sales tax vote up for consideration tomorrow
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The countywide 1/2-cent sales tax measure that has brought out the best and worst in local leaders, not to mention emotional appeals on both sides, is up for its next hurdle tomorrow as the state Senate decides whether to let the people of LA do what legislators cannot: Get our people moving once more.
In the last round of insanity, it was county supervisors Gloria Molina, Don Knabe and Michael Antonovich that took the provincial low-road in voting to deny placement on the ballot — though Supervisor Knabe eventually reversed after learning his position would cost taxpayers $10 million for a special ballot.
Our post on that subject garnered 65 comments and dozens of grassroots emails to the Board of Supervisors. That surely sent the message that our leaders will be held accountable for their actions and lack of vision.
Now it’s time to send the message again, this time to the state Senate.
Steve Hymon at the Bottleneck Blog notes that two holdouts on the Appropriations Committee are still opposed — Senators Gil Cedillo, who represents Downtown and much of Central, Northeast and South Los Angeles, and Jenny Oropeza of Long Beach.
Oropeza, who supports the measure in theory, is threatening to take her ball and go home if she doesn’t get her way: Namely, wording that would expressly fund the Green Line extension to LAX.
From the Bottleneck Blog:
“The transportation wheels have moved way too slowly in the county of Los Angeles and a lot of it has to do with these politics,” Oropeza said. “The losers are the people. I’m not personally responsible for that. I wish I could fix it. It’s extremely frustrating. I have this incredibly important project. It just disappoints me very much.”
This is becoming exhausting, but as I’ve said many times before, passage of this measure is absolutely critical to the mobility of the region — and by extension, our regional economy, which is being hampered by near-total gridlock.
Projects funded in the tax measure include the Gold Line to Montclair, the Downtown Regional Connector, the Alameda Corridor East project, the Purple Line extension to the Westside, the Expo Line to Santa Monica, a 710 Freeway tunnel north to the 210 Freeway, and expanded bus and Metrolink service throughout the county, among other projects.
Angelenic fully supports the sales tax measure as the best way to fast-track LA’s transit system.
We urge you to express your support for the measure by contacting Senator Gil Cedillo and Senator Jenny Oropeza (Use ZIP code 90731 for Oropeza). Let them know the people of Los Angeles are tired of a second-class transit system, tired of excuses and tired of do-nothing legislators. Divide-and-conquer politics will get us nowhere.
Senator Gil Cedillo
Senator Jenny Oropeza
-subway dreams down the tubes: sales tax motion denied
-come on ride the train! supervisor knabe switches transit tax vote
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9 comments
I have e-mailed both Senators to express my support.
I half agree with Oropeza’s “take ball and go home” policy. It’s insane that the only way to get to LAX is SuperShuttle or driving yourself and paying the $50+ to park. They NEED to make sure that is locked in. (well, as locked in as these things can get)
I personally think the Purple Line that should ultimately intersect with ANOTHER train line that essentially follows the 405/Sepulveda path that has a stop at LAX as well as a Green Line stop at LAX.
“I half agree with Oropeza’s “take ball and go home” policy. It’s insane that the only way to get to LAX is SuperShuttle or driving yourself and paying the $50+ to park. They NEED to make sure that is locked in.’
The flyaway bus to downtown, westwood, and van nuys would get you to and from LAX far faster than the green line. For those traveling on the green line, there is a one stop free shuttle that takes travelers from the green line to the airport.
“I personally think the Purple Line that should ultimately intersect with ANOTHER train line that essentially follows the 405/Sepulveda path that has a stop at LAX as well as a Green Line stop at LAX”
I agree. If this was BART or a heavy rail line that went through the heart of LA, like the BART does in SF, then I would say, “We HAVE to finish this thing”. Alas, its a light rail line, that goes through an area of LA that isn’t essential at all.
Jeremy—agreed. The Green Line to LAX is important, but the Purple Line, Expo Line, Downtown Connector, and Gold Line Extension are much more so.
I got an email reply from Gloria Molina this morning regarding the email i sent her last week. I am a bit suspect and have doubts if she truly is replying or one of her “assistants”, mostly “politician lingo/talk” and she mentions that - “To more thoroughly explain my position, an op-ed I submitted to the Los Angeles Times on this subject. To date, they have chosen not to publish it.”
loveandhatela: I got the same message this morning. It’s her canned response (also sent to the people at Curbed LA). I know she reads her emails though, because someone who was particulary rude to her got the response, “Normally I don’t reply to such rude comments, but…”
I too received a response from Gloria, (nothing from MIke) of which I responded to her thanking her for writing me back but urging her to support the tax increase should it make it on the ballot. I reminded her many of us don’t live and work in the same district and connecting all of LA with rail benefits everyone in every district. I put in that it takes real leadership for such a grand project to become reality and she needs to see the big picture.
Guess I wasn’t rude enough…got the standard response.
In my view, the days of playing the “If you don’t play the way I want then I’m taking my marbles and going home” has long since passed. While I don’t think anyone is suggesting we choose routes & stations by throwing darts on a map of LA, we have to be VERY careful to avoid slicing and dicing this all to death.
Yes, it would be nice if any expansion plan guaranteed a Green Line extension to LAX. It would be nice if that extension continued north to meet up with the westernmost ends of the Expo Line and the Purple Line, too. It would be nice if the Purple Line included stops at both Century City AND the center of Westwood Village. It would be nice if…
Thing is, we gotta say “yes” - and say it quickly - to any reasonable plan that comes our way. We only have to look at past positions of Yaroslavsky and Waxman 10-15 years ago to remind of us of their impact on today’s transit mess.
If this bill dies, I will die as well.
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