Get a nice good look at that image above. Take your time. Print it. Analyze it. Maybe even write notes on it – that big green blob over New York has plenty space to write on, but not Los Angeles. See anything awfully wrong and off with that image?
The Metro Board of Directors did, and yesterday they held their monthly Board meeting – with one of its main focuses on a new federal funding agreement Metro is hoping to pursue with the U.S. Department of Transportation. Metro’s current federal funding agreement netted the agency $491 million for the construction of the Gold Line Eastside Extension (NOT Foothill Extension, just to clarify). And with the last batch of federal dollars from that agreement coming in this year, Metro has had its sights set on pursuing funds from the New Starts program for the Subway to the Sea and Regional Connector.
At yesterday’s meeting, Metro staff reported that the county faces the prospect of losing out on hundreds of millions of dollars from the federal government, starting in 2011, if they do not pursue any local rail projects for the New Starts program (at this point, the Metro Board had not formally recognized the Subway and Regional Connector as their choices). The comments that followed from the Board and staff were no less grim. Chairman Ara Najarian stated, “we are terribly underfunded as a region.” Using the old use-visuals-for-greater-effect method, Metro staff presented a map (see image above) of the FY2010 projection for New Starts funding throughout the nation – which saw many other (and some less populous) cities having federal funds that dwarfed the amount for Los Angeles County. Metro staff jokingly referred to the New Starts program as the “New York” program, seeing as the east coast region is set to receive nearly half of all the federal funds from New Starts. And in facing this situation, the Board unanimously voted to direct Metro CEO Art Leahy to pursue a federal funding agreement with the U.S. Department of Transportation to construct the Subway to the Sea and Regional Connector.
So now Chairman Najarian is going to send a few delegates to Washington to test the waters, and the county isn’t going to lose out on hundreds of millions of federal dollars right? This would’ve been an easy question to answer were it not for a small detail Metro staff had potentially used in error.
That error was brought to light at the meeting courtesy of a representative from Congresswoman Judy Chu’s office – who pointed out during public comment that Metro’s staff had given an unrealistic timeframe of 3 years to receive federal funding for the Subway and Regional Connector. In fact, it takes 7-10 years for rail projects from the beginning to receive federal money. Judy Chu’s office proposed Phase 2B (Azusa to Montclair) of the Foothill Extension as a project that is further ahead in the pipeline than the Subway or Regional Connector, and one that could receive federal funds in as soon as 5 years. Seeing as how the Foothill Extension has had much more Congressional work done on its behalf, this wouldn’t be surprising. Judy Chu’s office stated:
“We need a federal strategy that truly leverages the billions of dollars being raised by Measure R and gives the county the most bang for its buck. If the Gold Line Foothill and East Side extensions and Crenshaw Line are excluded from entering the federal process, myself and the rest of the local Congressional Delegation will very literally have our hands tied from helping meet our community’s transit needs.”
So our question before the meeting was: how is the Foothill Extension going to get its federal money? After the meeting, that question still stands. However, it was alluded to during the meeting that Metro would try to find other sources of federal money for the extension. We’ll see.
Three articles in Friday’s editions of the Los Angeles Times and the Los Angeles Daily News focused on the the Subway to the Sea and its federal funding status (status: unknown). Now we support the Subway to the Sea as much as your average West LA folk, so there’s no issue with the project itself. Mass transit options, whatever and wherever they are, are good. The whole county is in dire need of a legitimate public transit alternative to the congested freeways as well as freedom from the polluted air that comes with traffic snarls.
In one Los Angeles Timesreport, it was revealed that much of the federal stimulus money that California had received for transportation was going to “routine” projects – not toward projects that President Obama had hoped “would both be built quickly and achieve long-term goals such as reducing pollution and congestion.” Now if you’re a Foothill Extension supporter, you can’t help but read this and scream: Oh come on! The explanation for perhaps why the ready-to-go Foothill Extension was stymied and not put up for federal stimulus money can be found in this excerpt:
The Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority thought about applying for stimulus funds to stretch the Red Line light rail to the sea but scrapped the idea when officials realized the project couldn’t be completed in the timeline the president outlined, said David Yale, MTA’s deputy executive officer of regional programming.
“The president’s charge was to get the economy jolted, so we needed to identify projects that could move quickly and get out to bid quickly,” Yale said.
The Foothill Extension seems to fit that “charge,” seeing as how with the help of federal funding, the entire line to Montclair can be finished and operating by 2017. Not to mention the thousands of construction jobs that would come with it, the billions of dollars that would jolt the San Gabriel Valley economies, the reduction in congestion on the 210, and the improvements in air quality for millions of residents.
However, all is not lost, as a group of the Subway’s biggest supporters –including Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa and Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky – are urging “local governments to put aside their differences over planned transportation projects and launch a coordinated effort to secure enough federal stimulus dollars and matching funds to expedite the subway extension as well as other much-anticipated projects to be financed by Measure R, the county’s new transportation sales tax.” The list of projects they want to come along with the ride to the federal government?
Those include the Expo Line light-rail route from downtown to Santa Monica with a completion date in 2015, the Gold Line’s Foothill extension to perhaps Azusa by 2017 and a downtown light-rail line to connect the Blue, Gold and Expo lines by 2025.
Though we’re currently emphasizing the use of federal funds to build out these projects, remember that the revenue from Measure R’s half-cent sales tax increase is still slated to pay for the majority, but not all, of the cost of these lines. And with the Subway to the Sea doing its best roommate-who-raids-your-part-of-the-fridge-without-paying-their-fair-share impression, Supervisor Michael Antonovich’s office seems to be having none of it:
Tony Bell, spokesman for county Supervisor Michael D. Antonovich, said the subway extension will only serve three of the county’s 88 cities, all of which will be required to “foot the bill.”
