GETTING THERE FROM HERE - As I addressed last week in a CityWatch piece, anger continues to course throughout our city and county over the need to repair and expand our roads, sidewalks, incipient bicycle infrastructure, and our passenger/freight rail systems.
After three years of a Herculean effort on the part of Mayor Villaraigosa and California’s political delegation, we have a too-little, too-late America Fast Forward of matching federal loans to build Measure R programs … and only Measure J can ensure infrastructure completion within this decade.
The obvious questions of extending the sales tax and borrowing from the future are as valid concerns as any about Measure J, but the counterarguments are just as obvious:
1) Shall we increase the sales tax another half-cent at this immediate time in order to get Measure R projects built within ten years, or shall we wait 20-30 years to do them?
2) Does anyone really think that our push to get more funds from Sacramento and Washington will end, knowing that every penny we get with matching funds and/or loans frees up the need to borrow from the future for current Measure R projects?
3) Do we really want to limit our focus to Measure R projects, considering how many road and rail projects are not included in Measure R but yet still are a vital part of our Metro/County Strategic Plan?
So are YOU angry and concerned about our available options? If so, then join the club. Yet just as we recently got a small America Fast Forward matching loan program from Washington, only Measure J is a reasonable battle that can be fought in 2012.
The years 2013, 2014 and the future all await, coupled with the ongoing battles that are needed to fight for our overdue and visionary infrastructure to create a first-class, 21st-century LA City and County transportation infrastructure…but we have to focus first on our present battles for THIS year.
Consider:
1) For all the hubbub about South Mar Vista seceding from the City of LA in large part because of anger over the state of repair of LA’s infrastructure, there is no interest in proceeding with this effort from either the cities of LA or even Culver City. A straw vote at a Mar Vista Community Council showed no one was in favor of this, and suggests the effort is limited to a few malcontents who truly do not know the details of what secession means.
2) However, the anger over our lousy sidewalks, alleys and streets is REAL and JUSTIFIED, and the idea of using neighborhood council money, neighborhood sweat equity and City materials to rebuild some of our worst infrastructure in a cost-effective manner should remain wide open to debate; Measure J can ensure more funds for Angelenos to do that building NOW.
3) The Expo Line has its problems, such as the need to repair a portion of the track connecting the Blue and Expo Lines, but that repair is on its way to a solution approved by the CPUC. Phase 1 daily boardings are already up to 18,000 per day, and Phase 2 bridges and infrastructure are beginning construction with an amazing rapidity. Do we want more of these efforts, or not?
4) Meanwhile, the daily boardings of the Pasadena/Foothill Gold Line are up to 40,000/day and rising, and the efforts to extend this passenger rail line to San Bernardino County and Ontario Airport continue to crystallize. Measure J is the best way to ensure that future projects such as these can allow for county growth outside of the beleaguered, mega-dense City of L.A.
5) While lots of fury and division and qualms exist about completing the I-710 freeway through or under Pasadena, a much greater consensus exists towards improving the I-210 freeway—including the aforementioned Foothill Gold Line. Measure J allows for freeway/rail funding transfers within a given geographical region—and is the best way to ensure funding and planning for a Claremont extension as early as 2013.
6) While it’s great that our own LAX pumped $40 billion into the Southern California economy last year imagine how much more economic growth we could enjoy if Ontario and that region enjoyed a similar boom. It’s no secret that Inland Empire commuters hate accessing LAX (and it hurts the Westside quality of life), so the time is right to rethink BOTH of L.A.’s regional airports…and Measure J is the best way to do just that.
7) Want a true, direct MetroRail link to LAX? Want a real, first-rate rail alternative to the I-405 between the Westside and the Valley that zips under the Sepulveda Pass in 10-15 minutes? Only Measure J can ensure planning and funding for these measures within this decade, if not NEXT YEAR.
Measure R ensured that our overdue infrastructure would be addressed. Measure J ensures that the Measure R projects will happen in a timely manner, and that we will not be limited to that list of Measure R projects.
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 68
Pub: Aug 24, 2012
