One day, bitches: the future of the Los Angeles Metro

Then I look forward to it!

although, im confsued, in the article and metros website, there seems to be use of terms like light rail, rail transit, subway etc interchangeably. what exactly is this thing? the pics of the gold line etc make it look like a tram, but does it go underground? do different lines have different types of transport on?

I thought the implication was that they're not so much a genuine bus users group as an anti-public-transportation group that used divisive accusations of racism as a means to squash any subway plans.

I too was confused by the mish-mash of terminology. I think light rail generally describes above-ground trains (but small subway-like trains, not big Amtrack type trains) and subways are obviously underground. Rail transit seems like a generic term that encompasses all of the above. But it sounds like the main issue is the route from east to west (along Wilshire) which pretty much has to be a subway.

it would be awesome

Busses although a necessity, were dirty, smelly things both inside and out; belching smog and particulates into our otherwise clear ocean-cooled air. I say a necessity, because how else would the maid get to our house?? They lived in “bad” neighborhoods that we would not be caught dead entering… Literally, or so I thought, when I was 8. Bad people would shoot you on sight and take your car if you ventured to wherever the maid lived. “Those People” were all in gangs and hated white people like me and my family and friends. Everyday, The big RTD bus brought domestic help to the corner of Sunset and Kenter, where all the moms lined up in their Mercedes’ to pickup Estella and Maria to drive them up into the hills to the house to clean. It was just part of the events of the day, much like shopping, lunch at the club and picking up the kids from school.

Then when I was 9, I grew up a little. It all began when I started asking why. Why, if Those People were so horrible, untrustworthy and killers, why did we allow them into our home? I continued to question, grow up, and began to realize that tiny minded thinking keeps you in a tiny (but pretty and well appointed) box. The box is within a wrought iron fence in a neighborhood that gets smaller and smaller as the “bad element” encroaches. You can lock yourself away in fear until you disappear or you are overtaken by real life and all the nasty, ugly things that are included; and all the really amazingly wonderful things that are real life. I now call my parents “Those People”. They lived in a tiny world consumed by fear.

I also live in fear. Fear of subways in Los Angeles, CA. Why? Not because of the people who ride inside them or any havoc they may bring into my world; but because of something much more powerful. The earth itself. Our city is riddled with faults and a subway is just a BAD idea. .

Earthquake faults, natural gas pockets everywhere, bad construction, bad planning, bad materials and a sparking tube with hundreds of people in it all lead to tragedy IMO. Not a good combination. (hello?! Tar pits?! Oh, those bubbling smelly things. Exploding corner at Fairfax and 3rd? Natural Gas, gee whiz!) Beverly Hills is a wealthy place. Not just the addresses and the people who inhabit, but the real estate-underground. The city sits on vast amounts of crude that if tapped could bring down the cost of gasoline, heating, etc. in California to affordable levels. However it’s just not gonna happen for so many reasons. We just keep buying it from them guys in Middle-eastern nations and funding their terrorist activities so they can thank us for our support by building bombs to nuke us with.

Aboveground Rail? Now you’re talking. Too bad we just tore up Santa Monica Boulevard and pulled out the rail road tracks that ran down the middle… or didn’t you guys know that was why there was a big and little Santa Monica Boulevard in the first place. Short-timers I guess. It would have been so much cheaper and easier to unbury the existing tracks. Ahem... yes, they were there until about 5 years ago big parts of the tracks were paved right over the top. Just would have had to refurbish the small areas of tracks that needed it, and put some cars on the rails. Presto! an instant rail line ready to go a "people mover" to be reckoned with running from Westwood to downtown. Instead, we decided to make the street more efficient to help out the congested traffic problem and went right ahead and ripped that old ugly rail thing right out of the ground. Ripped it up by the mile and trucked it out to the scrap heap in City of Commerce to be melted into more shiny new cars! (like we did when Goodyear rubber paid the city and its officials huge amounts of money and “paved the way” to keep us chained to our cars). Hmmm. Does anybody get it? I don’t think so. It’s not just NIMBY, my friends. This fish stinks from the head down. There won’t be a Los Angeles rail Metro anytime soon, Bitches. Not one of you has looked beyond your noses. Can you say “Follow the Money”?

henry waxman is an ugly, large-nostriled fucktard now and forever for doing this - FUCK YOU!!!

OH NOES, NEGROES AND BROWNINOS!!

the westside line would be reality now if he wasn't such a prick, sorry :(

day late/dollar short doesn't really begin to describe the damage done to this great city

what's the latest on this mythical expansion of the metro???

If a line west on Wilshire happens in the next 15 years, I will be extremely surprised.

