The following article originally appeared in the June 21, 2013 print edition of the San Gabriel Valley Tribune.

Irwindale joins other cities’ dispute with Metro

Plan outdated, fails to show true cost, says letter

By Peter Fullam |  June 21, 2013

IRWINDALE >> The Irwindale City Council voted 5-0 Wednesday to authorize Mayor Julian A. Miranda to sign a letter the city is sending to the board of the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority expressing concern about how plans for the Gold Line Foothill Extension are being handled.

Irwindale is one of 13 cities in the San Gabriel Valley sending the letter, according to Mayor Pro Tem H. Manuel Ortiz, who gave the council a report on the Gold Line project.

The current plan is outdated and fails to reflect the desires of voters, the cities claim.

“The expenditure plan was put together in 2008,” says the letter. “Since then, extensive studies have been conducted on transit projects, however, information from those studies were not included in the plan.”

The 13 cities from South Pasadena to Ontario are part of a joint powers authority formed to extend the Gold Line light-rail train from the Sierra Madre Villa station in east Pasadena to Arcadia, Monrovia, Duarte, Irwindale, Azusa, Glendora, San Dimas, La Verne, Pomona, Claremont, Montclair and Ontario.

“The Foothill Extension project is an example of a project whose information should be updated in the plan,” says the letter.

“The amendment should reflect the true ‘estimated total cost’ of $1.714 billion to complete the project, the completion year should be updated, and the plan should include information related to the completion of the entire project and not just certain phases.”

The letter asks the board to find the plan unacceptable and instruct staff to write another one.

A spokeswoman for Metro said the board will take up the matter at its meeting June 27.