Metro's new spending plan for proposed sales tax hike

I got my paws on a copy of Metro's new spending plan for the proposed half-penny sales tax in Los Angeles County. It hasn't been released publicly and on the mass transit side contains some key changes to satisfy all the different interests across the sprawling county.

The big one involves rail, with $735 million going to an extension of the Gold Line from Pasadena to Azusa. That's a bump of almost $150 million from the earlier version and is meant to appease officials in the San Gabriel Valley who have been complaining the sales tax would not give them their fair share. Gold Line extension officials have said it would only cost $420 million to get the line to Azusa, so this could theoretically be enough money to take the Gold Line father toward its goal of reaching Claremont.

In return, the Expo Line is pretty much guaranteed it would get $925 million for its second phase from Culver City to Santa Monica. And subway extension funding remains the same at almost $4.1 billion -- enough local money to perhaps get the line to Westwood.

There's also a provision that would make it more difficult for the Metro board to tear up the plan or revise it later. That was a key request by San Gabriel Valley officials.

The big loser in the plan is the downtown connector light rail to connect the gold line, blue line and future expo line. It would get $160 million from the sales tax, down from $758 million in an earlier version of the plan. The $1.3-billion project is now going to have to get the bulk of its money from the federal government, with state money thrown in.

Metro chief Roger Snoble is chatting with the press about the plan this afternoon at 2 p.m. I plan to be there and will post something later.

What remains to be seen is whether this is the deal that allows state legislators and the Metro Board to agree on a spending plan. If so, it could lead both bodies to pass legislation to get the half-penny hike on the ballot in L.A. County in November -- when a huge turnout is expected because of the presidential election.

-- Steve Hymon

Comments

[Tony Fernandez]

Sheba, I can understand why you're angry about tax rates. But the problem is not the MTA. Locally, we have to build the system ourselves because the state will not pay for anything with its huge budget deficit and the federal government still favors road projects over all else. We have to tax ourselves if we want anything done.

If you want to see where the problem is, don't look to our county, look to the state who is going to pay its employees minimum wage until the can get a budget done.

[Sheba]

Don't you think our sale tax is high enough? Politician keep increasing our sales tax & other taxes as well to keep spend, spend & spend, businesses are leaving because our high taxes, worker comp. insurance, minium wages & everything else. Unemployment is 6.9% ---- 5th highest in The Nation national average is 5.5% and it not an coincident. if we want to stay employed, we all should tell our politicians to stop increasing taxes & borrowing money, the extra money goes to MTA will not do much good, mostly wasteful spending, management is top heavy, save your money & save our economy, if it goes on the NOV. ballot, VOTE NO!

[Aaron]

Kyle: The problem is that the placement for the Gold Line extension is so bizarre that there's no serious reason to think that ridership on it will be high enough to justify the line to start with - this is a financial hostage crisis, with the rest of the county being held hostage at the cost of SGV's porkbarrel ransom.

Given current data, there's no reason to think that the driver in Claremont is going to use the Gold Line at all.

[Kyle]

Jerard, I understand it could be very useful to people who do a lot of transferring, and from a planning standpoint it makes intuitive sense. I'm just saying that for people in Claremont who want to get to Pasadena, the only option is to drive. When it comes down to giving people the option to get out of their cars and take rail vs making rail that is currently available more convenient, I chose new rail. I think that both sound good, but given this climate I don't see why it is such a travesty that the gold line gets prioritized funding. Like it or not the SGV does have some concerns, and anyone who has seen the 210 during rush hour knows that its capacity in the future is severely limited.

[Dan Wentzel]

"Well it sucks that the very important Downtown connector is getting short shrift, but I suspect it has the best odds of getting significant federal and state funding."

---------------

We absolutely need the downtown regional connector. However, Simon makes a good point. The sales tax cannot be our only source of funding. Being that the DRC will be benefit everyone generally, if no one specifically, all of Los Angeles' congressmembers, on both sides of the aisle, should work together to find federal funding for it.

Also, Dana brought up an interesting point about possibly there being high speed rail funds available for that connector.

In any event, the compromise, while still disappointing to me without the DRC, is still far better than doing nothing and I will enthusiastically support and vote for the sales tax increase.