Damnit, I miss the east coast and its public transit.

from the iron horse's mouth:

http://www.metro.net/news_info/default.htm

Full Long Range Plan here -- page 27 provides a basic map.

apparently the mid-city part of the extension will be done by 2010.

http://www.metro.net/projects_programs/exposition/default.htm

Fucking hell. LA County Board of Supervisors wins again...

Metro's efforts to get a half-cent tax increase on the November ballot that could've brought in tens of billions of dollars for transit and roads, and helped fund the Subway to Sea, look mostly dead after a 3-2 vote against it by the LA County Board of Supervisors, reports the Los Angeles Times' Garrett Therolf. County Registrar Recorder Dean Logan said the MTA must now pay up to $10 million for a special second ballot on election day or ask a court to force the measure onto the existing Nov. 4 ballot. You can thank two anti-tax Republicans, Mike Antonovich and Don Knabe, and myopic Democrat Gloria Molina, for this move. Molina was convinced her Eastside district wouldn't see enough pay-off in the end. UPDATE: The LA Times' transit blogger Steve Hymon, writes the MTA is already in the process of gathering lawyers. "We are going to sue," Rick Jager, an MTA spokesman, tells Hymon. UPDATE: The subway could still be voted on in November.

or they could use that $10 million to actually help fund the subway

Jesus fucking christ

Update: Subway to Sea Still Could Go Up For November Vote
Tuesday, August 5, 2008, by Dakota
First, an aide to one of the County Supervisors tells LA Observed the LA Times "played the story wrong" regarding the board's failure today to back that proposed sales tax to fund the Subway to Sea. For those just catching up, it was reported today that the board voted not to back a sales tax that would help fund numerous transit projects, including the planned Subway to the Sea. But the aide tells LAObserved: "Voters WILL still vote on the sales tax issue. It will just be a separate ballot that voters will get during the same election." "This was all clearly explained at the meeting today." The headline and story on the home page of the Los Angeles Times remains, but another reporter, Steve Hymon, has updated his blog post to add this paragraph: "The supervisors’ failure to muster a simple majority to place the proposal on the Nov. 4 ballot does not kill the measure, but makes it more complicated and more costly. If the Legislature gives its blessing — a bill to authorize the measure goes before a key committee Thursday — county election officials would create a separate “conditional” ballot that general election voters would also consider." The office of dissenting Supervisor Gloria Molina backed that up, telling Curbed that the decision to have a second ballot is currently being hammered out. (The Daily News' story is out: "Still, the 3-2 vote won't stop it from going before voters Nov. 4 - but now the county will have to spend up to $3 million to print it on a separate ballot."

Molina's press deputy, Roxane Marquez added: "The Board did not approve of [the sales tax] being on the same ballot [as the one with the other initiatives]... The Board of Supervisors is not going to rubber stamp a decision because they feel they don't have a choice." Marquez said Molina did not approve of how the ballot initiative was put together, calling it "backroom dealings." When asked if this was political bickering, she said that "one person's bickering is another person's negotiating."

Filed under Los Angeles, County Board Of Supervisors, Subway To The Sea
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guest
Way to go GloMo! Cost the tax payers more money and make the ballot more confusing, so you can grandstand. You are a true public servant

Comment #1, left at 08/05/08 04:48 PM.
Reply to this.
One Wag
I've said it so many times, even I am tired of hearing myself. For an economy the size and power of Los Angeles County to be run by only 5 people verges on criminal.

We should absolutely expand the LA County Board of Supervisors to at least 9 if not 15. LA CITY has 15 councilmembers, fer cryin out loud. The current concentration is a recipe for patronage, corruption and neglect. THATS something that should be on the ballot come November...and every election till it's done.

Gloria is doing this because she's still mad Zev killed her Red Line Eastside expansion. Fuck her and Antonobitch - but I expected nothing better from him or the other Republican...

...seriously, how do we get away from the influence of these egregious, narrow-minded assholes? He is always re-elected since he represents the suburbs and the valleys, and they of course are NIMBY-everything ..Antonobitch has destroyed the county for decades

He has been ruining us since 1980. I think his re-election is again this year and it's time to at least vote him out

This thing is definitely going to get killed if it's on a separate ballot. I mean how is it ever going to get the 2/3rds it needs....50% maybe, but 2/3rds... tragic

Mayor responds to today's sales tax vote

Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa just released this letter he's sending to the County Board of Supervisors, who earlier today refused to put the half-cent sales tax for transit and road projects on the November ballot:

Honorable Supervisors:

I am writing to urge you to reconsider your vote today regarding the countywide
half cent transportation sales tax approved for the November 4, 2008 ballot by
the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) Board of
Directors last month. Specifically, I am urging that you place the MTA measure
on a consolidated ballot on November 4, 2008.

