Villaraigosa explains 30/10 Initiative to House Committee

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Villaraigosa explains 30/10 Initiative to House Committee

One of the charts that Mayor Villaraigosa submitted to Congress to explain the 30/10 Initiative. Click above to see larger image.

Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa is in Washington D.C. today to testify before Congress on the 30/10 Initiative that Metro is pursuing. Attentive readers will recall that the 30/10 plan proposes to build a dozen Measure R transit projects in the next 10 years instead of the next 30. Villaraigosa is also a member of the Board of Directors of Metro.

Click above to see larger image.

The above chart explains the 30/10 timeline. It’s obviously ambitious. In order for it to happen, Metro needs to secure $8 billion in funding from the federal government, which Metro would then pay back using Measure R sales tax funds. The challenge is that this has never been done before to build urban transit systems.

Villaraigosa’s written testimony is below. I encourage you to read it — it provides a very good overview of the different types of loans and bonds that could be used to finance the 30/10 Initiative. And here’s a link to the Ways and Means web page on today’s hearing.

United States House Committee on Ways and Means
Subcommittee on Select Revenue Measures

Testimony of Los Angeles Mayor Antonio R. Villaraigosa

May 13, 2010

Thank you Chairman Neal, Ranking Member Tiberi, and members of the subcommittee for the opportunity to address “Proposals to Establish an Infrastructure Bank.” Your focus on the fiscal and policy implications of initiatives to stimulate critical infrastructure investment is important and timely for the nation and for Los Angeles in particular.

Introduction

Los Angeles is the car capital of the world, with the traffic congestion and air quality to prove it. Despite dramatic improvements in our air quality over the past four decades, Los Angeles continues to have some of the dirtiest air in the U.S. And, according to the Texas Transportation Institute, we continue to have the highest levels of traffic congestion in the U.S. Angelenos spend an average of 70 extra hours each year stuck in traffic. In total, we waste 367 million extra gallons of fuel and 485 million hours at an estimated cost of $10.3 billion to our regional economy.

At the same time, we have invested heavily in our transportation infrastructure and made progress in stemming the growth of traffic congestion. While most other major
U.S. cities have seen congestion grow since 1997 – even those with major transit systems – Los Angeles’ congestion levels have remained constant despite population increases.

We have done this by strategically expanding our car pool lane system, synchronizing our traffic lights, and expanding our mass transit system. Our first rail line of the modern era opened in 1990, connecting the City of Long Beach and downtown Los Angeles. Since then, we have invested heavily in expanding our light rail, heavy rail, and commuter rail systems. Concurrently, we have seen an explosion of rail ridership in Los Angeles. From 1996 to 2008, overall rail trips increased 150%, with light rail growing 90%, heavy rail growing 275% (after opening subway legs to Hollywood, Universal City, and North Hollywood), and commuter rail growing 126%.

According to the 2008 National Transit Database Los Angeles ranks third in the nation in total transit boardings (474 million), trailing only New York and Chicago. We also are ranked tenth in rail boardings. And our growing heavy rail system (subway) is top in the U.S. in passengers per hour (“Unlinked Passenger Trips per Vehicle Revenue Hour”), beating out both New York and Chicago. These data suggest that there is there is a market for rail transit in Los Angeles. At the same time, we have continued to invest in our bus system, innovating new “Rapid Bus” service, building a 14-mile bus rapid transit project (Orange Line), operating the largest clean fuel bus system in the U.S., and winning the 2006 American Public Transportation Association’s best large transit operator award.

Transit is the Future in Los Angeles

Public transit plays a vital role in cities, relieving traffic congestion, improving air quality, and providing lifeline service to the transit dependent so that they have access to full range of opportunities they need to prosper, from jobs and shopping to medical services, education, and recreation. But in cities like Los Angeles, we are essentially built out. There is little undeveloped land beyond our parks and clearly there is no room to build new freeways to ease traffic without ripping out neighborhoods wholesale, which I strongly oppose.

When I ran for mayor of Los Angeles in 2001 and again in 2005 (when I was elected), a cornerstone of my platform was making our city and our region more sustainable. A key part of building sustainable communities is investing in clean rail transit. I argued then and continue to believe today that Los Angeles needs a greatly expanded rail system to remain competitive in the 21st century and if we are to grow into a truly sustainable metropolis made up of livable communities.

Therefore, we are investing heavily in transit, retrofitting our city and region with new systems that provide clean, reliable alternatives to driving. At the same time, we are working to create sustainable communities around our rail stations, neighborhoods where walking, cycling, and transit can connect people to the places they want to go and the people they want to see. We are supporting major anchor developments in transit oriented districts and between 2005 and 2009 over 40% of all new construction has occurred near rail stations.

As mayor and a member of the 13-member Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority’s (MTA) Board of Directors, I have worked with my colleagues to start important planning and environmental studies for new rail lines that precede construction. We have done so because we know that major public works projects are not built overnight and that pre-construction work must continue even as we work to identify funding for our ambitious rail program.

The Measure R Story – Cities Investing in Transportation Infrastructure

In 2008, in the midst of a national economic recession, Los Angeles voters said “yes” to cleaner air, jobs, and livable communities and supported Measure R, a 30-year half-cent sales tax dedicated to transportation investments. Over two million voters and two-thirds (67.9%) of those casting votes on November 4, 2008 supported Measure R. While surprising to many, we were confident that our voters again would choose to invest in themselves and the transportation future of our city and our region.

Measure R will generate an estimated $36 billion in revenue over the next 30 years, according to our latest projections. It is a multi-modal funding source, dedicating 20% of revenue for highway improvements. In addition, local cities in the County of Los Angeles receive 15% of the revenue by population formula that they can spend on local projects that improve mobility, transit, cycling, and pedestrian access. But the majority (65%) of funding is dedicated to transit capital projects and transit operations. And the construction of Measure R projects will create thousands of new, high quality jobs.

Measure R can serve as a model for local investment in transportation. This is the third time the Los Angeles electorate has voted to tax itself for a better tomorrow. Previously, our voters passed half-cent sales taxes in 1980 and 1990. As a result, Los Angeles has been able to make massive investments in public transit and our highway system. We have had matching funds to compete for and secure state and federal transportation funding, including federal New Starts to support our heavy rail and light rail expansion. And we have had additional operating funds that have allowed us to keep our fares low.

