Metro Misses Out on Federal “New Starts” Funding (Source: Streetsblog)

Streetsblog Los Angeles » Metro Misses Out on Federal “New Starts” Funding

Metro Misses Out on Federal “New Starts” Funding

by Damien Newton on February 4, 2010

For a full copy of the map, visit The Source

Earlier this week, Streetsblog Capitol Hill's Elana Schor wrote about the transit agencies across the country that received federal "New Starts" funding. As is common knowledge now, Los Angeles was shut out, receiving $0 in federal funds in this round of funding from the federal government for the two projects for which they applied, the Regional Connector and the Subway to the Sea. Yesterday at The Source, Steve Hymon explained why Los Angeles was shut out, but also made the case that the most populous county in the country deserves a share of federal dollars.

The reason: the projects haven’t yet been designated as official New Starts projects, although FTA officials are working with Metro on the complex application process.

As a result, the FY 2011 budget has no New Starts money for Los Angeles County, the most heavily populated county in the United States, with 9.86 million people...

...The county did receive its last installment of nearly $500 million in New Starts money last year to help pay for the Eastside Gold Line, which opened in November. In fairness to the feds, it can also be argued that Metro may have received subway and connector funds this year if the planning process for both had started earlier than 2007 and the projects were farther along.

Both advocates for the Gold Line Foothill Extension and opponents of the Expo Line have argued that Metro should apply for "New Starts" money for these projects as well. Adding more projects to the list of projects Metro submits does increase the chance that Metro will bring home more of that federal bacon; but it also decreases the chance that those projects favored by the Board are the ones that are partially funded.

Regardless of where "the blame" should go for "the most heavily populated county in the United States" getting shut out of this popular transit funding program, let's encourage both Metro and the Federal Government to make certain this doesn't happen again next year.

Officials approve plans for Expo Line route on Westside Some neighborhoods disagree with proposal and want parts of the route underground. (Source: LA times)

Link: Officials approve plans for Expo Line route on Westside - latimes.com

Officials approve plans for Expo Line route on Westside
Some neighborhoods disagree with proposal and want parts of the route underground.

Los Angeles transportation officials on Thursday took a major step in bringing commuter rail to the Westside, approving plans for a route linking downtown L.A. to Santa Monica.

Officials hope to begin work later this year on phase two of the Expo Line, a nearly seven-mile link from downtown Culver City to the corner of 4th Street and Colorado Avenue in Santa Monica's main business district. Phase one of Expo Line is already under construction from downtown Los Angeles to Culver City.

Extending the line to Santa Monica would be an important milestone in Los Angeles' ambitious rail-building campaign. It would also mark the farthest west a rail line has reached in several decades, serving a section of the county that is notorious for traffic problems.

"Every other part of Los Angeles has been served by mass public transportation," said Los Angeles County Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky, who represents the Westside. "This part of town, this part of the county has waited a long time for this."

Transportation planners believe they will have the $1.5 billion in local and state money to build it.

And although there is broad support for the extension, some neighborhood residents have concerns about portions of the plan.

Some homeowners say the plan for the route approved Thursday is unsafe and will create traffic problems, particularly a stretch near homes in Cheviot Hills as well as areas near Sepulveda Boulevard and Overland Avenue.

Those residents insist that at least one portion of the line should be built underground, saying that would make the route safer for motorists and pedestrians. They also argue that the underground route would improve traffic flow.

Robert P. Silverstein, an attorney representing a coalition of Westside homeowners' associations called Neighbors for Smart Rail, said his clients support extending the rail line but feel strongly it can be made better.

"I want to be clear that my client is not opposed to the project, but is opposed to it being built without below grade, grade separation between Overland and Sepulveda," he said at Thursday's public hearing of the Exposition Metro Line Construction Authority board. "Build it, but build it right."

The Expo Authority, which is building the line, said a subway along that stretch is unnecessary. Building a subway between Westwood Boulevard and Overland Avenue would add about $224 million to the project's cost.

Some speakers on Thursday agreed -- and urged the authority to approve the plans for the route as is.

Sarah Hays, co-chair of the group Light Rail for Cheviot, told the board that she was in favor of approving the plans for the route.

"I live . . . less than half a mile from the [rail] right of way, and I work within half a mile of the 4th Street Station in Santa Monica, so I would use this line," she said.

After the board approved the plans, she added: "It means we can move forward -- that we are one step closer to having an alternative to sitting in traffic."

The MTA has for decades wanted to build a subway along Wilshire Boulevard through Beverly Hills and into Santa Monica. But the high price -- several billion dollars -- has stalled the effort. And that leaves the Expo Line as the only viable plan right now for an east-west rail link from downtown to Santa Monica.

Opponents of the plans approved Thursday are threatening to file a lawsuit that could delay construction of the second phase, which officials hope to open in 2015.

The line is being mostly built on an abandoned Southern Pacific right of way and was originally touted by planners as a cost-effective and fast route for rail service to the Westside.

But the first 8.6-mile link from downtown Los Angeles to Venice and Robertson boulevards is already more than a year behind schedule and is more than $220 million over its original budget of $640 million.

Some delays are due to safety issues near schools. Activists have complained that the first phase's route poses a risk to students at Dorsey High School and Foshay Learning Center and have called for improvements, including running the line above or below street level.

That issue is still unresolved and the state Public Utilities Commission is deciding which safety improvements are needed near Dorsey High, and those improvements could be costly.

Furthermore, the Expo Authority and the contractor for the first phase of the project are at odds over some of the delays and are wrestling over who is to blame. That could further raise the project's phase one cost depending on how the dispute is resolved.

Rick Thorpe, chief executive of the Expo Authority, said that is why officials are using a different contracting process for the second phase.

Thorpe said that for the second phase, two contracts will be awarded for design, and then one of those same companies will also receive the contract for construction. That way the contractor is responsible for the plans and the follow-through, Thorpe said.

Officials said they hope to open the first part of phase one, from downtown Los Angeles to Crenshaw Boulevard, sometime this year and estimate that the second part of phase one will open about a year later.

Thorpe said the timeline of the first phase will not affect the second phase of the project because the sources of funding are different.