[Jerard]

Kyle,

Let me break down the importance of the Regional Connector.

Imagine travelling on the freeway and all the freeways end downtown.(Current LRT lines). Therefore all the traffic converges and moves through the local streets (Red/Purple lines) turning those into virtual highways. However when those freeways can travel through Downtown quickly and more efficiently it improves the capacity of the local streets (Red/Purple lines) for the needed improvements and extension to the other areas of the region.

Depending on the time of day travel times would improve with the Regional Connector by as much as 20-45 minutes. 20 minutes is for the removal of the transfers during rush hour and 45 minutes is if connections are missed at night. That means a lot of riders that would have used the system had that nighttime connection was a lot smoother and easier.

[Simon]

Well it sucks that the very important Downtown connector is getting short shrift, but I suspect it has the best odds of getting significant federal and state funding.

If something had to get sacrificed, this is the most politically viable choice, the line whose disappearance will not cause any "no" votes while the gold line can create many vital "yes" votes.

It's an example of politics screwing up sound policy, but this bill is so vitally needed and the projects so absurdly important that I'd much rather have a bill that can pass and do five good things than a bill that can't pass and would've been better planned.

[Kyle]

Tony, I have had a couple of tightly packed red line rides recently (to the point that getting riders on at pershing square and civic center was nearly impossible), but I have never felt the entrance points or the area around the blue line platform to be so crowded that it impeded getting around.

Transit Booster, extending rail options to places that currently do not have them seems more important than saving people who already have rail options a couple of minutes in transfer time. I can understand why the connector would be useful (thanks for bringing up the expo line), but I feel if we are talking about necessities the gold line extension is on equal footing with the downtown connector.

[transit booster]

Kyle,

You have some good points.

On the reasons for the Downtown Connector, you have to consider that the Eastside Gold Line and Expo lines will come on line within 2.5 years, which the Downtown Connector would link together as well.

With the Downtown Connector if someone wants to go from Staples Center to Little Tokyo (with the Eastside Gold Line) or Chinatown it would take about 12-15 minutes or so. Without the Downtown Connector, it will take at least double that because one would need to transfer twice. At that point many people just give up and drive. Basically everyone traveling through Downtown on the Gold Line, the Blue Line, the Expo Line, and the Eastside Gold Line will be affected by not having a Downtown Connector so that is quite a large number of people.

Not sure if the station crowding at 7th Street Metro Center is a real reason for this, but realize when the Expo Line opens there will be that much more pressure on this station as that is the terminus of the Expo Line without a Downtown Connector.

Overall, my take on this is that the SGV state senators are holding up letting LA County voters vote on this, because they know the Gold Line extension does not add up on the ridership numbers when compared to other potential projects in LA County, so in order to ensure they get this to the top of the list they are playing the "we aren't getting our fair share" and if we don't get exactly what we want regardless of the effectiveness of it, we are not going to allow a vote. The facts say otherwise, but in politics as long as they can get away with it they are going to use that.

[Tony Fernandez]

I don't know how you can have gone through the 7th street station during rush hour and say that it is not crowded. Think about this. You will have two light rail lines at Union Station - Gold Line and Eastside Extension, and two light rail lines at 7th street - Expo and Blue Line. The Blue Line has about 90,000 people a day and the Expo Line will really increase that. Think about all of the people from East LA who maybe want to go to Exposition Park or Culver City, or people in Pasadena who want to go to Long Beach. That transfer adds a lot of time to the commute (and don't forget about the extra expense if you don't have a Day Pass or Monthly Pass). The Downtown Connector will also go through Bunker Hill and the Financial District and the future Grand Ave. project. That's a lot of people for whom rail would be a lot more convenient if rail was more accessible.

[John]

As I feared, Metro caved to SGV politicians who wished to extract their 735 million pounds of flesh from the long range transit budget. The best we can hope with this concession is that it sates the beast of regional politics long enough for transit planners and people who care about our region’s economic future to get behind the eight ball on setting the region’s transit priorities. For the time being, the best we can hope for is to contain the damage done by regional developers and the politicians who serve them.