MTA 2009 Long Range Transportation Plan – Consensus Transit Projects

Last year, the MTA Board of Directors unanimously adopted a new Long Range Transportation Plan (LRTP), which serves as the blue print for our transportation investments over the next 30 years. Our plan represents an MTA Board consensus of support for the 12 transit projects approved by voters in Measure R. Thanks to Measure R, we will be able to expand our rail system dramatically, building 12 new rail and bus rapid transit (BRT) lines and adding an estimated 78 miles of new service. Our plan assumes that 65% of its transit construction funding will come from Measure R, 23% from Section 5309 New Starts grants, and 12% from other local, state, and federal funds.

The construction and operation of these lines will yield significant regional benefits. We will remove from the environment 570,000 pounds of emissions annually. We will use 10.3 million fewer gallons of gasoline. We will drive 208 million fewer miles each year. And we will increase annual transit use by 77 million trips.

But beyond these important environmental and transportation benefits, our plan will create jobs. Over our 30-year plan, we expect to create 166,000 construction jobs and at least 2,800 permanent jobs operating and maintaining our expanded transit system.
Los Angeles 30/10 Initiative

Unfortunately, 30 years is too long to wait if we can find a way to build these projects faster. Our “30/10 initiative” is a proposal to accelerate construction of 12 new mass transit lines and build these projects over the next decade. (See Appendix A for a list of the projects and their accelerated time schedule under 30/10.)

30/10 will create jobs, secure our energy future, and make Los Angeles move sustainable and livable. By transforming our region, we will achieve the many benefits in the near-term, in time to see and appreciate them. Specifically, we would triple the number of construction jobs in Southern California (not just Los Angeles), with an average of over 16,000 jobs annually. These would be career jobs in the construction trades, not short-term employment. We would see 1.8 times less carbon monoxide (CO) and 2.4 times less nitrous oxides (NOx) over the next 30 years. And we would see an expanded rail network connecting many of the most important employment and population centers in our region.

We believe that there is a compelling local and national interest in getting the jobs and environmental benefits of our transit program as quickly as possible. One of our 12 projects is already under construction and we expect to break ground on a second project later this year. Another seven projects are in some stage of formal pre-construction development (planning, environmental, or design).

By accelerating our transit program, we can reduce construction costs by 25% from avoided cost inflation alone, from $17.5 billion over 30 years to $13.7 billion over 10 years (figures updated from March 2010). In addition, the soft construction market provides an opportunity to put Americans back to work and save money building new rail lines. We have seen aggressive bidding on public works projects by companies hungry for work, with bids coming in ten, twenty, or more percent under the engineer’s estimate.

The challenge we face is that our adopted Long Range Transportation Plan only has $5.8 billion in transit capital funding capacity for the Measure R projects over the next decade. This means a shortfall of nearly $8 billion in meeting the 30/10 plan. At the same time, we will have an estimated $10.4 billion of Measure R transit construction money in the second and third decades of our plan that we want to tap now.

We have explored using existing federal programs, such as the Department of Transportation’s TIGER discretionary grant program and the Transportation Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Act (TIFIA) credit program. But there is insufficient capacity in these programs to accommodate the 30/10 initiative. Los Angeles voters have made the major commitment of approving the new Measure R funding stream, but we need federal assistance in monetizing it in a cost-effective manner.

We have followed with great interest recent proposals for establishing a National Infrastructure Bank by Representative Rosa DeLauro and Senator Chris Dodd. Likewise, we have noted the President’s FY 2011 budget proposal to establish a National Infrastructure Innovation and Finance Fund (the I-Fund), designed to assist major investments of national or regional significance. Each of these programs would substantially expand federal lending capacity beyond the existing TIFIA levels. We support any approach that can provide lendable funds at the same rates and flexible terms as the existing TIFIA program.

We also believe there is a special opportunity through an infrastructure bank or an I-fund to allocate new, Congressionally-authorized tax-preferred bonding authority for transit investments. Such programs have been extremely valuable in stimulating investment in other infrastructure sectors, such as public schools. For example, last month, the Los Angeles Unified School District successfully marketed $290 million of Qualified School Construction Bonds, a new form of tax credit bond for educational facilities that provides a direct-pay interest subsidy to the issuer. These bonds, and several other categories of tax credit bonds authorized by Congress in recent years, provide a much deeper interest subsidy than conventional tax-exempt bonds or Build America Bonds (BABs). Depending on the program; the federal government will subsidize up to 100% of the interest expense, with the borrower being responsible for repaying the principal.

Given the environmental, energy independence, safety and “livability” benefits of major public transportation investments, we think a compelling argument can be made for a similar targeted program for transit, while volume capping it for fiscal control. Even though the bonds would be issued locally, the volume cap could be allocated by the infrastructure bank or the I-Fund to those major projects and programs offering the highest societal return on investment.

It should be noted that the existing 100% tax credit bond programs have constrained bond maturities in order to limit the present-value federal share of total project costs to 50 percent. However, the long-lived nature of transit improvements and their substantial positive “spillover” benefits warrant a longer bond maturity and correspondingly higher subsidy. It is proposed that the maximum maturity of transit-oriented tax credit bonds be 35-40 years. This term is similar to the final maturity of many of the existing BABs issues. The proposed structure will allow Metro to more than double the amount of capital investment supportable by Measure R revenues, compared to conventional tax-exempt bond issuance.

Together, an expanded TIFIA-style federal credit program and a targeted “specified” tax credit bond program for transit investments of national significance administered by an infrastructure bank or I-Fund would allow Los Angeles to more effectively raise the upfront capital needed to achieve the accelerated benefits of the 30/10 initiative.

Conclusion

As Congress continues its important focus on stimulating the U.S. economy, we believe an infrastructure bank or investment fund could play an important role in helping sponsors of major public transportation investments capitalize, literally and figuratively, on local revenue streams. In this way, Congress could encourage state and local governments to invest in the transportation infrastructure that is essential to maintaining the competitiveness and sustainability of the U.S. in the 21st century and enable the federal government to leverage its resources strategically.