But fully funding the line is not a sealed deal because sales tax revenues are lower than expected, there is a state budget crisis and the Metropolitan Transportation Authority has projected a historic $251.3-million operating deficit in the 2011 fiscal year.

ari.bloomekatz@latimes.com

Copyright © 2010, The Los Angeles Times

High Speed Train to Vegas Could be a Reality, Say Chinese (Source: LAist)

Link: High Speed Train to Vegas Could be a Reality, Say Chinese - LAist

High Speed Train to Vegas Could be a Reality, Say Chinese


A Chinese bank is has agreed to loan $7 billion to help build a high speed train between Las Vegas and Los Angeles, according to the Las Vegas Sun, via Curbed LA. That's great, but there are hurdles, including the fact that the line was not funded in the latest round of stimulus money, in which California received $2.25 billion. However, if it does become a reality, Las Vegas will truly become L.A.'s far flung suburb. But, hey, Chinese bankers, what about some funding for the subway to the sea? Huh?

By Zach Behrens in News on February 3, 2010 11:35 AM

Roundup on Phase B of the Expo Line

Article 1

Link: The Argonaut: Top Stories

Expo Construction Authority to vote on Westside light rail EIR for Phase Two

BY GARY WALKER

Los Angeles transit officials are scheduled to take another step towards moving mass transportation forward on the Westside Thursday, February 4th, when the construction board of the Metro Rail Mid-City/Exposition Light Rail Transit Project votes on the light rail line’s Draft Environmental Impact Report (DEIR).

The Exposition Construction Authority, which is in charge of building the Westside light rail line, will consider station alignments for Phase Two of the mass transportation project, the location of a maintenance facility in Santa Monica and the addition of a third station along Colorado Avenue in Santa Monica.

The construction authority will also recommend pursuing the right-of-way route owned by Metro that will run along the Expo right-of-way and Colorado in Santa Monica, said Samantha Bricker, chief operating officer of the construction authority.

Phase Two would begin in Culver City, where an aerial station is planned, continue down Palms Boulevard and proceed along the Metro owned right-of-way near the Santa Monica Freeway (Interstate 10).

The first leg of the 15.3-mile transit corridor began in downtown Los Angeles and will end in Culver City. Originally, the Culver City station was scheduled to open this year, but due to cost overruns and the potential added expenditure of building an overpass at a planned station in South Los Angeles, its opening has been bumped to early next year.

Metro hopes to open the first phase of the line at Crenshaw Boulevard later this year.

The Santa Monica City Council unanimously supported the EIR in November.

The maintenance facility that will service the rail cars, which Metro is proposing to build on Olympic Boulevard in the Stewart Park neighborhood, has had its share of controversy. Residents who live blocks away from the proposed facility, which the EIR suggests building on the current Santa Monica College parking lot and the former Verizon telephone site, have complained about the location.

Eleanor Path, a Stewart Park homeowner, says that it is unfair to ask one of the most racially and economically varied areas in Santa Monica to take the brunt of a 24-hour-a-day/seven-days-a-week, industrial train maintenance yard.

“To the neighborhood, this is an unjustifiable discrimination,” said Path, who is a proponent of the light rail line.

Metro officials say they have added new technology that would eliminate “wheel squeal” from the train, and a car wash and a cleaning platform would be relocated north of the Verizon property. A 110-foot sound barrier would be built to reduce noise from the train and the light rail yard.

In addition, Metro authorities have canceled plans for a paint and body shop, and proposed adding directional lighting to reduce glare and installing landscaping to make the sound barrier less conspicuous.

“We’ve been working with community groups and with Santa Monica officials in what we think has been a very collaborative way,” Bricker said. “We’re hoping that the project will win approval so that we can begin to move forward with the project.”

Mass transit advocacy groups are backing the environmental document and the proposed alignments for the second stage of the light rail project.

“Our official position is we support the recommended preferred alternative without delay,” said Darrell Clarke, the president of Friends 4 Expo, a transit advocacy group. “There’s been an extensive planning and environmental process. It’s time to move forward.”

Clarke says the preferred alternative, which was recommended over a proposal that would travel down Venice Boulevard and then go west toward Santa Monica, is “a mile shorter, faster and will attract more riders.”

Santa Monica City Councilwoman Gleam Davis thinks the mid-city station at 17th Street and Colorado is a crucial addition to the light rail line.

“It is very important, because it is much closer to both Santa Monica-UCLA Hospital and Saint John’s hospital,” Davis told The Argonaut. “It is also closer to Santa Monica College, and we should be able to take a lot of traffic off of the major streets there through buses and shuttles and get people onto the train.”

Clarke agrees that having the third station was a wise move by the council.

“We pushed for that all along, in order to serve the whole mid-city part of Santa Monica,” he said.

The other stations will be at Bergamot Station and Fourth Street and Colorado.

Santa Monica city leaders asked the construction authority to include an additional station on the line to take advantage of the opportunity to create a pedestrian streetscape that would attract tourists, locals and residents from outside the city to shop. There are also plans for a transit-oriented mixed-use development at the 17th Street station.

“That would give people a real sense of being in Santa Monica,” said Davis, a mass transit proponent who replaced the late Herb Katz on the council last year.

Davis said there are also plans to have a transit-oriented plaza at Fourth Street and Colorado, where the line is slated to end.

Despite protests from some Stewart Park residents, Clarke feels that Metro has by and large been very cooperative with the city government on the station alignments and the maintenance yard.

“I think that they tried very hard to work with the city,” said Clarke, a former city planning commissioner who lives a few blocks south of the proposed maintenance facility.

Davis also believes that the transportation agency has worked well with her council and said she and her colleagues have analyzed the proposed site for the maintenance yard from every angle.

“When you have an installation of mass transit in a neighborhood, there are often some conflicts,” the councilwoman noted. “We don’t control where the maintenance yard goes. Our job is to mitigate any potential impacts to the neighborhood.”

The board will only consider the certification of the environmental document and its possible approval February 4th. There will be no further discussion on the site of the maintenance facility or other topics.

Bricker said the Metro Board of Directors could vote on the EIR at its March meeting, pending its approval by the construction authority.

The second stage of the Expo Line is slated to reach Santa Monica by 2014.

