provide the Valley its fair share because it doesn't include any money to extend the Gold Line from Montclair to Ontario airport.

Here's the meatiest sentence: "In June, when the MTA board said "no" to seed money for the 24.1-mile foothill extension of the Gold Line, we watched in disbelief. But much worse, the MTA also let federal dollars slip away. It was as if Antonio Villaraigosa wadded up $320 million in cash and threw it out the window of L.A. City Hall."

I'll add a couple of small factual points: the current Gold Line ends in Pasadena -- 25 miles or so shy of Montclair and perhaps it's a good idea to get it there first. Also, the federal government has yet to commit any dollars to the extension of the Gold Line from Pasadena.

Blogger who has seen it all sees something worse

Subway blogger in the Big Apple blogs today about the grossest thing he's ever seen on the subway. Warning: there's a tad of coarse language and the deviant act involves fingernails.

Really, it takes a lot to make my skin crawl.  However, this put me over the edge.

--Steve Hymon

Comments

[Rob Joyner]

Ok... hold on a sec. If I understand this correctly, the funds appropriated in AB 2321 are only allocated to the Foothill construction authority if and only if the MTA includes the Foothill extension to Azuza on it Long Range Transportation Plan, which the MTA has refused to do twice recently, to the dismay and disbelief of the SGV.

The MTA would have to commit $80 million of "matching" funds, while the federal government is authorized to provide up to $320 million to build and operate the line, according to H.R. 1195, sponsored by Rep. Adam Schiff of Pasadena, and signed into law June 6th of this year.

There are no funds as of now to build and operate the extension, since being omitted from that Long Range Transportation Plan.

If the MTA included that extension on their long range plan, that $320 million from a "possible" increase in sales tax called for in the state bill could have been used elsewhere in the county, since the FTA could have matched funds instead.

Since the MTA Board is unwilling to include the Foothill Extension in the LRTP and commit to $80 million in matching funds, regardless that the extension is funded by either federal $$$ or state legislature proposed county sales tax increase(which voters may not approve, BTW), the SGV loses out not once, but twice. That is why the SGV Tribune editorial board is upset.

[Dana Gabbard]

The July 2nd revision of AB 2321 (per www.leginfo.ca.gov) includes "(iv) Metro Gold Line (Pasadena to Azusa) Light Rail Transit Extension. The sum of three hundred twenty-eight million dollars ($328,000,000)." So much for the complaints of fair share.

The San Gabriel Valley folks are trapped in a hall of mirrors of their own making born of a dysfunctional political culture. Local funds for a Gold Line extension to Azusa is a better deal than chasing illusionary federal earmarks. Hopefully they will finally see the deal being offered is a good one.