It’s sad though to think of the other projects the San Gabriel Valley will be deprived of because of this short-sighted money grab, such as:

1) Single-transfer connections to the Westside.

2) A Light-Rail Extension from Downtown to Temple City via Alhambra/San Gabriel.

3) Conversion of the El Monte Busway to Light Rail and extension to Covina.

4) Streetcar connecting Azusa, Glendora, Covina, West Covina, La Puente, and Hacienda Heights to one another as well as Covina Metrolink.

[Kyle]

As someone who lives in the SGV, commutes to downtown via metrolink, uses the 7th st. metro station every day, lived on the Westside for 3 years while in school (commuting to downtown for 2 of those years) I have been following this blog a while and watched with intrigue as this whole regional battle has unfolded. My thoughts:

1) The Westside extension is by far the most important project in terms of ridership. I leave out of Montclair in the morning, and the foothill transit buses to Pasadena always seem to have low ridership. Compare this to the Westside into downtown, where the 720 and 920 run busses at a rate of at least 3 buses every ten minutes going west and at least 2 of them are standing room only. It is simply a fact that the SGV does not need rail nearly as much as the Westside. I think we should have both, but the SGV people need to stop trying to hold a line that is needed now with a line that would be useful in the future.

2) What is the big deal with the downtown connector from a ridership standpoint? The transfer from the gold line to the red line is no different than from the metrolink to the red line, and I can tell you that has not slowed anyone down from taking the San Bernardino line on the metrolink. Is it really that bad to be delayed 10 minutes by transferring? The connector only seems necessary if there is a large group of people who want to go from the gold line to the blue line, but are there really enough riders for that to justify the cost. Are there really a lot of people who desire to go light rail from Long Beach to Pasadena, but refuse because they have to make a couple of transfers?

3) I go through the 7thst. metro station and I don’t know what anyone means by it being too crowded, or how the downtown connector is supposed to change this. Seriously, the station is huge, has multiple exits and I have never had any problem navigating.

[Tommy]

@ Tony

You seem to be confusing necessesity with convenience. There is already a completely grade-separated connection between the Gold Line and the Blue Line. I acknowledge that the current connection is not convenient, but it does already exist. Whereas, the westside currently does not have a rapid transit mode. Neither do the Crenshaw corridor or the 405 corridor. Those projects are NECESSARY. The San Gabriel Valley folks will not support the sales tax increase without a Gold Line extension, so that means we've got to lose something. Given the other options, the downtown connector is the least important.

[transit booster]

Tom A., I know the politicians and newspapers of the San Gabriel Valley consistently say that all the political power in transportation is on the Westside and the SGV always comes away with so little, but if you look at the facts that is simply not true.

The SGV has numerous Metrolink stations and the Gold Line. Also, taxpayers have funded carpool lanes on the 210 and 10 freeways. Compare this to the Westside where there is no rail, no Metrolink, and only a partial carpool lane on one freeway with none on the SM Freeway, which is one of the busiest freeways not only in the US, but the entire planet. This despite, the Westside being the number one job center for So. Cal. and having the most traffic congestion of any region.

Also, the Pasadena Star opinion piece is not very accurate when they say that 80% of the cost of the Gold Line extension would have been funded by the federal government without question. No SoCal transit project has ever had more than a 50% funding match, and it is not likely that a light-rail extension with just 10,000 riders would get more. If the federal match is in the bag, then why with this sales tax does it suddenly not exist? You can't have it both ways.

Also, at what point does building a system that will be utilized most efficiently come into play? The Gold Line has a small ridership, partially because it does not have proper connections so instead of addressing that issue we are just compounding the negative by extending it the other direction. How does that make sense?

Finally, consider this. The Westwood station on the proposed subway extension is expected to have well over 20,000 boardings just in that one station. That is twice what the entire Gold Line extension to Azuza is expected to carry in total...

I'm not saying the Gold Line should not be extended, but to say it should be at the top of the list and that the SGV has got nothing over the years is just way way over the top.

[Tom A.]

Morgan:

Since when are our politicians powerful? At the June board meeting, we had basically been told to either drive an hour in traffic to get to the Gold Line's East Pasadena terminus, drive a half hour south to get on the higher-fared Metrolink San Berdoo Line, or pound sand.