Article 2

Streetsblog Los Angeles » Expect Plenty of Debate Before Tomorrow’s Vote on the Expo Line FEIR

Expect Plenty of Debate Before Tomorrow’s Vote on the Expo Line FEIR

by Damien Newton on February 3, 2010



Tomorrow's meeting of the Expo Construction Authority Board of Directors promises to be one of the best-attended, most controversial and longest meeting of the body. The Board is scheduled to vote on approval of the Final Environmental Impact Statement for Phase II of the Expo Line, and there are still many issues that are controversial with various constituencies. The meeting begins at 2:00 P.M. at the Kenneth Hahn Hall of Administration at 500 West Temple Street. For those of you that plan on listening in at home, you can call in at (213) 974-4700 or (877) 873-8017. Spanish language call information and more details at the meeting can be found at the Expo Construction Authority's website.

If the FEIR is passed tomorrow, only a court order or loss of funding could stop construction of the controversial light rail line. While a close vote is expected, passage seems somewhat assured. There are seven voting members of the Expo Construction Authority, and only a majority is needed to approve the documents. Assuming that Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky, Santa Monica City Council Woman Pam O'Conner and Culver City Council Member Scott Malsin all vote in favor of the project, then only one vote is needed from Los Angeles City Council Members Herb Wesson, Bill Rosendahl, Paul Koretz or County Supervisor Mark Ridley-Thomas. Yaroslavsky has already announced his support on his blog.

So what issues need to be addressed? It seems as though the controversy over where to put a rail yard in Santa Monica has cooled off, but that leaves several controversies to be addressed.

The main obstacle to passage is the local advocacy group Neighbors for Smart Rail, that is an umbrella group consisting of local organizations and homeowners groups from areas such as Cheviot Hills and Westwood Gardens. Some of these groups have been opposed to the line for, literally, decades, and others have joined the effort recently. Their main concerns with the project, as outlined in an email to members, can be found here:

The report calls for all train crossings through our community to go at street level (at-grade), blocking traffic as often as every 2 ½ minutes, 22 hours a day at Overland, Westwood, Military and Sepulveda! They have not studied any below grade options and will consider elevating at Sepulveda only if someone else pays for it!

The FEIR document is woefully deficient and the data is flawed - it should not be adopted! We need your support to show the Expo Board that we care about our homes, our schools and the quality of life in this neighborhood. It's time to stand up and be counted.

Unlike some of the other groups attending tomorrow's meeting, Neighbors for Smart Rail aren't encouraging changes to the document, but its outright rejection. It is widely assumed that Neighbors for Smart Rail will be pursuing a legal remedy if they don't succeed tomorrow, but they're keeping that decision close to their vest and haven't said anything about future plans other than what happens tomorrow will determine their next steps.

So what changes would Neighbors for Smart Rail like to see? Their stated position is that grade-separated crossings need to be more seriously studied and approved for crossings at all major intersections and near schools. They note the high accident rate for at-grade rail crossings, most recently exemplified by a Gold Line crash last week.

Countering the assertions of Neighbors for Smart Rail is the pro-Expo group Friends 4 Expo Transit who have relentlessly pushed for the quick construction of the Expo Line from Downtown L.A. all the way to Downtown Santa Monica. They have been encouraging members to write the Expo Board, and show up tomorrow, to provide a counter-weight to the opposition. In response to Neighbors for Smart Rail, Friends 4 Expo write:

We've waited years for this alternative to horrible Westside traffic, that will serve this dense corridor's many residents, jobs, recreational, educational, and cultural opportunities, plus provide landscaping and a bike path.

Its opponents, after failing to detour the line from its straight path to Santa Monica, now demand unprecedented special treatment for one neighborhood under the guise of "Build it right or don't build it." But their prohibitively expensive, long deep tunnel beneath the existing railroad right-of-way has never been built on any modern U.S. light rail line and would threaten Expo's completion.

Friends 4 Expo is supported by broader transit groups such as the Transit Coalition and the Southern California Transit Advocates.

Friends 4 Expo points out that the planned crossings are consistent with Metro's policy, but even that policy is under fire. Just last week, Supervisor Ridley-Thomas, one of those voting tomorrow, wrote to Metro CEO Art Leahy and asked for a review of the crossings policy.

Another group concerned about the line's impact on traffic is the UCLA Bicycle Coalition. While the group expresses support for the concept, and writes that it's "pretty exciting to get a new train line in our 'hood;" they have serious concerns that the configuration will make cycling on Westwood Boulevard, one of the most heavily cycled roads in L.A. County, dangerous and daunting.

Current plans will reconfigure lanes on Westwood Blvd in such a way that it will be a pretty nasty road to bike on. We're asking the board to redesign the street here to preserve space for bikes, and to even add bike lanes. (More details in the letter below).

I know a lot of us bike on Westwood regularly, so we should rise up and demand that this road stay safe for bicyclists.

The cyclists are also asking their members to write the Board or attend tomorrow's meeting.

A third issue to be addressed, is the configuration of the station at Overland Avenue and Westwood Boulevard. A group calling itself "Expo Greenway" is urging that instead of a parking lot the space around the station should be preserved as green space. "Park not parking" is the slogan, and a full detail of their plan can be read at their website.

Of course, there are other issues to be addressed, including the fate of the Expo Bike Path which will be approved if the FEIS is approved tomorrow but is not funded by the Construction Authority. However, heading into tomorrow's showdown at Kenneth Hahn Hall, these are the groups that appear to be doing the most mobilizing.

If tomorrow seems a little short on stories here at Streetsblog, it's because we're planning on "live tweeting" the hearing via telephone.

Article 3

Link: All aboard Expo to the Westside | Zev Yaroslavsky

All aboard Expo to the Westside

February 2, 2010

This Thursday marks a turning point in the decades-long effort to bring mass rapid transit to the Westside of Los Angeles. That’s when I, along with my colleagues on the Exposition Metro Line Construction Authority Board, will cast a crucial vote on extending the Expo Line from Culver City to Santa Monica.

I intend to vote yes, and here’s why.

The Westside has waited for decades to become part of the growing regional mass transit system of Los Angeles County. While transit lines have been built in downtown, Pasadena, Long Beach, the San Fernando Valley and along the Century Freeway, the Westside’s public transit system is exclusively made up of street buses. The Expo Line will give commuters who work and live in the western part of L.A. County an alternative to sitting in their cars for up to 3 to 4 hours each day getting to and from work or school. For the first time since the legendary Red Car system was dismantled after World War II, the Westside will have mass rapid transit.