Attached are additional supplemental materials related to our 30/10 initiative, Measure R, and the job creation benefits of investing in public transit. Please do not hesitate to contact me directly or Deputy Mayor Jaime de la Vega at (213) 978-2360 or jaime.delavega@lacity.org before or after the hearing if you have any questions.

Thank you for providing me with the opportunity to submit this testimony. I look forward to working collaboratively with you and this committee in the future to forge a partnership that will help us create quality jobs and clean up the environment.


-- Steve Hymon

Park 101’s Freeway Lid for a Walkable Downtown Los Angeles (Source: Streetsblog Los Angeles)

Link: Streetsblog Los Angeles » Park 101’s Freeway Lid for a Walkable Downtown Los Angeles

Park 101’s Freeway Lid for a Walkable Downtown Los Angeles

by Joe Linton on May 11, 2010



In the 1950's, the 101 Freeway was built through downtown Los Angeles, cutting off the city's historic plaza, Union Station and Chinatown from the rest of the downtown civic center. This week, Angelenos have a chance to learn more about an ambitious plan that could restore much of the fabric of downtown, improve walking and bicycling connections, and add parkland to the L.A.'s park-poor core. It involves creating a lid above the below-grade freeway; atop the lid sits Park 101.

Interested folks can see Park 101 project plans, ask questions, and give input at a meeting preceding the monthly downtown Art Walk this Thursday. It takes place between 4 and 6 P.M. at Caltrans Headquarters, at 200 S. Main Street.

There are quite a few places where highway lids have been used to create park space. Successful examples include Memorial Park in La Canada and Freeway Park in Seattle. The lid idea is being explored for lots of locations in Southern California, including:

* Over the 101 Freeway from just west of Vermont Avenue to nearly Virgil Avenue - approved in the city's Station Neighborhood Area Plan
* Over the 5 Freeway near the Lincoln/Cypress Metro Gold Line Station - shown in Metro's and Livable Places' Making the Connections study.
* Hollywood Central Park over the 101 Freeway from just west of Hollywood Blvd to Santa Monica Blvd
* Over the 10 Freeway from 14th to 17th Street in Santa Monica

Park 101 is proposed over the 101 Freeway through downtown Los Angeles, extending from around Our Lady of the Angels Cathedral (near Grand Avenue) to the Los Angeles River (near Alameda Street.) The project would extend about one mile, entail roughly 100 acres, and cost about 800 million dollars. Project specifics and images are available at the Downtown News, LAist, Curbed, and at Caltrans' Park101 page.


There's a clear need to bridge the massive barriers that L.A.'s freeways present. This is especially true for downtown Los Angeles, given the density of population and availability of transit. Park 101's initial phase would strengthen walking connections to transit-hub Union Station, by lidding the block between Los Angeles Street and Main Street. Park 101 proponents propose that portions of the project can dovetail with High Speed Rail planned to connect with Union Station.

As civilized as Park 101 feels, the project does face a number of hurdles, not the least of which is its estimated $800M price tag. The site is surrounded by institutional and governmental uses that have turned their backs on the freeway. These government buildings, generally empty outside of weekday workdays, don't really generate the needed "eyes on the park" and park usage that can be critical for success. Additonally, even with the freeway covered, there are still numerous street crossings to bridge to arrive at a coherent park corridor. None of these issues are insurmountable, but they will take careful planning and plenty of funding.

Come check out the designs this Thursday!

Fixes needed for L.A. public transit system (Source: latimes.com)

Link: DAVID LAZARUS: Fixes needed for Los Angeles public transit system - latimes.com

Fixes needed for L.A. public transit system
Not moving

Among them: Adopt a regional approach, make transit more convenient and create more online resources.
By David Lazarus

May 13, 2010 | 4:10 p.m.

I knew Tuesday's column on public transportation would get a big reaction from frustrated commuters. But I wasn't expecting the message that was waiting for me that afternoon on my voice mail:

"The mayor is trying to reach you. He wants to speak with you."

And that's how I found myself in City Hall the next day sitting at a big table opposite Jaime de la Vega, the deputy mayor for transportation. We spent nearly two hours discussing and arguing about ways to make public transit more attractive and practical for Los Angeles residents.

And, as if on cue, Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa called in just as De la Vega and I were getting into it over the financial feasibility of the mayor's much-ballyhooed "30/10" plan to do 30 years' worth of transit development in just a decade.

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Villaraigosa apologized that he couldn't be there in person — he had an event he had to attend. And then I figured he was going to lower the boom and tell me I had a lot of nerve criticizing the L.A. County Metropolitan Transportation Authority for lacking a vision to expand ridership.

But no.

"I just wanted you to know that I thought your column really hit it on the head," Villaraigosa said. "We do need to increase ridership. I'm going to have my folk get together to address the things you brought up."

He didn't go much deeper than that, but there it is. And I plan to hold the mayor to his pledge.

So let's look more closely at what we're up against — and what might be done over both the short and long hauls to improve a situation that many L.A. commuters might think is unfixable.

As I wrote on Tuesday, a number of regional transit systems, including the MTA, plan to jack up fares this summer. But all that will do is reach deeper into the pockets of those who already ride buses and rail lines.

Longer term, the trick to boosting revenue isn't demanding more cash from existing riders. It's getting more people to ride public transit.

To do that, we need to look beyond those who already choose to travel by bus and rail, and those who have no choice. We need to attract casual riders who do have a choice but who might be willing to leave the car at home one or two weeks a month.

De la Vega and I agreed that convenience is key — and recent studies by the Southern California Assn. of Governments back this up. Their surveys found that convenience is the leading concern for local commuters, followed by travel time, cost and being able to easily switch from one transit system to another.

The problem, of course, is that the region's public transit network is pathetically inconvenient, especially for those who might have more than one stop to make during the day or who have to get somewhere in a relatively timely fashion.

For this reason, three-quarters of local residents drive alone in their cars to get around town, according to the Southern California Assn. of Governments. Thirteen percent carpool or drive with others, and a meager 12% use public transit.

Compare that with New York, where a majority of workers (55%) use public transit every day, according to census figures. That percentage is 37% in Washington, D.C., 31% in San Francisco and Boston, and 27% in Chicago and Philadelphia.

