The following excerpt appeared in the San Gabriel Valley Tribune, Inland Valley Daily Bulletin, Pasadena Star-News and LA Daily News on March 10, 2023. To read the full article (may require subscription), click here.
State won’t release documents on battle for rail funds, keeping process hidden – San Gabriel Valley Tribune, Inland Valley Daily Bulletin, Pasadena Star-News and LA Daily News
Crews install relocated freight track at Fulton Road grade crossing in Pomona for the Gold Line (now L Line) extension from Glendora to Pomona on Feb. 10, 2022. The extension of the LA Metro light rail line is funded to Pomona. But not to Claremont and Montclair, as planned. :A Metro on Thursday, Dec. 1, applied to the state for $798 million to complete the line. It was one of three rail projects in an application being sent to Sacramento for funding out of a state budget surplus. But on Jan. 31, 2023, they were denied the grant. (image courtesy of the Metro Gold Line Foothill Extension Construction Authority)
By Steve Scauzillo
March 10, 2023
[excerpt]:
When pressed, CalSTA released a 2018 document that showed a group rating for five projects submitted by LA Metro that included the WSAB and the Gold Line to Montclair, plus three others: East San Fernando Valley Transit Corridor (ESFVTC), Green Line Extension to Torrance and the North Hollywood to Pasadena rapid bus line.
These projects received $1.1 billion in total, spread out over many years. The CalSTA group rating showed “high” marks for these projects, related to reducing greenhouse gases, increasing mass transit ridership, community benefits, coordination with other agencies and leveraging funding sources. The projects received “medium-high” marks for service integration and improving safety.
No ratings sheet was prepared for the Jan. 31, 2023 awards, said Marty Greenstein, CalSTA spokesman. However, the East San Fernando Valley Transit Corridor received $600 million in the recent cycle of state awards, the only one of three LA Metro projects that was funded.
The 2018 high marks for the five LA Metro projects, which received state funds four years ago, seemed to indicate that the projects, including the two rejected recently, were highly regarded by the state agency and that meeting some pre-set criteria for additional funding may not have been a factor.
…
Metro Foothill Gold Line Construction Authority CEO Habib Balian said his agency had not been told the reason why the [Foothill Gold Line from Pomona to Montclair] project was not funded.
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