And Thursday’s vote is a key step to getting us there.

The Expo Board will consider the Final Environmental Impact Report (FEIR) for Phase 2 of the project, the section of the light rail that will run from Culver City to Santa Monica. We must approve the FEIR before we can award a design and construction contract for this long-awaited project. If approved, Phase 2 could begin some construction before the end of this year, with completion planned in 2015. The line’s ridership is estimated to be 64,000 a day by 2030.

The Expo Line in its entirety will connect downtown Los Angeles with Exposition Park/USC, Crenshaw, Culver City, Pico/Sepulveda, West Los Angeles and Santa Monica. The first phase, which runs between downtown and Culver City, is now under construction and working toward an opening next year.

The Expo Line has had its share of critics, with concerns raised about matters ranging from grade crossings, impact on neighborhoods and placement of the project’s maintenance yard to delays and noise during Phase 1 construction.

But I firmly believe that the FEIR has addressed these issues in great detail and that we can deliver a project that will reflect what our region wants and needs. Extensive analysis has been done to ensure that the Expo Line is built in a manner that is as respectful as possible of the communities through which it will run. New elevated grade separations have been recommended where appropriate. Those intersections include: Venice Boulevard, Bundy, Centinela, Pico-Gateway, Cloverfield/Olympic and Sawtelle. The remainder of the grade crossings will be at street level.

It’s significant to note that the overwhelming majority of the 9,000 comments received on the environmental impact report have been positive. State Senator Fran Pavley and Assembly members Mike Feuer and Julia Brownley also have voiced their support for the project. And the cities of Los Angeles, Culver City and Santa Monica have partnered with Expo to build it.

The $1.5 billion Expo Line is being funded largely through the Measure R half-cent sales tax that was approved by county voters in 2008. The project, coupled with the extension of the subway westward, also partially funded through Measure R, will bring much-needed mass rapid transit to the Westside.

All of us have waited a long time for this moment. Building the Expo Line and extending the subway to the Westside are among the reasons I helped write Measure R and fought so hard to get it passed. An effective rapid transit system will improve our quality of life. System users will save time and money while reducing wear and tear on body and soul.

Come and join us at the Hall of Administration at 2 p.m. Thursday, and let’s get this train moving.

Article 4

Link: Groups Prepare to Fight Over Train to Santa Monica Tomorrow - LAist

Groups Prepare to Fight Over Train to Santa Monica Tomorrow


The big day is tomorrow. The Expo Line's construction authority board is scheduled to vote on the second phase, which will bring the line from Culver City to Santa Monica (the first phase between downtown and Culver City is already under construction). The vote could go a variety of ways, including being voted down--meaning no train--to what's expected: the route as seen in the photo above.

In his preview of the meeting, Damien Newtwon at Streetsblog LA rounds up what two groups--one for, one against--are saying in their latest e-mail blasts. "The report calls for all train crossings through our community to go at street level (at-grade), blocking traffic as often as every 2 ½ minutes, 22 hours a day at Overland, Westwood, Military and Sepulveda!" says detractors of rail line, Neighbors for Smart Rail. "The FEIR document is woefully deficient and the data is flawed - it should not be adopted!"

Friends 4 Expo Transit are prepared for the opposition. "Its opponents, after failing to detour the line from its straight path to Santa Monica, now demand unprecedented special treatment for one neighborhood under the guise of 'Build it right or don't build it,'" they say.

No matter, it appears the light rail line will be approved. "I intend to vote yes," wrote Count Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky on his blog. "It’s significant to note that the overwhelming majority of the 9,000 comments received on the environmental impact report have been positive," he noted.
user-pic
By Zach Behrens in News on February 3, 2010 2:55 PM

Press Release from Ogilvy Public Relations Worldwide

NATIONAL EXPERT: HIGH-SPEED RAIL NEEDS A HEALTHY FREIGHT RAIL INDUSTRY TO FLOURISH

WHAT:

President Obama and Vice President Biden announced today $8 billion in grants for high-speed rail projects spread across 31 states. The funds are part of the administration’s anticipated $13 billion high-speed rail investment.

WHO:

If you are researching a news story, Edward Hamberger, President and CEO of the Association of American Railroads (AAR), is available for interviews.



THE ISSUE:

Mr. Hamberger can discuss how today’s announcement reinforces freight rail’s importance to America’s economic recovery and to the success of high-speed rail.

CONTACT:

Holly Arthur, AAR Assistant Vice President.

202-639-2100
harthur@aar.org

BACKGROUND:

www.aar.org

http://abcnews.go.com/Business/wireStory?id=9683228

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/29/us/politics/29obama.html

www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601082&sid=akGmApx3GhMY

Federal Funding For High Speed Train Falls Far Short Of Rail Authority Expectations (Source:California Progress Report)

Link: Federal Funding For High Speed Train Falls Far Short Of Rail Authority Expectations | California Progress Report

Federal Funding For High Speed Train Falls Far Short Of Rail Authority Expectations

Posted on 03 February 2010

By Traci Sheehan
Planning and Conservation League

On Thursday, President Obama announced the states' shares of the $8 billion in federal stimulus money allotted for high speed rail. California had applied for $4.7 billion but received less than half that amount, with the bulk of the funding going to thirty other states.

The California High Speed Rail Authority's new Business Plan, which was widely criticized both in economic circles and within the Legislature earlier this month, relied on receiving the full amount requested, plus getting another $14 billion in federal aide over the next several years to fully fund the state's high speed rail project. The President has only committed to $1 billion annually to fund all 31 projects nationwide, dashing the Authority's hopes for massive federal subsidies and leaving a gapping hole in the funding plan.

This tough news raises three critical questions: First, if the project had a more robust business plan, including realistic cost forecasts and ridership data, would California have faired better? Second, if the Authority had not included the highly-contentious Bay Area route in its federal proposal, would we have received more funding? (That section of the project lacks a certified environmental document, making it unlikely to be completed in time to meet the stimulus deadlines.) Third, since the Authority admits that they weren't planning for a smaller amount of federal aide, what now?