"We want to grow ridership," De la Vega told me. "That's clearly a good thing. The challenge is that when we add more service, we don't always see an increase in riders."

Which brings us back to the vision thing. Incredibly, we have no regional transit authority or czar dedicated to expanding ridership in Southern California, arguably the most car-happy place in the country. Instead, we have dozens of city- and county-run transit systems competing with one another for a limited pool of transit funding and revenue.

There are complex and costly issues at play here, no question. But the bottom line is that precious little effort is being made on a coordinated basis to sell a product to a more-than-willing customer base. (The fact that 67% of L.A. voters approved a half-cent sales tax increase in 2008 to fund transit projects tells us that people hereabouts really do want public transit to work.)

So Job One: Put someone in charge already. The head of the MTA seems the most likely choice, but perhaps other system operators would prefer a more neutral party. Whatever. The most important thing is that someone be responsible for presenting commuters throughout Southern California with a regional approach to public transit.

Next up (and these are the easy fixes): Offer commuters daily, weekly and monthly passes good for all local transit systems, and make those passes available at all supermarkets, post offices and other locations. People won't know how viable public transit might be unless they give it a try. Let's make that as easy as possible.

And let's create online resources that can crunch all the variables of getting people from Point A to Point B and come up with the best possible route and itinerary. There are such resources available — the MTA offers a decent trip planner — but they could be a whole lot more user-friendly and intuitive.

What about the bigger picture? Next week I'll outline some ways we could — if we had the political courage and a willing public — make things a good deal better relatively soon and infinitely better in years ahead.

David Lazarus' column runs Tuesdays and Fridays. He also can be seen daily on KTLA-TV Channel 5. Send your tips or feedback to david.lazarus@latimes.com.

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Villaraigosa in D.C. to lobby for federal help on mass transit projects (Source: L.A. NOW)

Villaraigosa in D.C. to lobby for federal help on mass transit projects | L.A. NOW | Los Angeles Times

Villaraigosa in D.C. to lobby for federal help on mass transit projects
May 12, 2010 | 5:45 pm

Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa will be back in Washington on Thursday to lobby for support for federal help to speed expansion of the region’s transit network, including the subway to Westwood.

The mayor is scheduled to testify at the U.S. Capitol, and meet privately with congressional leaders, in his effort to get Washington to provide the Los Angeles region with assistance -- perhaps federal help in paying interest on loans or using federal stimulus money -- so that projects now expected to take 30 years could be built in 10.

Villaraigosa has said that the Los Angeles region isn’t coming to Washington with its hands out, but rather offering to put up billions of its own dollars from Measure R, a half-cent sales tax approved by Los Angeles County voters last year.

The program is expected to raise $40 billion for mass transit projects, including extension of the subway to Westwood and of the light-rail Gold Line to the San Gabriel Valley.

The 30-10 plan is unprecedented because it seeks to create a pool of federal money to speed construction of light rail, subway and rapid transit bus projects. The idea has gained some traction in Congress and the U.S. Department of Transportation, and in April was endorsed by the Metropolitan Transportation Authority.

Under such a program, it might be possible for the nation's third-largest transportation agency to borrow federal money and pay it back with Measure R revenue or secure loan guarantees, which would allow the MTA to finance transit projects with bonds sold to investors.

Among the 12 transit projects in the 30-10 plan are the regional connector for light rail in downtown Los Angeles, the Foothill Extension of the Metro Gold Line, a Green Line extension to Los Angeles International Airport and the South Bay, the Crenshaw corridor transit project and the Orange Line Canoga Extension. The estimated cost of all the projects is about $20 billion.

While in Washington, Villaraigosa also is scheduled to speak at the United States-Mexico Chamber of Commerce "Good Neighbor Awards Gala Dinner" Thursday evening.

-- Phil Willon from City Hall

Japan America Society of Southern California Presents THE FUTURE OF HIGH-SPEED RAIL IN CALIFORNIA (Source: PRNewswire)

Japan America Society of Southern California Presents THE FUTURE OF HIGH-SPEED RAIL IN CALIFORNIA -- LOS ANGELES, May 12 /PRNewswire/ --

Japan America Society of Southern California Presents THE FUTURE OF HIGH-SPEED RAIL IN CALIFORNIA


LOS ANGELES, May 12 /PRNewswire/ -- The Japan America Society of Southern California (JASSC) and the Port of Los Angeles will present the Fourth Annual U.S.– Japan Green Conference: THE FUTURE OF HIGH-SPEED RAIL IN CALIFORNIA at The Omni Los Angeles Hotel in downtown Los Angeles on May 27, 2010. The conference will take place from 2:00pm to 5:30pm, and will be immediately followed by a networking reception from 5:30pm to 7:00pm. Special guest and keynote speaker, Norman Y. Mineta, 14th U.S. Secretary of Transportation, will lead a discussion on high-speed rail in California.

Additional speakers include: Richard Katz, member of the board of the California High-Speed Rail Authority and past chair of the California State Assembly's Transportation Committee; Michael R. Kodama, executive director of the Orangeline High Speed Rail Project; Robert E. Galbraith, Transportation Systems Division, Mitsubishi Electric Power Products; Masaki Ogata, executive vice president of the East Japan Railway Company (Tokyo), and; Becky Johnson Sabin of Siemens Corporation.

With the passage of Proposition 1A on the November 2008 ballot, California voters approved funding for the nation's first high-speed train system that will link the state's major cities while reducing greenhouse gas emissions. In January this year, President Barak Obama pledged $2.3 billion in federal economic-stimulus funds with a large portion of the money tagged for a statewide high-speed rail line project for high-speed rail in California.

As world leaders for energy conservation and high-speed transportation systems, Japan and Europe have much to offer California as the state moves forward with its plans for high-speed rail. High-speed has both proponents and critics. "With a goal of reduction of the use of natural resources and the elimination of hazardous pollutants, this conference will provide California's transportation industry an excellent opportunity to share an effective dialogue," said Robert Brasch, chairman of JASSC.

Conference admission is $50 per person and entrance to the networking reception. Reservations are recommended and can be made online at www.jas-socal.org or by calling (213) 627-6217, ext. 202.