“The residents of the San Fernando, San Gabriel, Santa Clarita and Antelope valleys will all be paying for a gold-plated, multi-billion dollar underground subway that will have no impact on our regional transportation crisis,” Bell said. “In fact, it will funnel money away from projects that will improve mobility on a regional basis.”
If you missed our live-tweet @iwillride of the Measure R and Economic Recovery Information Forum this past Saturday, below is a summary of the meeting and an update on the status of funding for the Foothill Extension that was recently sent out from the Construction Authority’s CEO, Habib Balian. You can still visit our Twitter page to go more in-depth into the conversations that took place at the forum.
There was also a video that was shown at the Measure R Forum entitled “Waiting.” Care to guess what it’s referring to? The video is pasted below and also contains a tune known to brighten your day.
On Saturday, Assemblymember Ed Hernandez and the San Gabriel Valley Legislative Caucus hosted a Measure R and Economic Recovery Information Forum where elected leaders – including Assemblymember Mike Eng, Mayors Joe Rocha of Azusa, John Fasana of Duarte and Cory Calaycay of Claremont, City Councilmembers Keith Hanks of Azusa (Construction Authority chair), Doug Tessitor of Glendora (JPA chair) and Sam Pedroza of Claremont – along with Construction Authority gubernatorial appointee Lara Larramendi and Ed Rendon of the Teamsters Joint Council 42 – outlined the economic and jobs benefits that the Gold Line and other Measure R projects will bring to the fastest-growing portion of Los Angeles County. Councilmember Uriel Macias from Azusa and Citrus College Trustee Sue Keith were also in attendance providing support. Along with presentations focused on Foothill Extension readiness, Caltrans projects, and Alameda Corridor East progress, there was a candid discussion and Measure R Delivery update by Metro’s new chief executive officer, Art Leahy.
Leahy emphasized the Foothill Extension is a priority for Metro but he did not commit to when the funds will flow. “We are duty bound, honor bound, to do the project,” Leahy told the nearly 100 people in attendance at the Azusa Senior Center. He also recognized there is a rift between the Westside and San Gabriel Valley leaders and pledged to work to build consensus on the long-range plan.
Metro is currently analyzing financial data to determine how and when it will fund the projects promised to voters in the November ballot initiative. The board will discuss its finances and planning this Thursday (special board meeting on the budget), May 20 (public hearing on the budget and long-range plan) and May 28 (general board meeting). There is no Measure R Oversight Committee meeting in May.
Lastly, you may have heard some news that the Gold Line received federal stimulus package funding. The news refers to funding provided to the Eastside Extension, not the Foothill Extension. The Eastside Extension is scheduled to open in about a month. As we confirmed this morning, so-called “New Starts” stimulus rail funding went to projects currently in the federal grants stage. Had Metro included the Foothill Extension in its previous attempts at updating Long Range Transportation Plan and committed a small amount of funding, we would have been positioned to compete. As it stands today, our efforts are focused on securing Metro’s commitment of Measure R funding in 2010; this means revenue service to Azusa in 2013. The Extension is guaranteed to receive at least $735 million to help us build the line to Claremont by 2017. The total project cost from Pasadena to Montclair is $1.2 billion.
“YOU’RE stuck in the gridlock known as the Foothill (210) Freeway. It’s a weekday morning and as you inch across the Duarte/Monrovia border, you realize the nearest train line is still miles away in east Pasadena. Still, you dream of a better way to get to work.
One day, someday, that train will reach here, you think, and when that day comes you’ll be on it. You envision one of those signs that says: ‘If you ride the Gold Line, you’d be there by now.’”
If those words meant something to you, that’s probably because you live in the San Gabriel Valley.
On Wednesday, the Pasadena Star-News and San Gabriel Valley Tribune welcomed the announcement of new Metro chief Art Leahy in an editorial that was filled with hope that the Foothill Extension may finally get built, but, well-grounded in reality, knowing that the MTA has failed on several occasions to put money behind the line.
For instance, the editorial reminded readers and commuters that soon-to-be-ex-Metro CEO Roger Snoble, the San Gabriel Valley/Gold Line riding resident, last fall “gave us a song and dance about a Foothill Extension not being very feasible” and suggested that the heavier and less-frequently-running Metrolink service “swing into the foothill cities.” The paper didn’t fall for that.
Overall, the editorial gives Mr. Leahy the benefit of the doubt, based on his ability to “smooth territorial battles” while at the Orange County Transportation Authority. He was able to get projects built using Measure M transportation tax dollars. San Gabriel Valley representative on the Metro board, John Fasana, has high praise for Leahy, but even he is holding breath, reserving judgment to see if Metro begins to fund projects that are ready to go next year or continue to focus on those that will be ready to go decades from now. “Time will tell,” Fasana said.
Ken Alpern, the Co-chair of the Los Angeles City Council District 11 Transportation Advisory Committee (which covers the Westside of Los Angeles), wrote in an article on City Watch LA:
“At this time, the only “shovel-ready” rail project is the Foothill Gold Line to Azusa, and I hope the county supports it not only to free up funds for other projects, but to encourage growth outside City of Los Angeles limits and to encourage shorter commuting for Inland Empire residents to work and school in the San Gabriel Valley instead of always having to go Downtown and the Westside.”