We hope that this reality check causes the Authority to re-think how it does business, coming up with a realistic plan that addresses a range of funding scenarios. And with less federal money available than hoped for, it's time to concentrate our investments on one or two segments that can actually be completed by the federal deadlines, instead of spreading the money so thin that we end up with a handful of "tracks to nowhere."

The voters asked for a high speed train in 2008. To deliver, the Authority must do better in 2010. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Traci Sheehan is the Executive Director of The Planning and Conservation League, a statewide, nonprofit lobbying organization. For more than thirty years, PCL has fought to develop a body of environmental laws in California that is the best in the United States.

MTA legal dealings called 'shocking' LAWSUITS: Ridley-Thomas cites `extraordinary' $30M in fees over Red Line case. (Source: LA Daily News)

Link: MTA legal dealings called 'shocking' - LA Daily News

MTA legal dealings called 'shocking'
LAWSUITS: Ridley-Thomas cites `extraordinary' $30M in fees over Red Line case.
By Troy Anderson, Staff Writer
Updated: 02/02/2010 06:53:42 PM PST

Flabbergasted by the Metropolitan Transportation Authority's soaring litigation costs, Los Angeles County Supervisor Mark Ridley-Thomas on Tuesday called for an audit to determine the extent of the agency's legal expenses.

Ridley-Thomas said Metro has spent more than $30 million in legal fees fighting a lawsuit filed by the Tutor-Saliba Corp. in 1995 regarding the Red Line subway that runs from Union Station to North Hollywood.

Ridley-Thomas is also concerned about another $10 million in legal fees spent on another construction-related lawsuit "which may have been spent without approval of the MTA Board of Directors."

"The question is how many cases are there, what are the controls, what is the management strategy and regrettably, there just doesn't seem to be any and this is just shocking," Ridley-Thomas said. "There has to be accountability for litigation and there seems to be significant gaps here that are just not acceptable."

Metro spokesman Rick Jager said the agency had no comment on the matter, citing pending litigation.

Ron Tutor, chairman of the Sylmar-based Tutor Perini Corp., parent of Tutor-Saliba and one of the largest construction companies in the United States, predicted an audit would find that Metro spent even more than $30 million on the case.

"I think it's about time somebody audited the County Counsel's Office and certain board members to see just how these things can take place," Tutor said.
Advertisement
"I welcome it. It's about time all this stuff came to the surface.

"This is a lawsuit that should have been settled 15 years ago that has turned into a legal quagmire for both parties, completely dictated by the attitude of the MTA, County Counsel's Office and certain board members. It will all come out in the audit."

On Monday, the Metro board voted in closed session to continue litigating the Tutor-Saliba case, authorizing an additional $2.5 million in spending, Ridley-Thomas said.

"This case started in 1995 and since that time the legal expenses have been in excess of $30 million, which is just extraordinary," Ridley-Thomas said.

"The problem with that is that a third of those expenses were apparently incurred without the board's knowledge or consent, and so the question is how did that happen - who gave those instructions and when?"

The call for the audit comes as Metro is facing a $250 million operating deficit, the largest in the agency's history, because of cuts in state funding as well as a decline in ridership.

In the motion introduced Tuesday, Ridley-Thomas called on the Board of Supervisors to vote next Tuesday whether to urge the Metro board to ask the Auditor-Controller's Office to conduct an audit to determine whether appropriate controls, reviews and approvals took place in recent cases.

Underground Connector Up for Metro OK (Source: blogdowntown)

Link: Underground Connector Up for Metro OK :: blogdowntown

Underground Connector Up for Metro OK
By Eric Richardson
Published: Tuesday, February 02, 2010, at 01:18PM

Regional Connector Render: 2nd Street Looking West Metro

DOWNTOWN LOS ANGELES — A popular plan to take Metro's proposed Regional Connector light rail link under the intersection of 1st and Alameda will be officially considered by the agency's planning committee this month.

First presented to the Little Tokyo community in November, the underground option must be formally added to the two currently being studied in the project's environmental documents.

The project would link the two pieces of the existing light rail network, bridging the gap between the 7th / Metro terminus used by the Blue and Expo lines with the Gold Line's Little Tokyo / Arts District station.

Two plans currently under consideration both involve at-grade links to the existing Gold Line tracks, an option that the community has been consistently against since the project outreach first started in late 2007.

The new alternative could add up to $200 million onto the project's price tag, which would then total roughly $1 billion.

Project staff will present the new option to the Planning and Programming committee on February 17. The Metro board will officially select a "Locally Preferred Alternative" for the project this summer.

Mayor seeking Subway to Sea funding (Source: LA Daily News)

Link: Mayor seeking Subway to Sea funding - LA Daily News

Mayor seeking Subway to Sea funding
By Rick Orlov, Staff Writer
Updated: 01/31/2010 06:41:27 PM PST

Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa has his bags packed for an upcoming trip to Washington, D.C., where he hopes to secure support and money for his proposed Subway to the Sea.

Villaraigosa had planned to travel to the nation's capital in January, but canceled the trip when a series of rainstorms raised concerns about widespread flooding.

During his solo visit this month, he plans to ask federal officials to advance the city funding for the West L.A.-to-Santa Monica subway. Voter-approved Measure R would provide $40 billion in sales tax revenue for the project over a 30-year period. However, the mayor hopes to secure that much in federal money over a 10-year span.

Labor unions, Los Angeles business leaders and transit activists support the plan.

However, Villaraigosa has not asked his colleagues on the Metropolitan Transportation Authority board to endorse his proposal out of concern that it would get bogged down in the kind of politics that threatened to derail the region's long-range transit plan.

The mayor has had to fend off criticism that his 30-10 effort would jeopardize some of the other projects in the MTA plan. However, Measure R lays out which programs will be funded and in what order.

Villaraigosa hopes to get the subway project started before his second term ends in 2013.

The mayor also plans to join a delegation from the Los Angeles Area Chamber of Commerce that is traveling to Washington in March.

There was a lot of enthusiasm last week after federal officials announced a grant of $2.3 billion for the California High-Speed Rail project. But that was quickly followed by the question of where the equipment will come from.