About Japan America Society of Southern California

The Japan America Society of Southern California was founded in 1909 to build economic, cultural, governmental and personal relationships between the people of Japan and America. It is the West Coast's premier educational and public affairs forum dedicated to the United States–Japan relationship. JASSC is a qualified 501(c)(3) nonprofit, charitable education organization and is supported by 130 Japanese and American corporate members and 2,000 individual members. For more information, please visit www.jas-socal.org.

About the Port of Los Angeles

The Port of Los Angeles is America's premier port and has a strong commitment to developing innovative strategic and sustainable operations that benefit the economy as well as the quality of life for the region and the nation it serves. As the leading seaport in North America in terms of shipping container volume and cargo value, the Port generates 919,000 regional jobs and $39.1 billion in annual wages and tax revenues. A proprietary department of the City of Los Angeles, the Port is self-supporting and does not receive taxpayer dollars. For more information, please visit www.portoflosangeles.org.

Contact: Kay Amano


(213) 627-6217, x207


amano@jas-socal.org



SOURCE Japan America Society of Southern California

A Potential Thorn in the side for High-Speed Rail

Union Pacific Vows to Fight High-Speed Rail

Union Pacific Vows to Fight High-Speed Rail

Posted: May 12th, 2010 10:02 AM EDT

By Mike Rosenberg
San Jose Mercury News (California)

CALIFORNIA - Signaling its most forceful objection yet and perhaps protracted court battles Union Pacific has notified the California high-speed rail authority that it will fight the state's newest plans to run bullet trains from the South Bay to the Central Valley, including along Monterey Highway in San Jose.

The Delaware-based company, which runs late-night freight trains along the Caltrain corridor and south into the Central Valley, says the California High Speed Rail Authority's revised route plans released in March are "not acceptable."

The rail authority needs land owned by Union Pacific south of the San Jose Diridon Station including the property for the Gilroy high-speed rail station and in the Central Valley to build its railroad to Southern California.

But in a recent letter to the authority, Union Pacific rejected a plan to negotiate the sale of the land and vowed to join its freight-shipping customers in warding off the state's attempts to grab their land through eminent domain.

Critics question whether the company is holding out for more money for its tracks, while watchdogs say the charges set the stage for costly and lengthy legal battles.

Planners can't afford any cost increases or delays resulting from legal challenges the freight industry may bring. The $43 billion project needs to start construction by September 2012 or lose $2.25 billion in federal stimulus grants, which would be matched by state funds to total $4.5 billion.

Critics say the letter, dated April 23, is simply meant to bolster Union Pacific's negotiating stance. Assemblyman Jim Beall, D-San Jose, said he encountered similar tactics when he headed the Caltrain committee that led the agency's track purchase from Union Pacific in the early 1990s.

"Them saying they're not going to negotiate is simply posturing for their purposes of getting more money," Beall said. "If they want to do that kind of tactic, they're going to have to pay for it some way. What comes around goes around. If they want to do that kind of thing, watch out."

The rail authority and the Attorney General's Office are looking into the complaints, which have become a major priority for rail planners. They hope to arrange a meeting with Union Pacific leaders to improve what they called a "difficult relationship."

"That's an issue for us right now," rail authority Program Director Tony Daniels said at a meeting in Sacramento last week. "They don't want us, first of all, in their right of way or in any of their property. And, secondly, they have grave concern about us crossing their property with any overpasses."

Although Peninsula and South Bay residents and officials have been most visible in opposing and in some cases suing the rail authority, Union Pacific may present even greater challenges.

The company, with a $3.5 billion payroll, spends $2.5 billion on capital projects annually and intends to expand its local operations but said the high-speed rail project would severely hamper its shipping in the Bay Area and further south. Freight locomotives cannot operate when high-speed trains are running and the freight spurs off the main track could be jeopardized by the project.

Eminent domain appears to be the rail authority's only recourse to obtain the land on which it wants to build.

The state plans to run its trains alongside or on UP tracks from San Jose to Gilroy, the planned high-speed rail station in Gilroy, and in Manteca, Modesto, Salida, Turlock, Atwater and Merced.

"Locating the high-speed corridor immediately adjacent to UP's right of way raises serious safety issues and creates a barrier against any future rail-served development on that side," the four-page letter said.

The company said such an arrangement would increase the risk of a derailed freight train slamming into a passenger-filled bullet train, which "could result in one of the worst rail accidents in American history, with dozens or even hundreds of fatalities."

The rail authority tried to circumvent a stretch of UP-owned track by releasing plans to run bullet trains through an eight-mile stretch of Monterey Highway from Umbarger to Metcalf roads. However, citing safety concerns and expansion plans, UP demanded the tracks be 50 to 100 feet from its property.

"Either UP is serious, or UP wants some serious money," said Elizabeth Alexis, a co-founder of the Palo Alto-based watchdog group Californians Advocating Responsible Rail Design. "If it's posturing, then it's clear that there's going to be a really big cost to the state for their right of way."

UP officials did not return calls for comment.

Rail authority spokesman Jeff Barker released a statement saying officials will "thoroughly review" the letter and respond to it. He added that revised plans are still broad and that specific decisions will be made after the authority works closer with property owners in coming months and years.

Japan and its high-speed rail-2 articles

Link: AFP: US transport chief test-rides Japan's bullet train

US transport chief test-rides Japan's bullet train

(AFP) – 2 hours ago

TOKYO — Visiting US Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood test-rode a high-speed Japanese train for the second day running Wednesday as Washington continued weighing bids for the upgrade of its rail network.

He inspected an operation centre for Japan's "Shinkansen" bullet trains in Tokyo and took a short test ride.

On Tuesday, LaHood rode a magnetic-levitation train on a test track in Tsuru, west of Tokyo. Japan hopes to launch the maglev train service by 2027.

Japan is up against China, France, Germany and other bidders as it seeks to sell its Shinkansen and magnetic train systems for President Barack Obama's high-speed rail project, which is backed by 13 billion dollars in public funding.

"We are impressed with the railroad system in Japan, and we look forward to opportunities for partnerships in America to hire American workers and use American facilities," LaHood told reporters at Tokyo station, according to Kyodo News.

"Whether they (high-speed rail innovators) be from Japan or Europe, they will have to come to America and make their case for the opportunities to partner," he was quoted as adding.

