Metro approves half-cent transportation tax ballot measure for LA County

LOS ANGELES >> A ballot measure that would raise the sales tax in Los Angeles County by a half cent and fund $120 billion in rail and freeway improvements over the next 50 years moved a step closer Thursday to being considered by the voters.

The Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority (Metro) board — by an 11-2 vote — approved the measure for placement on the Nov. 8 ballot. Though considered a formality, the county Board of Supervisors, whose members also sit on the 13-member Metro board, have until Aug. 12 to place the initiative on the ballot.

The new tax would fund numerous projects in the next 10 years, including: a possible light-rail train through the Sepulveda Pass coecting the Westside with the San Feando Valley; extension of the Gold Line from Glendora to Claremont; completion of the Purple Line subway to Westwood; a mega Green Line station at 96th Street that will accommodate a people mover into the central terminal of Los Angeles Inteational Airport; and a Green Line extension to Crenshaw Boulevard in Torrance.

In a last-minute addition, Metro board added $180 million for a north San Feando Valley rapid bus that would serve 42,000 students at Cal State Northridge and other north Valley residents.

“It is the most comprehensive transportation initiative in this country today,” said Metro CEO Phil Washington. “We believe the benefits allow us to take charge of our transportation future.”

Metro ran into opposition from the South Bay and Gateway cities who said the project start dates favor Westside projects at their expense.

Supervisor and Metro board member Don Knabe, who represents the South Bay and the easte edge of the county, and Norwalk City Councilwoman and board member Diane DuBois voted against the measure. Their motions to move up projects in their areas failed.

“The geographic equity continues to be an issue,” said Knabe, who asked the board to delay in order to examine faiess issues.

Whittier City Councilman Feando Dutra said Whittier and the Gateway Cities Council of Govements would oppose the measure. Dutra, and Mayor Joe Vinatieri, were angry that a Gold Line Eastside Extension from East L.A. to Whittier would not start construction until 2053.

“There are significant questions regarding environmental justice,” Vinatieri said. The first extension through South El Monte would most likely begin in 2029.

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“We are not going to support taxpayer money that will go to other areas and not our region,” said South Gate Councilman Gil Hurtado.

South El Monte City Councilman Joe Gonzales, who heads the SR-60 alignment group, is supporting the measure, he said.

Opposition from state Sen. Pro-Tem Kevin de Leon faded away when Metro received word he had canceled a legislative oversight committee hearing on the transportation plan originally set for Friday.

Cities opposed to the building of a tuel to coect the 710 freeway from Alhambra to Pasadena were pleased to lea that the measure excluded any funding, further indication that the project may never be built. However, cities in favor of the tuel objected to the exclusion. Ironically, the pro-710 coalition agreed to remove a funding request for the tuel from the San Gabriel Valley Council of Govements’ project list sent to Metro.

Duarte City Councilman and Metro board member said the tuel project, which can cost up to $10 billion, could get funding from the federal govement or private companies who would charge drivers to use it.

Metro board members who voted in favor said the projects in the plan are balanced throughout the county. The plan, revised in May as a permanent tax with no end, will move up construction of 12 projects, said Washington. “We are proposing 18 projects in the first 15 years, with every sub-region getting a mega project or program in those first 15 years.”

Whether pockets of the county unhappy with the measure can drum up “no” votes at the polls in November remains to be seen.

“We offer not perfection, we simply promote progress,” said Metro board chairman Mark Ridley-Thomas, who said Metro will need votes from throughout the county. The measure, under the state’s rules for new taxes, will need two-thirds of the vote to pass and must compete with another county measure that raises taxes for improving county parks.

Metro’s early polling found the so-called Measure R-2, named because it follows the existing Measure R half-cent sales tax approved in 2008, was supported by 72 percent of those surveyed.

“Getting through November will require a vast amount of support across the region,” Ridley-Thomas said. “Nothing can or should be taken for granted.”