The German manufacturer Siemens AG has an assembly plant in Northern California. And Villaraigosa and the MTA tried last year to convince Ansaldobreda to open a plant in L.A., but the Italian company backed away from the deal.

"What we hope is that one of these (overseas) firms will at least open a local assembly plant to produce the cars," MTA Commissioner Richard Katz said.

"It's not like there isn't the business here," he continued. "The MTA alone will need 500 cars and we are trying to convince manufacturers that with all the rail projects going on in the country, it would be worth their while to build something here."

Perhaps, it is a sign of the economy. Or maybe there are just a lot of thrill-seekers out there.

But the search to fill what some consider the most dangerous job in Los Angeles - Animal Services director - has drawn a field of 33 candidates in only the first week of posting.

The city has hired Citygate Associates of Sacramento to review the resumes of applicants who want to succeed Ed Boks as general manager. Boks left amid controversy over how he was managing the department and a decision to suspend vouchers for spay and neuter programs. The department has had five general managers in the past five years.

Villaraigosa has the sole appointing authority for the job, although there are plans to have Citygate rate the six to 10 most-qualified candidates. These applicants will be interviewed by screening committees, with a final recommendation of the top two or three to the mayor.

The job opening comes as the city is looking at all of its operations and whether to merge Animal Services operations with the county or contract it out to a group such as the ASPCA.

One benefit of the job search is that animal activists have, temporarily, called off their protests at the house of the mayor and Animal Services top brass. Rick Orlov is a Daily News staff writer. His column, Tipoff, appears on Mondays. for a daily fix on politics, go to the Sausage Factory at www.insidesocal.com/politics. Contact him at rick.orlov@dailynews.com or 213-978-0390.

Comments Sought on Westside Subway Station Metro evaluating several routes for construction. (Source: www.myfoxla.com)

Link: Comments Sought On Westside Subway Station

Comments Sought on Westside Subway Station
Metro evaluating several routes for construction.

Updated: Sunday, 31 Jan 2010, 4:57 PM PST
Published : Sunday, 31 Jan 2010, 4:57 PM PST

Posted by: Scott Coppersmith / myFOXla.com

People who work or live around Century City are being asked for their opinions on where the Westside subway station should be located, and an open house will be held at an office building Tuesday to gather comments.

The Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation is evaluating several routes for the proposed $4.2 billion subway, and would like to place subway stop somewhere in Century City. The question is: where?

"We know that Century City is a huge regional employment center," said Metro project director David Mieger. As many as 40,000 commuters work in the office buildings, mall and Fox movie studios in Century City.

Most commuters arrive and depart Century City by car through jammed sections of Beverly Hills or West Los Angeles. Los Angeles traffic planners have erected stop signs and banned turns along a major commuter shortcut through Cheviot Hills in order to spare that leafy neighborhood from heavy traffic.

Metro is planning to extend the Purple Line underground tracks down Wilshire Boulevard across the Fairfax District to downtown Beverly Hills, then dip southwest to serve Century City. The Tuesday hearing is to determine where to place the Century City stop.

A developer who wants to demolish the historic Century Plaza Hotel, in the middle of Century City, wants to bring the subway there. But that would mean tunneling beneath residential neighborhoods in Beverly Hills, and the Century Plaza project is mired in controversy.

The alternative would be to keep the subway beneath Santa Monica Boulevard, but that would mean the station would be at the northern end of Century City, instead of in its center.

Tunneling under some houses and apartments is likely necessary west of either subway station alternative, because planners want the subway to swing away from Santa Monica Boulevard to serve a station either on Wilshire Boulevard in Westwood or at UCLA, according to Metro planning documents.

Metro has narrowed down 15 Westside subway alignments to two major concepts. Both would see the subway extended west from the Vermont/Wilshire Station to at least Westwood, or maybe to the VA Hospital just west of the San Diego (405) Freeway.

Options are still being considered to extend that leg west under Wilshire to downtown Santa Monica. A second option would add a leg of the subway north and east from Beverly Hills to serve the Beverly Center area and West Hollywood, ending at the Red Line station at Hollywood and Highland boulevards.

Tuesday's open house will start at 11:30 a.m. and include two short presentations by subway planners. It will be held in the concourse level conference center of the highrise at 2029 Century Park East.

In the case of MTA vs. Tutor-Saliba (Source: LA Observed)

In the case of MTA vs. Tutor-Saliba - LA Observed

In the case of MTA vs. Tutor-Saliba
Kevin Roderick • January 29 2010 12:21 AM

Now that the Metropolitan Transportation Authority has spent 15 years fighting the giant engineering and construction contractor Tutor-Saliba-Perini, staff writer Gabe Friedman asks a reasonable question in Friday's L.A. Daily Journal: what price is too high for a legal victory?

As of two months ago, according to an internal county document provided to the Daily Journal, the MTA has spent $32 million litigating the case over the years, even though its alleged losses totaled about $10 million, and its potential recovery now stands at far less because court rulings have reduced the claims. A mediator recommended nearly a decade ago that it could be settled for $7 million.

However, the MTA has prevailed in two previous trials of the case. While the agency acknowledges the high cost of the litigation, it maintains it must see the case through to deter "dishonest contractors" from cheating it out of scarce taxpayer resources needed for critical infrastructure projects. Though it could simply bar Tutor-Saliba from bidding on its projects, several people familiar with the matter, some of whom spoke on the condition of anonymity because they did not want to appear to litigate the case in the media, said the board wants a judicial ruling that would have a more punishing effect.

The stakes could not be higher for Tutor-Saliba: A jury ruled in 2006 that the company violated the False Claims Act, a finding that could land it on a black list barring it from doing business with government agencies, both locally and nationally, unless the case is settled to avoid such a final judgment.

The fact that a third trial looms next month "illustrates how extreme enmity can develop between courtroom adversaries over years of litigation," says the DJ.

Gold Line Expansion Project Coming in Summer? (Source: MyFOXla.com)

Line: Gold Line Expansion Project Coming This Summer?

Gold Line Expansion Project Coming in Summer?

Updated: Saturday, 30 Jan 2010, 7:32 PM PST
Published : Saturday, 30 Jan 2010, 7:31 PM PST

Posted by: Scott Coppersmith / myFOXla.com

An extension of light rail passenger train service along the Foothill (210) Freeway, once a mere dream for San Gabriel Valley communities, may see dirt moved and concrete poured starting this summer, it was reported today.