Instead of complaining about us getting a fair or unfair share of transit dollars for our region, why don't we complain about the fact that the Metro BOD is blatantly stacked in the favor of Downtown and the Westside in terms of numbers and allegiances?

http://www.pasadenastarnews.com/opinions/ci_9872102

[Tony Fernandez]

Tommy, I don't think you realize just how important the Downtown Connector is. I guess you've never been to the 7th Street/Metro Center station. It's always congested and it's a hassle to make a connection there during rush hour if you're going through the throngs of people.

Then there's the maintenance issue. The maintenance yard for the Gold Line is near Elysian Park and it is not very big. The problem will become much more evident once the Eastside Extension opens. From what I hear, some trains need to be shipped to the Blue Line maintenance yard, making that maintenance so much more difficult/expensive.

Also, one of the most important factors affecting ridership on a rail line is connections. The Gold Line does not have very many easy connection (bad station placement), so it has pretty low ridership. The most important transfer is downtown, and right now, to continue on south requires two transfers. Not very easy or convenient. Making that connection easier would make ridership go up on all of our lines.

The Downtown Connector not necessary? Obviously it is.

[Richard]

I guess I'm the only one excited about the news for the Gold line. I am in the SGV and our options are getting cut left and right! There used to be 4 lines that would run in my neighborhood, now, there's only 1!

The regional connector is something we desperately need! I wouldn't mind paying even more in sales tax if I knew the money was going to transit projects!

Bring on the tax hikes!

[Tommy]

I'm not sure why there's so much negativity being thrown around about this compromise. What would you rather have - a spending plan without a downtown connector or no spending plan at all? The downtown connector, while nice, is not necessary. The Red/Purple line already connects the Gold line to the Blue line. Granted, it's not really convenient, but it sure beats a bus connection. And let's face it, the downtown connector is not nearly as politically popular as the westside rail/subway or the Gold Line extension. So again, I think this is probably the best compromise we could hope for.

[Dan Wentzel]

What's sad is that the downtown regional connector isn't a parochial project. It's needed for the whole system.

However, no politician can claim a parochial victory if it happens. It benefits the whole system tremendously, but it doesn't benefit a regional area specifically. Therefore, it gets the short shrift. This is SAD.

[Craig Bowers]

I'd like to congratulate the SGV for hijacking the funds for a project that makes LITTLE sense from a ridership standpoint. The Downtown Connector is an ESSENTIAL piece of transportation infrastructure for the City of Los Angeles. Hopefully the Feds realize this under a new administration.

Another sad day for Los Angeles transit...

[Morgan Wick]

Okay, Metro needs to shake up how it's run NOW if the second- or third- most important project, upon which all the others rest, is getting held hostage by the LEAST important, pork barrel project that only benefits powerful north SGV politicians and isn't even the best solution - or A solution - for the SGV. Tell Metro not to let these lunatics screw up LA's transit system.

[transit booster]

This is politics at its worst. The Dowtown Connector actually has the highest score in relation to increased ridership vs. cost and is likely Metro's most important project, because the current light rail lines are not linked together resulting in time consuming transfers that discourage ridership. Just think if you built several freeways that almost ran through each other, but didn't build an interchange to actually connect them all.

The reason why the Gold Line is Metro's least ridden line right now is because it is not connected well into downtown. By extending the line east and leaving this out it will continue to suffer poor ridership and the Expo, Blue, and Eastside Gold lines will also suffer.

Because the Dowtown Connector is not a pet project of politicians, it gets the axe even though it would help the system the most. Certainly not the way to build a world class transit system, and it just compounds the mistakes of the past. Very shortsighted and disappointing.

[Tony Fernandez]

Great, the project that would up ridership enormously on all lines and would make maintenance a lot easier (especially for those Gold Line trains) is getting the shaft. Well, I hope Metro can find the money for that project anyway; if there's any project that needs to be built right after Expo is finished, its' the Downtown Connector.

[Dana Gabbard]

Maybe the regional connector could receive funds from the slice of the bullet train bonds dedicated to connecting rail services if that passes in November. That could be a hunderd million or so.