Obama's rail strategy -- which aims to improve infrastructure, help the environment and create jobs -- envisions 10 high-speed rail corridors across the United States -- including in California, the Pacific Northwest, the southern United States, the Gulf of Mexico Coast, and Florida.

During his visit to Japan, LaHood also met auto giant Toyota on Monday over its safety crisis and left open the possibility of imposing more fines on the company for being slow to disclose problems with accelerator systems in the US.

Link: Japan Starts to Shop Its Bullet Train Technology - NYTimes.com

Japan Starts to Shop Its Bullet Train Technology
Itsuo Inouye/Associated Press

Ray LaHood, the United States transportation secretary, was in Japan on Tuesday for a test run of the experimental MLX01 maglev train, the fastest in the world.
By HIROKO TABUCHI
Published: May 11, 2010

TSURU, Japan — The experimental MLX01 maglev is the world’s fastest train. But it is confined to a 12-mile track. And like the train itself, its technology has been trapped in Japan.

Now, though, Japan wants to begin exporting its expertise in high-speed rail.

On Tuesday, the Central Japan Railway Company took the visiting United States transportation secretary, Ray LaHood, on a test run — a 312-mile-an-hour tryout for the lucrative economic stimulus contracts that the United States plans to award to update and expand its rail network.

“Very fast,” Mr. LaHood said after stepping off the maglev at a track nestled here in mountains west of Tokyo. “We’re right at the start of an opportunity for America to be connected with high-speed, intercity rail,” he said.

The overseas push is a big turnabout for Japan, which long jealously protected its prized bullet train technology. But lately Japan has been forced to rethink that, prompted by a declining market for passenger and freight traffic at home, as well as a flurry of overseas opportunities.

Japan has also been goaded into a new export boldness by the rise of China, a rival whose surge in construction of high-speed rail networks could give Beijing an economies-of-scale edge in the global railway market.

In recent months, top Japanese government officials, including the transport minister, Seiji Maehara, have traveled to the United States angling for a piece of the $13 billion that the Obama administration has pledged for the development of 11 high-speed rail lines throughout the country.

Of particular interest to the Japanese has been a planned $1.25 billion, 84-mile high-speed link between Tampa and Orlando — the first leg of a corridor that state officials hope will eventually reach Miami. Twenty-two companies are bidding for the contract, and Washington is set to announce a winner this year.

Japan has also been keen to market its high-speed rail technologies to emerging economies. Earlier this month, Mr. Maehara visited Vietnam to negotiate financing for a 1,570-kilometer (975-mile) high-speed rail link that will link the country’s south to the capital, Hanoi, in the north.

Japan has confidence in its bullet train technology. In the decades since its first bullet train pulled out of Tokyo Station on Oct. 1, 1964 — just 10 days before the nation held its first Olympics — the high-speed rail network has had no fatal accidents. Japanese officials are also quick to point out the trains’ down-to-the-minute punctuality, despite a heavy passenger flow of 300 million people a year.

Central Japan Railway, which is based in Nagoya and is more commonly known as JR Central, is promoting its N700-I trains, which are in use in Japan and can run at a top speed of about 330 kilometers (205 miles) an hour.

But JR Central has also been showing off its MLX01 maglev bullet train, still in its testing phase, which in 2003 clocked the world’s fastest trial run of 581 kilometers (361 miles) an hour.

Maglev, short for “magnetic levitation,” uses powerful magnets that allow the train to float just above the track, reducing friction. The train starts off on wheels, then gravitates upward after reaching high speeds.

But cost is a problem, with even a limited maglev system costing millions of dollars, said Hitoshi Ieda, a professor in civil engineering at the University of Tokyo. Inexperience with marketing and negotiating overseas could also hamper Tokyo’s overseas push, he said.

If Japan does not start selling maglev trains overseas, it risks losing its technological edge, Mr. Ieda warned. “There is a limit to developing technology in a laboratory,” he said. “To truly advance technology, you need experience, new and challenging projects, and economies of scale.”

The high costs have meant that JR Central, struggling with a decline in passenger traffic, is not set to open its own maglev line anytime soon.

Meanwhile, the Obama administration wants to make sure that any foreign companies that supply high-speed rail works also bring jobs to the United States.

“The only thing that we ask of manufacturers is, come to America, find facilities to build this equipment in America and hire American workers,” Mr. LaHood said Tuesday.

Deadlines are looming. Of the $13 billion planned in the United States for high-speed rail projects, $8 billion is included in the budget for this fiscal year. Other railroad powerhouses include Bombardier of Canada, Siemens of Germany and Alstom of France, as well as General Electric and Lockheed Martin of the United States.

Unless JR Central can win a contract, the maglev, for now, could stay nothing more than a novelty. On Tuesday, a handful of tourists cheered at an observation deck as the train zipped by.

“It’s so fast, it’s shocking,” said Hiroko Koda, 69, a homemaker from Mie in western Japan who was visiting the track with her husband. “This is the kind of technology that Japan should be proud of,” she said. “I do hope they find customers overseas.”

Makiko Inoue contributed reporting from Tokyo.

US transport chief test-rides Japan magnetic train (Source: AFP)

Link: AFP: US transport chief test-rides Japan magnetic train

US transport chief test-rides Japan magnetic train

By Harumi Ozawa (AFP) – 6 hours ago

TSURU, Japan — The US transport chief took a test ride Tuesday on Japan's super-fast magnetic train, a contender for President Barack Obama's multi-billion-dollar national high speed railway project.

Japan is up against China, France, Germany and other bidders as it seeks to sell its "Shinkansen" bullet and magnetic train systems for the American rail plan, which is backed by 13 billion dollars in public funding.

US Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood said he looked forward to "the thrill of a lifetime" as he boarded the train for a 500 kilometre (310 mile) per hour ride at the Yamanashi Maglev Test Line near Mount Fuji.

"It's very fast," he said when he and his wife emerged from the train after the white-knuckle ride along the 18-kilometre test track operated by Central Japan Railway in Tsuru, west of Tokyo.

The train hovers 10 centimetres (four inches) above the tracks and reached a world record speed of 581 kilometres per hour in 2003, says the operator, which is proposing it for a link between Washington and Baltimore.

