Our View: MTA finally thinking about Valley, future - SGVTribune.com
Our View: MTA finally thinking about Valley, future
Posted: 11/10/2009 05:39:05 PM PST
A beef we have with many advocacy groups is that they don't know how to advance the message after they actually get what they have long lobbied for.
They seemingly can't help advocating the same position - full steam ahead, damn the torpedoes - after a fight is already won. Sometimes it seems they don't want to downshift precisely because their approach has been so successful - and it's been a good way to keep donations flowing and staffing levels high.
Since we don't want to fall into that trap ourselves, we would like to commend the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) board for placing the Gold Line Foothill Extension Phase 2a into its Long Range Transportation Plan last month by unanimous vote.
It's something we've advocated for years for the good of the people of the San Gabriel Valley. In particular, we'd like to give credit to Los Angeles County supervisors Mike Antonovich and Mark Ridley-Thomas, as well as local MTA representative Councilman John Fasana of Duarte. We also give credit to the 14 House of Representative members from our region from both political parties who lobbied for the placement, especially veteran Reps. David Dreier, R-San Dimas, and Adam Schiff, D-Pasadena.
We believe this battle for 2a funding - at times loud and fierce - is now over because the placement will free up Measure R (half-cent sales tax) funds for this purpose. This project, now funded east from Pasadena to the
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station, will begin creating positive economic waves in terms of contracts and jobs beginning now through its completion in 2013.
It is a "major victory" for the San Gabriel Valley, said Antonovich. "It was a watershed moment" for our region, said Fasana. It's clearly a victory.
By extending the Gold Line light-rail tracks from east Pasadena at Sierra Madre Villa Street to Azusa, and then, eventually, to Montclair and maybe even to Ontario International Airport, it will remove many commuters from cars, put them into trains and thereby relieve congestion on the traffic-choked Foothill (210) Freeway. The light-rail system will finally reach east San Gabriel Valley and eventually Inland Empire residents - precisely the neighborhoods where people drive long distances to and from jobs in Pasadena, Glendale/Burbank and Los Angeles. By adding choices for commuters, it will speed up travel and reduce air pollution.
While Phase 2b funding issues remain, for right now the concerted message Gold Line advocates have long adhered to needs to change. Now, it's about attracting the best and the brightest engineers and design teams. It's about making sure construction starts in June as planned by the Gold Line Construction Authority, and that rail cars are running by 2013.
It will take cooperative efforts in this nuts-and-bolts stage to make sure design and construction projects stay on track.
Another positive player is the city of Monrovia, which has stepped up to propose land for a rail maintenance yard near its future Gold Line station. The MTA must see this through to completion.
The authority recently received inquiries from six design-build firms to build a rail bridge over the 210 in Arcadia, one of the first projects in the extension. It will choose a firm later this month.
We envision this phase's construction as successful as the original, which was built on time and within budget. Now is the time to see more cooperation to build other regional light-rail projects throughout Los Angeles County. It's a positive time for transit.
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