Ramping up, July 23: sales tax vote looms

San Gabriel Valley officials still not happy

The Metro board votes Thursday on a proposal to put a half-cent sales tax increase on the November ballot in Los Angeles County. There may -- emphasis on may -- be enough yes votes on the board, but the San Gabriel Valley Council of Governments and the Gold Line Phase II Joint Powers Authority are both saying they're against the proposal as it's currently formulated.

The hang-up is money. Both of the above groups say the sales tax ordinance, as written, doesn't ensure that an extension of the Gold Line east of Pasadena will be fully funded in a timely fashion. "We want to know without any doubt that the project will be funded and it will be funded soon," La Verne Mayor Jon Blickenstaff told me yesterday.

The San Gabriel Vally interests may not be able to stop the Metro board from going forward, but they could have more juice with state legislators, who must pass a companion bill to allow the sales tax to happen. There is going to be a lot haggling today and likely to be a lot of amendments offered to the sales tax plan tomorrow. I'll post more later.

Congestion pricing gets an airing

The plan by Metro and Caltrans to convert the carpool lanes on parts of the 10 and 110 freeways to toll lanes goes before the California Transportation Commission this afternoon in downtown Los Angeles. If the CTC approves, then the plan must get approval of the Legislature. A few more details about the plan may burp out at today's hearing at the MWD building at 1 p.m. The 210 between Pasadena and the 605 could also get the carpool-lane-to-toll-lane treatment if Metro and Caltrans can find the funds to do it.

More green lights?

Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa is holding a presser this morning to announce that a bunch of traffic lights in the LAX area have been upgraded to a higher level of synchronization. That includes some big streets such as Manchester, La Cienega, Sepulveda, Imperial Highway and Century. The work was actually completed a while back, but now it's show time. Darryl Ryan, a Villaraigosa spokesman, cogently pointed out to me yesterday that synced lights work a lot better when motorists pay attention and drive the speed limit -- and not crawl along at 20 mph trying to figure out how that Bluetooth gadget works.

Google Maps offers walking directions

The walking directions are a supplement to the driving directions Google Maps already offers. Grist has a fun little item. I just asked Google maps to provide directions from my house to a nearby restaurant and the driving and walking directions were identical, even though there's a way to walk that's shorter than the driving route. That's why it's called the Beta version -- still needs some work under the hood, I believe.

Some links to recent Bottleneck Blog items

Loud chewers on the train

New 405 south to 101 interchange in the works

Bike activists take to the freeway

A decade of pedestrian deaths in the U.S.

Should Batman move to L.A.?

-- Steve Hymon

Comments

[Tom A.]

For what it's worth, Morgan, the I-10 corridor already has rail transit in Metrolink (different kettle of fish, I know, but hear me out). Do you really think the Downtown and Westside powerbrokers would sign off on a line that is, to the casual observer (i.e. the people holding the purse strings), redundant?

And the main reason our leaders are playing hardball with the tax hike bill is because of the powerbrokers' record with regard to following-through on SGV projects (Does the name "Pasadena Blue Line" ring any bells?). History clearly suggests that the people in charge (as well as a majority of the posters on this and other boards) would have absolutely no have no trouble sleeping at night if cases of air pollution related illness and death due to off-the-charts traffic congestion in the SGV (especially the northern portion) started skyrocketing.

Fool us once, etc., etc.

[Morgan Wick]

Meanwhile, I've just read the best argument yet for not building the Gold Line extention at all, and building along or near the 10 instead, and DTC,TTM has had some strong reasons before:
http://takethemetro.blogspot.com/2008/07/mike-antonovichs-funny-definition-of.html

The SGV pols who don't seem to know their own region better realize that delaying a sales tax increase only means increasing unpopularity for their little pork barrel project. So they better take what they can get now or they may find themselves with nothing in one or two years.

[Tony Fernandez]

Didn't the newest proposal include money to build the line to Azusa? That's not good enough? I really hope that there's more to the story, but right now it sounds like they are just completely unwilling to compromise.