In Japan, the company hopes to launch the magnetic levitation, or maglev, train service -- billed as faster, smoother and quieter than conventional trains -- between Tokyo and the central city of Nagoya by 2027.

By 2045 it is expected to link Tokyo with the main western city of Osaka in just 67 minutes, compared with the Shinkansen's current 145 minutes.

Obama's rail strategy -- which aims to improve infrastructure, help the environment and create jobs -- envisions 10 high-speed rail corridors across the United States -- including in California, the Pacific Northwest, the southern United States, the Gulf of Mexico Coast, and Florida.

Eight billion dollars have been provided for high-speed rail links under a government stimulus plan, plus one billion dollars a year for five years in the federal budget as a "down payment" on the new services.

Bidding for some of the lines is expected to start later this year.

"It's quite exciting," said LaHood. "We have invited all of the train manufacturers from around the world to come to America.

"The only thing we asked of the manufacturers, whether it's maglev or whether they are other forms of rail infrastructure, is: come to America, find facilities to build this equipment in America, and hire American workers.

"The money that President Obama allocated to the department of transportation, eight billion dollars, is to put people to work."

The visit comes a day after LaHood met auto giant Toyota over its safety crisis and left open the possibility of imposing more fines on the company for being slow to disclose problems with accelerator systems in the US.

Copyright © 2010 AFP. All rights reserved. More »

Union Pacific trying to derail California’s bullet train? (Source: Central Valley Business Times)

Link: Central Valley Business Times

Union Pacific trying to derail California’s bullet train?

SACRAMENTO
May 11, 2010 5:38am

• Says it will block route from Bay Area to Central Valley

• Is it 21st Century train robbery?

California’s proposed high-speed passenger train could be derailed before it ever leaves the station. Union Pacific Railroad Company (NYSE: UNP) says it will fight the bullet train’s proposed route from the Bay Area to the Central Valley because it would impinge on the tracks of the UP’s freight trains.

The route proposed by the California High-Speed Rail Authority is “not acceptable," Union Pacific says in an April 23 letter to the authority, according to the San Jose Mercury News newspaper.

UP says in some cases, bullet trains would run too close to its tracks for good safety. In others, the $17.1 billion freight carrier says it simply will not sell its land for bullet train right-of-way and will unleash its lawyers if the Authority tries to use the state’s powers of eminent domain to get the property.

Critics of UP’s stance tell the Mercury News that it appears to be an attempt to squeeze more money out of the Authority for its property.

Speeding up transportation reformation (Source: The Daily Bruin)

Link: The Daily Bruin | Speeding up transportation reformation

Speeding up transportation reformation

May 10, 2010 at midnight

SUBMITTED BY: Kedar Iyer

It’s 5 p.m. on a Friday at UCLA. The couple hundred stragglers still in class stream out onto Bruin Walk, and the final procession of students for the week marches over to the Hill and the apartments beyond.

Most of us are already in weekend mode, having crashed onto our beds hours earlier to catch up on all the sleep lost during the week.

For the thousands of students who commute to campus though, the longest part of the week has barely begun: Friday evening rush hour.

There are three elements synonymous with the city of Los Angeles: celebrities, smog and traffic.

In particular, L.A. traffic has become the stuff of legend across the country, a shining example of everything that is structurally wrong with our car-centric society.

As our gridlock and smog indicate, L.A.’s transportation system is broken and in need of a transformation.

This is why I’d like to applaud the Metropolitan Transportation Authority resolution endorsing the 30-10 initiative, a crucial step in modernizing our subway and bus systems.

In 2008, Los Angeles County passed Measure R, thereby adding a half-cent sales tax to expand the region’s public transportation infrastructure.

Among the projects included in this measure are subway extensions to Westwood and Santa Monica and a 405 Freeway rapid corridor connecting the Valley to Westwood.

Currently, these projects are scheduled to be completed in 30 years.

However, the 30-10 initiative proposes accelerating the construction so the projects are completed within 10 years through loans from Congress for the initial investment.

The loans are then repaid with the guaranteed money from the sales tax.

Accelerating the construction would save the county nearly $4 billion in the long run and create nearly 160,000 construction jobs over the next decade, a deficit-neutral economic stimulus through infrastructure advancement for a city that is in sore need of both.

Unfortunately for the 12.9 million people served by Metro, the details of the legislation have gotten mired in Congress’ bureaucratic sinkhole.

Metropolitan Transportation Authority’s resolution is a major boost to a campaign that already has endorsements from Sen. Barbara Boxer and Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood. But while Boxer’s endorsement of this visionary initiative is laudable, carrying it through Congress will not be an easy task.

It is imperative that our representatives know we stand behind them in this campaign.

It’s time for our public transportation to enter the 21st century.

Iyer is a first-year mechanical engineering student.

Backroom politics and the Expo line (Source: www.laobserved.com)

Link: Backroom politics and the Expo line - Bill Boyarsky

Backroom politics and the Expo line
Bill Boyarsky

When my wife Nancy and I wrote our book “Backroom Politics” in the 1970s, we explained the puzzling maze of boards and commissions that local politicians create to confuse their constituents. The Expo light rail line is a perfect example of what we wrote about.

First of all, ethical considerations—even bloggers occasionally bow to them—require me to reveal my conflicts. I like the Expo project. I live near a proposed station and look forward to the day I can hop on a train to downtown Los Angeles, transfer to the subway to Union Station and then take the shuttle bus to Dodger Stadium. One of my daughters hates the Expo project. She and her husband live near the proposed route. Their youngest daughter goes to Overland School, which the trains will pass. She thinks the trains will cause traffic jams and overwhelm the school and neighborhood with noise.

Now that this family feud is out of the way, let’s get to the heart of the matter.

The light rail line is being built by a little-known agency called the Exposition Construction Authority. A seven- person board runs it with members appointed by the Los Angeles City Council, the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors and the Santa Monica and Culver City councils. In reality, the city council members and supes appoint themselves. Zev Yaroslavsky and Mark Ridley-Thomas are county supervisors. Jan Perry, Bernard Parks and Herb Wesson are L.A. city council members. Pam O’Connor is a Santa Monica council member and Scott Malsin is on the Culver City Council. These people wear two hats.

