If you followed our live-tweet @iwillride of last week’s Metro Budget and Finance Committee meeting, you would have known that the committee voted in favor of recommending to the Metro Board of Directors that the Gold Line Foothill Extension receive a $10 million increase in Measure R funding for 2010 – a substantial upgrade from the original $127,000 it was slated to receive. Hence the use of the word “Big” in the title.

If you’re wondering why the Metro Budget and Finance Committee recommended such a big increase for the Foothill Extension, one only has to look at where the $10 million is coming from. Metro staff has estimated the (somewhat-disputably low) first-year projection of Measure R revenue for 2010 to be $361 million. Of that total revenue, approximately $125 million will be dedicated to rail projects. Of that $125 million, Metro budgeted $97 million for specific rail projects, leaving an unallocated fund balance of $28 million. And that $28 million is where Supervisor Mike Antonovich proposed the additional $10 million for the Foothill Extension come from.

So it should be a simple task for Metro to approve about a third of its unallocated funds to the shovel-ready Foothill Extension right? Here’s hoping. A majority of the 13-member board must approve the proposal.

Look for a wave of yellow-gold shirts tomorrow at the MTA building, and join us while you’re at it! We encourage all supporters to come and speak their minds to the Metro Board of Directors.

The meeting takes place tomorrow at 9:30 AM in the Metro Board Room at the MTA building.

For those not attending, we’ll be covering the meeting (this never gets old) live on our Twitter feed @iwillride. You can also listen live by calling in at (213) 922-6045.

Here’s hoping.