A June ground-breaking date appears to be on target for the Gold Line Foothill Extension, which will extend the northern branch of the Gold Line east from Pasadena to the Azusa/Glendora line.

Although the project may eventually see Gold Line passenger trains zipping from Los Angeles and Pasadena as far east as Ontario International Airport, funding is uncertain and the Foothill Extension Construction Authority and county Metropolitan Transportation Authority are still not exactly in accord, the San Gabriel Valley Tribune reported.

The MTA was viewed as a major obstacle to the Foothill extension. Ara Najarian, a Glendale councilman and chairman of the MTA's board, told the newspaper that the MTA's new boss --Art Leahy -- changed the attitudes of MTA officials toward the Gold Line.

"When we bought in our new CEO, I made it clear that we wanted a new attitude in the agency, where everybody isn't fighting each other for their own area's project," Najarian told the Tribune. "I think, under him, the agency has responded."

The construction authority will likely receive its full Measure R allotment of $851 million for the project over 11 years, Habib Balian, the construction authority's CEO, told the Tribune.

Officials hope to find a hungry construction company with enough cash reserves to build the tracks, with the authority paying back the money as its Measure R sales tax funds trickle in.

The first phase will include construction of a landmark bridge to take tracks from the center median of the 210 Freeway into Arcadia. From there, the light-rail tracks will follow old Santa Fe Railway right of way east through Monrovia and Azusa to Glendora.

Right of way exists to take the Gold Line through San Dimas, Laverne, Claremont and Pomona to the Ontario Airport, although funding is not assured for the eastern leg from San Bernardino County.

The Gold Line extends east from Los Angeles Union Station on two branches, and the June groundbreaking is scheduled for the northern branch. The southern branch currently ends in East Los Angeles, and officials hop to extend it either east along the Pomona (60) Freeway or southeast into Whittier.

Plans are also being drawn up to connect the two Gold Line branches across the Civic Center of Los Angeles via a "regional connector." That rail link would extend the Blue and Expo line tracks from the west side of downtown via a new tunnel under Figueroa Street and Bunker Hill.

Vote to Take Train from Culver City to Santa Monica Set for Thursday (Source: LAist)

List: Vote to Take Train from Culver City to Santa Monica Set for Thursday - LAist

Vote to Take Train from Culver City to Santa Monica Set for Thursday


Ladies and gentleman, we have a plan for the Expo Line / Read the post here

As the Expo Line's first phase between downtown Los Angeles and Culver City gets closer to completion (despite it being over-budget and delayed), the building authority's board is set to vote on the second phase, which would connect the line from Culver City to Santa Monica, this Thursday afternoon. If they side with project staff's recommendation, as expected, they will approve a route known as LRT Alternative 2, which would go from Culver City towards the beach via a right of way until connecting with Colorado Boulevard in Santa Monica until 4th Street (it's the more northerly dashed line on the above image).

The meeting, however, is expected to be a heated one. A group of noisy Cheviot Hills residents are trying to derail the project, asking for it to go underground at Sepulveda. That move would be costly, likely killing the project.

The recommended route is the "best performing alternative when cost and efficiency are added to the environmental characteristics," the final environmental impact report's executive summary states(.pdf). "It would provide high ridership, a competitive travel time, less community disruption, and the least relocation of residents, with the most cost effective price."

By Zach Behrens in News on February 1, 2010 2:15 PM

Can High-Speed Rail Succeed in America? (Source: Time magazine)

High-Speed Rail's Job and Energy Benefits to the U.S. -- Printout -- TIME

Friday, Jan. 29, 2010
Can High-Speed Rail Succeed in America?
By Bryan Walsh

Environmentalists came away from President Obama's first State of the Union address on Wednesday with mixed feelings. Yes, the President focused on the importance of investment in clean energy and energy efficiency as the best way to sustainably grow America's moribund economy, and he mentioned clean coal, biofuels and nuclear power (though not renewable energy), and he talked up the need to pass a "comprehensive energy and climate bill." But notably, he said nothing about putting a price on carbon — which is considered by most greens to be the key move to reduce global carbon emissions.

There was one part of the speech, however, that no green could fault: Obama's call for the creation of a high-speed rail system as a way to generate green jobs, enhance economic productivity and reduce carbon emissions. On Thursday, Jan. 28, the White House announced the awarding of $8 billion in stimulus funding to kick-start high-speed-rail projects and improve service in 13 corridors across the country. Obama and Vice President Joe Biden traveled to Tampa, Fla., to announce the projects, which include the construction of an 84-mile high-speed track from Tampa to Orlando. (See the 50 best inventions of 2009.)

"We want to start looking deep into the 21st century and say to ourselves, There's no reason why other countries can build high-speed rail lines and we can't," Obama told a crowd in a University of Tampa arena. "Right here in Tampa, we're building the future."

That's a nice sentiment, but America's antiquated rail system will have to advance a long way just to make it to the present, let alone the future. U.S. intercity railroads are a laughingstock compared with those in most other developed nations — and, increasingly, even those in developing nations like China, which is investing more than $300 billion to build more than 16,000 miles of high-speed track by 2020.

Today you can travel the 250 miles from Paris to Lyon on the high-speed TGV in two hours. Covering a similar distance from Philadelphia to Boston takes some five hours, and that's on an Amtrak Acela train, the closest thing the U.S. has to high-speed rail. "Every other major industrialized nation has recognized that high-speed rail is key to economic growth and mobility," says Petra Todorovich, director of the America 2050 program at the Regional Planning Association. "It's time for America to realize that as well." (See the most important cars of all time.)

When the White House announced last spring that it would allocate billions of stimulus dollars to high-speed-rail projects, states submitted 45 applications for more than $50 billion in aid. In the end, the Federal Railroad Administration decided to distribute $8 billion in funding to 31 states, with the biggest single grants going to California ($2.3 billion) and Florida ($1.3 billion).

But whatever the public's vision of a sparkling new 150-m.p.h. bullet train like those in Japan and Europe, the reality is that not all, or even most, of the stimulus money will go toward creating entirely new rail service. Instead, much of the initial funding will be spent improving and speeding up existing service.