There is simply no legitimate basis for failing to consolidate the November ballot.
No matter how you cut it, the taxpayers and voters will be the ultimate losers if
the Board refuses to place the MTA measure on the general election ballot.

Either the taxpayers will be stuck with costly legal bills resulting from the MTA's
litigation against the County on this matter, or the taxpayers will be on the hook
for an additional $3 million required to run a confusing dual-ballot election in
November - which would create a logistical nightmare certain to disenfranchise
untold thousands of County voters.

I think we all agree that our long-term transportation needs require significant
public investment in mass transit alternatives. The MTA sales tax measure is a
down payment toward the many transit and highway improvements this County
needs to support our economy, our environment, the needs of the transit
dependent and an overall high quality of life for the people we represent.

The people of Los Angeles County should have the right to decide for
themselves whether they want to invest in their future. And the most transparent
and cost-effective way to do that is through a consolidated November 4, 2008
ballot.

I am optimistic that you will reconsider your vote and consolidate the MTA
measure with November's general election ballot.

Sincerely,

ANTONIO R. VILLARAIGOSA
Mayor

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/bott...yor-respo.html

Okay so she abstained...for what? To pout that the Eastside is getting rejected ? Cry me a river

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

In an unexpected move that was a 3-2 vote, the LA County Board of Supervisors rejected putting the sales tax increase on November's ballot. Michael Antonovich and Don Knabe voted against the measure with Gloria Molina abstaining.

"Talk about opponents shooting themselves in the foot: With no sale tax there's no Eastside extension past Atlantic for Gloria Molina, no Foothill Gold Line for John Fasana and Mike Antonovich, and no increase in operating funding for the BRU's supporters," said green blogger Darrell Clarke, who expanded his thoughts on a post, in an e-mail to LAist.

Molina, who abstained said the proposal is a "nice concocted scheme... And every single and every step of the way it has made arrangements at how they were going to get more for one side of town versus the other side." She, who represents communities around East LA, is referring to the Westside's "Subway to the Sea" and Expo Line Phase II projects.

Okay let's look at the childish reasons here.

"Little choo-choo," did she really say that?

Board of Supervisors votes against putting transit sales tax on ballot
Updated: 3:50 p.m.

Illustrating how politically difficult it is to tackle traffic in Los Angeles County, transportation officials were caught by surprise today when the Board of Supervisors failed to back a proposed sales tax increase that may raise up to $40 billion for road and transportation projects.

The supervisors’ failure to muster a simple majority to place the proposal on the Nov. 4 ballot does not kill the measure, but makes it more complicated and more costly. If the Legislature gives its blessing — a bill to authorize the measure goes before a key committee Thursday — county election officials would create a separate “conditional” ballot that general election voters would also consider.

But even the progress of that bill has been slowed by squabbling among state lawmakers who want more of the tax money to pay for work in their districts, since construction could trigger millions of dollars in jobs and development.

East Los Angeles officials want more for extending light rail lines east of downtown; west Los Angeles officials want to keep the focus on relieving congestion on the Westside and starting the so-called subway to the sea.

With gas prices soaring and mass transit ridership up, the sales tax effort has been gaining steam and last month was approved by the board of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority. Within minutes of the supervisors' vote today, MTA chief executive Roger Snoble said the agency would sue the Board of Supervisors to force the sales tax onto the regular ballot.

"I'm in the process of hiring outside counsel because we can't hire county counsel because they would have a conflict," Snoble said. "We have a fairly decent chance of going into court and getting that reversed."

Many politicians have hailed the sales tax as the county's best shot at getting a $30-billion to $40-billion pot of money that is controlled locally. Budget woes, the economy and the Iraq war have made it difficult to get state or federal funding of that magnitude in recent years, and sales tax backers argue that a tax hike is the surest way to secure projects such as a subway, the Expo Line to Santa Monica and an extension of the Gold Line from Pasadena deeper into the San Gabriel Valley.

The 13-member Metro board voted in July to put the sales tax on the ballot. All five supervisors sit on the Metro board, and Snoble said that his understanding of the law is that the Supervisors vote today was largely procedural.

In particular, he said, the law requires the Board of Supervisors to examine the ballot and vote against placing an item on it if there is a physical issue with the ballot -- for example, that it doesn't fit.

"I'm already looking at this thing costing a whole lot of money, and to add more money, to me, it's really hurtful," Snoble said.

The problem has been politics. Local transportation officials have said that even $40 billion is not nearly enough to build all the projects that should have been built long ago or ones needed in the future. Complicating matters, it is well known that politicians sometimes seek transit projects because of the construction jobs, development and influence they generate.

