GETTING THERE FROM HERE - Despite the plethora of new taxes at the city and state level, there is a county measure to be voted on this November that will NOT raise new taxes but will allow the entire county to get the many rail, freeway and road projects of Measure R built within the next decade, and help ensure that Los Angeles city and county will be among the premier local urban economies in both the United States and even the world. That measure is Measure J, and it deserves our support for the following 5 reasons:
1) To Fulfill the Promise of Measure R
Measure R, passed by 2/3 of the voters in 2008, was the result of decades of trying to work with state and federal governments to build projects that had been up to 50+ years in the planning and making. Historians might note, for example, that the Wilshire Subway has been discussed for up to 100 years—a full century—and that with the removal of the Wilshire Corridor as a once-planned freeway, the need for a subway to carry 200,000+ commuters a day was vital.
Furthermore, the Los Angeles county freeway system is all-too-often sized for the 1950’s or 1960’s, when the system was originally built. Some portions of the freeway are more expensive and difficult to upgrade and bring to 21st century needs than others, but the list of Measure R projects, still popular with voters, focuses on freeway expansions in the outlying regions of the county (where there is still room to expand/widen) and rail/subway in the urban core (where no room exists anymore).
Local cities need a host of pedestrian, bicycle, bus and other fiscal supports in an era where federal and state commitments to transportation and infrastructure have wavered in favor of other priorities and spending inefficiencies. The City of Los Angeles is not the only city in need of fixing its sidewalks, parkways, bus and bicycle infrastructure, yet already has benefited from Measure R.
After years of pleading with Sacramento and Washington to match its local commitment of Measure R (“LA County saving itself”), LA County has turned to Measure J (“LA County saving itself again”), which both:
a) Extends the half-cent sales tax for 30 years, and allows current projects to borrow from future revenue to save huge amounts on interest payments and project budgets by taking advantage of current low interest rates and avoiding the costs of inflation by starting planned and budgeted projects with 2012 dollars
b) Has a clause to STOP this sales tax extension if the voters deem that transportation/infrastructure spending of Measure R and J are no longer cost-effective
2) This is the County, Not the City, of LA that is Planning and Funding Measure R/J Transportation Projects
It’s no secret that the City of Los Angeles, in addition to many other cities throughout the county, is in deep fiscal trouble because of poor and inefficient spending policies, improper and unsustainable promises to public sector unions to fund benefits and pensions, and taxing policies that hurt and drive away businesses, landowners and homeowners.
However, while individual cities and regions already get portions of the Measure R sales tax revenues because Measure R is mandated to dole out these revenues to each region, it’s the county—which is in by far more solid financial shape than the City of Los Angeles—that is implementing Measure R and is supporting Measure J.
Furthermore, despite the concerns of some county supervisors, the Metro Board, which has representatives from throughout the county, has supported placing Measure J on the November ballot. For example, the same San Gabriel Valley legislators who decried the lack of current funding for the Foothill Gold Line to be extended to Claremont, proposed an amendment in Measure J to allow funding for unpopular projects like the Pasadena I-710 extension to be diverted to popular rail projects-- such as the major freight line known as the Alameda Corridor East and the aforementioned Gold Line Extension.
3) Metro has Already Shown Fiscal Discipline, and Will Continue to Do So
Measure R and Measure J and Metro is more than just the Wilshire Subway, or the Expo Line. It now has a major role in virtually every transportation endeavor of the county because it is the result of years of merging and efficiency that is actually a rare example of fiscal discipline. While not perfect, Metro has the ability to say “no” to those who pretend that money grows on trees.
For example, after Caltrans showed improper fiscal and improper leadership on the I-405 extension between LAX and the I-10 freeway (a two-year project took closer to five years!), Metro took the lead from Caltrans on the last I-405 extension between the I-10 and U.S. 101 freeways. The new contractor is better and more incentivized to do quality work on schedule and under budget, and communications with commuters about delays and closures is first rate…thanks to Metro.