In Florida, however, the money will in fact help build a new stretch of track between Tampa and Orlando, which will allow trains to travel at speeds up to 168 m.p.h. It is the first leg of an intercity corridor that is expected to continue southward to Miami.

Demographically, Florida is an ideal state in which to launch the rail projects. Together, the metro areas of Tampa and Orlando are a major economic unit, home to more than 3.4 million people and close enough on the map to make high-speed rail competitive with air and auto travel. The region is also a tourist hub, which makes it likely that a Tampa-Orlando rail line will be well-used by Americans from around the country. That makes it a smart advertisement for other high-speed-rail projects back in their home regions. (Read "A Brief History of High-Speed Rail.")

Florida's project is also an optimal test case, having already been approved by the state and relatively free of red tape. The line is set to open by 2015, the environmental-impact assessment has already been done, and the state owns more than 90% of the route's right of way. That should reduce the property struggles and legal challenges that have slowed other new rail projects. "Florida is relatively cheap compared to other projects," says Todorovich. "This is the sort of project they can use to build support on a national basis. You need a success."

Still, the initial round of $8 billion — which Biden referred to as "seed money" during his remarks in Tampa — is just a tiny percentage of what it would cost to significantly overhaul the country's rail system. And there are concerns that by spreading the funds to so many different projects in so many different states, it won't be possible to make a real difference in any one place, as Mark Reutter wrote in a new report for the Progressive Policy Institute. It doesn't help that the one region that could most obviously benefit from truly high-speed rail — the Boston-to-Washington corridor — received a mere $112 million in funding, in part because building new track in the congested area would be prohibitively expensive and politically challenging.

Nevertheless, high-speed rail is an idea whose time has come — at least for environmentalists. According to Environment America, high-speed rail uses a third less energy per mile than auto or air travel, and a nationwide system could reduce oil use by 125 million bbl. a year. In addition, high-speed rail represents the kind of long-term infrastructure investment that will pay back for decades, just as the interstate highway system of the 1950s has. "This is a down payment on a truly national program," said Biden, who has logged more than 7,900 round trips of his own on Amtrak. "It will change the way we travel and change the way we work and live." Greens will be happy to see that.

Busway extension gets boost from MTA TRANSIT: Local funds will be used to keep the Orange Line advancing. (Source: LA times)

Busway extension gets boost from MTA - LA Daily News

Busway extension gets boost from MTA
TRANSIT: Local funds will be used to keep the Orange Line advancing.
By Troy Anderson troy.anderson@dailynews.com 213-974-8985 Staff Writer
Updated: 01/29/2010 01:13:49 AM PST

With the state withholding start-up money for the project, the Metropolitan Transportation Authority board voted Thursday to use local funds to kick start the $216 million Metro Orange Line Extension from Canoga Park to Chatsworth.

Faced with its own budget troubles, the state could not not give Metro $14.7 million in Proposition 1B bond funds to start the busway extension. So in a 7-0 vote, the Metro board decided to use voter-approved Measure R half-percent sales tax funds instead.

Metro officials hope the state will repay them later.

"This decision helps keep the project on track," Metro spokesman Dave Sotero said.

"Ultimately, it's going to connect Amtrak to Metrolink services in the west portion of the San Fernando Valley with the Orange Line," Sotero said. "That will enable people who are coming in from Ventura County to be able to get into the west part of the Valley."

In what marked the first official project to begin construction under the Measure R transportation sales tax, Metro announced last summer it planned to break ground on the four-mile extension of the Metro Orange Line north from Canoga Station to the Chatsworth Metrolink Station.

But the project was put on hold due to the state budget crisis.

"The vote allows us to use some of Metro's own sales tax money to keep this project moving in lieu of the state's grant, which is not available at the moment," said David Yale, Metro's deputy executive
Advertisement
officer for regional programming.

With the funding approval, Sotero said the project is expected to begin in March and be completed in 2012.

The extension will add a new north-south busway in the West Valley and create a connection between the Orange Line and Metrolink and Amrak rail system throughout Southern California.

When completed, the extension will transform the Metro-owned right-of-way into an attractive landscaped busway similar to the existing Orange Line corridor, Sotero said. It will include four station stops at Sherman Way, Roscoe Boulevard, Nordhoff Street and Chatsworth, a new 207-space park-and-ride facility at the Sherman Way Station, landscaping and parallel bicycle and pedestrian paths.

"I'm not completely sure whether or not it's going to be as high of potential ridership as people think because our existing local lines between the Chatsworth Metrolink station and Warner Center don't have that high of a ridership," said Kymberleigh Richards, the public and legislative affairs director for Southern California Transit Advocates. "But at the same time ... it does create some connectivity between three of our highest ridership east-west streets - Sherman Way, Roscoe and Nordhoff. That's not a bad thing."

The vote comes as Metro faces a record operating deficit of $279 million, considers cuts in bus and rail service and experiences an 8 percent drop in bus ridership over the past year.

Metro fares are set to increase from $1.25 per ride to $1.50 in July.

"We are working with the board to determine how to bring (the operating deficit) down," Yale said. "Everything is on the table. We have to work with our board to figure out how to close that gap."

Meanwhile, the Metro board voted 7-1 to approve an $11.5 million contract to study the feasibility of six transportation projects, including a controversial proposal to build a tunnel to extend the 710 Freeway from Interstate 10 to the 210 - the famous "missing link" because it would be the final piece in the Southern California freeway system. The project, embroiled in legal battles, has been stymied for decades.

If ultimately approved, transportation officials would have to choose between six corridors to construct the 4.5-10 mile tunnel costing $4-$4.5 billion, said Douglas E. Failing, Metro's executive director of highway programs.

"It would be larger than most of what we see here today in California for transportation tunnels," Failing said. "It would be the same size as tunnels we see in other places around the world - Spain, France and Russia."

Failing said five routes are being considered for the possible tunnel, including one that would connect with Route 2 at the border of Los Angeles and Glendale.

La Ca ada Flintridge Mayor Laura Olhasso objected to the study, saying "developing a strategic assessment and business case for the public-private funding and expedited project delivery of the SR-710 North tunnel project is a commitment to the project prior to environmental review under CEQA."