Another issue has been legislation concerning the proposed sales tax. Officials at local, state and federal levels have all been trying to get language inserted that ensures their districts not only get projects but also see them funded robustly and in a timely manner.

That, in particular, was the problem three of the supervisors had with the sales tax: They believed that the money was distributed unfairly and that the MTA came up with a poor spending plan that favored project such as the subway on the Westside over other rail lines in the county.

"But the way it was done at the MTA certainly wasn't by any way kind of a fair process of let's be fair to the voters," said Supervisor Gloria Molina, who abstained. "It was a nice concocted scheme that went on. And every single and every step of the way it has made arrangements at how they were going to get more for one side of town versus the other side."

She later added: "It's a very funny way this little choo-choo is getting on the ballot."

Supervisor Mike Antonovich said that the money should be split up on a per capita basis. He, too, complained that money for some projects -- such as $1 billion earmarked for a mass transit project along the 405 through the Sepulveda Pass -- will ultimately be diverted to pay for the costly subway.

Supervisor Don Knabe, who portrays himself as a fiscal conservative, initially said that although he would vote to put the sales tax on the ballot, he wasn't for it -- but didn't think taxpayers should foot the bill for a symbolic vote. He quickly reversed course and voted against the sales tax.

Later, in an interview, Knabe said that he expects the MTA to successfully sue to place the tax measure on the existing ballot. Still, he said the supervisors' decision would reap benefits.

"I think it got everybody's attention that there is an equity issue here," Knabe said. "It's always a real dogfight to get a fair share of the dollars east of the 110 Freeway."

Knabe was absent for the MTA board vote last month because he was attending a celebratory event for the birth of his first grandson.

Transit advocates were not pleased.

"What a fiasco of childish parochial grandstanding," wrote Dana Gabbard, of the Southern California Transit Advocates, on a Times comment board. "...We desperately need leadership in this region, and it is obvious that isn't what we are getting from the Supervisors."

The Los Angeles Area Chamber of Commerce also issued a statement denouncing the vote -- even though the Chamber has yet to take an official position on the sales tax.

“Nearly every workday begins with a discussion about traffic,” said Gary Toebben, the president and CEO. “Voters should be allowed to consider all potential solutions including a half-cent sales tax increase to fund transportation projects.”

Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, who chairs the MTA board and said that he has been working to build a coalition for the sales tax, had not commented on the supervisors' vote as of early this afternoon.

Even more surprising, the vote came after county attorneys told the board that the sales tax would still go forward -- but now on a separate ballot than the rest of the general election. That move would cost taxpayers an additional $2 million to $3 million, said county officials.

In addition, county election officials said that a separate ballot would require a separate mailing of ballots to voters and that it's likely the separate ballots would be counted well after the general election ballots.

-- Steve Hymon and Garrett Therolf

L.A. County measures Precincts reporting: 23.0 %

R: Transit sales tax Yes 65.7% No 34.3%

Holy hell, there's hope yet. (Or is there -- does it have to be a simple majority or two thirds? I actually regretted being unable to vote for that!)

it needs 2/3rds- again highlighting how backwards california is (why couldnt it need a majority and the gay ban need 66%?)

i am hopeful about this though. it would definitely work towards funding the westside extension - whether it's just the Purple Line down Wilshire, or the Red Line too which might be going down Santa Monica Blvd to meet Purple past Century City (it's kind of pending on this vote)

which is the the republicans and pandering democratic retards like county sup Gloria Molina were opposing it - on the "unfairness" principle. if anything's unfair, it's how little public t. the westside has ever gotten! (largely their own fault, but still)

*which is WHY the

Prop 1A is leading also... http://www.latimes.com/news/local/politics/cal/la-2008election-california-results,0,1293859.htmlstory?view=8&tab=0&fnum=0

I heart Alpine County and it's goofy rural Sierra ways. A high speed rail line will NEVER show up in downtown Markleeville, but they'll vote for it anyway.

Good on 1A, I was hoping for that one.

Eric Garcetti is on local nbc and talking about why Measure R will pass; sigh he's so dreamy. i can't wait until he's mayor

L.A. County measures
R: Transit sales tax Yes 66.2% No 33.8% Precincts reporting: 37.0%

Just need 0.4 more to pass!

Eric Garcetti is on local nbc and talking about why Measure R will pass; sigh he's so dreamy. i can't wait until he's mayor

^^^

measure R currently at 66.67%! we did it!

:) ;-) :P

2 out of my 3 election dreams came thru!!!

i'm so glad. it's really a comprehensive, impressive plan. all the controversy probably made it stronger.