Metro and the Exposition Construction Authority said “no” to wealthy Westside neighborhoods who wanted a $2-300 million Expo Line subway tunnel by Cheviot Hills after engineers concluded it was not necessary. Metro is also saying “no” to a similarly-priced subway tunnel for the Crenshaw/LAX Metro Rail project in Leimert Park despite the pleadings of Supervisor Ridley-Thomas.
Metro is also denying funding for the Foothill Gold Line Extension and even an extra Downtown Connector Light Rail station until the money can be found. Both are locally popular, but money for one project means less money for the others. The same is true for all road and freeway projects. Metro is ultimately, despite the political shenanigans of some Board members, run by left-brained engineers who know what the limitations of budgetary planning actually are.
4) The Need for Building Beyond the List of Measure R Projects is Paramount
Many of the problems surrounding transportation planning is that one cannot proceed to Step B before one reaches Step A, even if the ultimate goal is Step B…or even Step C. Measure R focused primarily on the most glaring needs of LA County, but there are equally glaring goals that remain unmet by Measure R.
For example, the Wilshire Subway extension to the VA in West LA, just west of the I-405, neither makes it all the way to the ocean nor establishes the obvious north-south connection between the Valley and the Westside. The ideal north-south transit connection between the Valley and the Westside (because the current I-405 widening will clearly not fix that mobility problem) would be an underground rail link. Such a north-south subway is not fully funded by Measure R.
The ideal Crenshaw/Green Line connection to LAX with a direct underground link to the very center of that airport? Not funded by Measure R. The ideal Green Line extension to the South Bay, with a Torrance Transit Center as a tentative terminus? Not funded by Measure R, although the transit centers at Redondo Beach and Torrance have been purchased by the South Bay with combined federal and local funding.
The I-5 freeway will be expanded from the Orange County border to the I-605, but the planned and proposed I-5 widening to the I-710 freeway is not funded by measure R, either.
The way it works is this: federal and local funding requires consensus and planning first—hence our need to do all three, and hence the obvious conclusion that Measure R is just a good start, and is more remedial than a complete fix.
5) To Ensure a Transportation Budget for a 21st Century LA County
There are plenty of city, state and federal spending and budgeting inefficiencies that have hurt taxpayers—and all residents—because of a habit of government presuming that the money it spends is its own money, and not the public’s money. CityWatch columnists, including myself, have frequently pointed out this bad habit.
Furthermore, the accounting habits that the state government employs call for repair and not more money thrown at it—how many of us know about the Comprehensive Annual Financial Report, or CAFR?
However, neither Measure R nor J is part of these bad habits. The Metro list of projects, complete with budgets, critiques and prioritization, is transparent and open to review and debate.
After years of agonizing at the state and federal level as to how it should spend on transportation and infrastructure, LA County has decided it will have a baseline for spending on both new projects and operations/upkeep of current freeways, roads, rail and other transportation initiatives.
The fight for more federal and state funds will not end, should Measure J pass. The fight for other private/developer revenue sources for transportation/infrastructure will not end, should Measure J pass. And should the half-cent sales tax be abused, then Measure J can be terminated by the voters … just as the county terminated Metro spending for subways in the 1990’s when its Board started going hog-wild with its federal and local revenues.
There are plenty of reasons to fight for improved government oversight and spending when it comes to transportation and infrastructure, but Measure R (and Measure J) is one example of good government
Measure J: J as in Jumpstart!
(Ken Alpern is a former Boardmember of the Mar Vista Community Council (MVCC), previously co-chaired its Planning and Outreach Committees, and currently is Co-Chair of its MVCC Transportation/Infrastructure Committee. He is co-chair of the CD11 Transportation Advisory Committee, chairs the nonprofit Transit Coalition, and is co-chair of the non-profit Friends of the Green Line (www.fogl.us). He can be reached at [email protected]. The views expressed in this article are solely those of Mr. Alpern.)
-cw
CityWatch
Vol 10 Issue 75
Pub: Sept 18, 2012