Actually, some wear three hats. Malsin, Perry, O’Connor, Ridley-Thomas and Yaroslavsky are also on the board of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority board, which operates our trains and buses.

All these hats are confusing. When a council member or county supervisor makes a decision at an Expo board meeting, does he or she also take into consideration the campaign contributions received for council or supervisorial elections? Is the Expo board member following some policy he or she previously promulgated while wearing an MTA hat?

All this comes into play in my neighborhood’s biggest Expo line dispute.

Under the plan, the tracks will run along the old Southern Pacific right of way at Exposition Boulevard crossing busy Overland Avenue and Westwood and Sepulveda Boulevards, as well as Military Avenue. They will also pass by Overland School at street level.
Neighbors for Smart Rail Expo is trying to force the Expo authority to run the trains below ground. ‘Running 240 trains a day at street level through our community 70 feet from Overland School and 20 feet from homes, blocking access to parks and businesses and grid-locking north south streets is unacceptable,” the group said.

I asked Samantha Bricker, chief operating officer for the Expo authority why lay the tracks at street level.

The Expo board, she explained, was following an MTA policy permitting street level crossings if the streets can handle the traffic. The MTA board set the guidelines and the Expo board was merely following them. But of course these boards are interchangeable, everyone wearing two or three hats.

And the board members run it as a closed club. When Los Angeles City Councilman Paul Koretz tried to get on the Expo board to vote against the project, Los Angeles City Councilman Parks blocked him, Then the Expo board voted 6-0 for a final environmental impact report, clearing the way for construction contracts to be signed. The fix was in.

Exp doesn’t operate in secret. Chief Operating Officer Bricker spent more than an hour on the phone with me, patiently trying to convince me that the trains will not cause traffic jams when they take about 40 seconds to cross Overland, Westwood and Sepulveda during rush hour. We went through the math several times, and I’m still not convinced.

The authority is well covered by Damien Newton in his L.A. Streetsblog.org. Ari Bloomekatz of the Los Angeles Times did a complete story on the Expo authority vote. For those who can’t attend a meeting in the downtown county hall of administration, there is a telephone link.

The main problem is that too many public agencies are involved and there is a certain tendency to pass the buck. These people want the project built with the least expense. Overpasses and underpasses drive up the costs. Furthermore, It’s hard to figure out who is responsible. It is also impossible to know the players’ motives.

If you think this is confusing, a final decision on the street level crossing will be made by an entirely different agency, the California Public Utilities Commission. It usually meets in San Francisco, although sometimes it ventures to L.A. Maybe this is where the protest letters should go.

Gold Line-Adjacent New Arcadia: A Commmunity of High-Rises?

Gold Line-Adjacent New Arcadia: A Commmunity of High-Rises? : Gold Line, Foothill Extension : Curbed LA

Rail always has an impact on development in an area. Here's an example of rail encouraging urban development.

Gold Line-Adjacent New Arcadia: A Commmunity of High-Rises?
Friday, May 7, 2010, by Neal Broverman



The city of Arcadia---whose motto is the catchy phrase "a community of homes"-- in the San Gabriel Valley is in the midst of drafting a 25-year general plan, and some density changes are being proposed in advance of the Gold Line extension opening in 2013, reports the Pasadena Star-News. While there won't be a Sears Tower coming--the new plan increases the height limit on downtown buildings from 40 to 45 feet--mixed-use residential units are proposed for the commercial-only, quarter-mile radius around the future station at First and Santa Clara streets. Arcadia, a city of 56,000, currently only has two mixed-use structures where residential and retail are combined. The city is modeling some of their new projects on those that surround the Gold Line Mission station in South Pasadena. The draft plan is available for public comment now, then heads to the Planning Department before the full City Council. In related Gold Line Foothill extension news, groundbreaking kicks off on June 26 with a ceremony in Arcadia's Newcastle Park.

Prominent High-Speed Train Executive van Ark Named to Lead California High-Speed Rail Authority (Source: PR-CANADA.net )

Link: PR-CANADA.net - Prominent High-Speed Train Executive van Ark Named to Lead California High-Speed Rail Authority

Prominent High-Speed Train Executive van Ark Named to Lead California High-Speed Rail Authority

Posted by marin2008
Sunday, 09 May 2010
The California High-Speed Rail Authority today named Roelof van Ark, a senior executive with more than 30 years experience as an engineer and manager for some of the world's leading transportation companies, as the agency's chief executive officer.

Van Ark, 58, of New York, is President of Alstom Transportation Inc., the North American subsidiary of France's Alstom SA, makers of the fastest trains in the world and builders of Europe's TGV. The company has 65,000 employees and annual revenues of $20 billion.

"Building the first high-speed rail system in the nation is no ordinary job. It is the biggest public works project in the country - and the largest environmental review in history," said Authority Chairman Curt Pringle. "Roelof van Ark is the world-class manager and engineer we need to take the reins of this project and turn the promise of high-speed rail into a reality for the people of California."

The Authority's board of directors voted to name van Ark to the job after an extensive search and candidate screening process. The Authority also approved an annual salary of $375,000, substantially less than van Ark's current compensation in the private sector.

"California is leading the nation in high-speed rail," van Ark said. "I have seen how high-speed rail projects transform the places where they're built - creating incredible new opportunities by connecting the world's great cities. As someone who has devoted his career to this industry, there's no doubt in my mind that California is the place to be, and I'm honored to be given the opportunity to work with all partners to move California's high-speed train project forward."

When he starts work on June 1, van Ark becomes just the second top manager since the Authority was formed in 1996. He succeeds Mehdi Morshed, who retired after serving as Executive Director at the Authority from 1998 to 2010.

Van Ark has been President at Alstom Transportation Inc. for the past five years. He previously served as President of Aviation Security for Invision Technologies Inc.

Van Ark also spent more than 20 years as an executive, managing director, general manager, senior technical manager and senior project engineer for Siemens, the manufacturers of the popular ICE high speed trains, working in Germany, South Africa and most recently in Sacramento, where he served as President and Chief Executive Officer of Siemens Transportation Systems from 1999 to 2002.

Van Ark holds a bachelor's degree in electrical engineering and an MBA from the University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg, South Africa.