Measure R Acceleration Plans Aren’t a Political Slam Dunk (Source: Streetsblog Los Angeles)

Link: Streetsblog Los Angeles » Measure R Acceleration Plans Aren’t a Political Slam Dunk

Measure R Acceleration Plans Aren’t a Political Slam Dunk

by Damien Newton on July 14, 2009

Graph: Metro via LAist

The Internet is abuzz with the news that Mayor Villaraigosa and his allies on the Metro Board are pushing for the acceleration of three transit projects that are partially funded with the now incoming Measure R funds. LAist breaks down the new plans, outlined in a power point presentation for this Thursday's Measure R Committee Meeting at Metro Headquarters.

Those projects are moving opening dates of the regional connector in downtown from 2025 to 2018, the second Gold Line Eastside Extension to 2035 to 2018 and the Green Line to LAX from 2028 to 2017.

Meanwhile, the Gold Line Foothill Extension Authority is in "Why Not Us" mode, and is demanding that their favorite project, the Gold Line Extenstion to Azusa and beyond, be similarly accelerated.

But I have a different concern than what projects are getting accelerated and what project aren't: where is the money coming for this? After all, we know that sales tax revenues are coming in lower than expected so it's not like Metro is overly flush with cash right now.

Based on what is available in the power point, available on pages 28 and 29 for those following the presentation at home, it seems the plan is to borrow against future revenue. The interest created by the debt would be partially offset by the savings Metro will see because of avoiding the increased costs of doing construction in the future. At this point, there are no firm figures available to show us how much debt would be accrued or if the proposed acceleration would seriously damage Metro's ability to operate in the future; except that the accelerated project list means a $3.5 billion funding gap and a larger than anticipated operating defecit which would result in either fare increases or service cuts. In fact, the debt created by accelerating just the Downtown Connector is over two and a quarter billion dollars over more debt.

Of course, many transit advocates think the fares are too low as it is, and want to see them go up so that the system, as a whole, can run better. However, we have to recognize that it's not going to be an easy political decision for the board to raise fares in the short and long terms, especially after promising to use Measure R funds to keep fares low.

Bart Reed, executive director of the Transit Coalition, explains, "They haven't had the political courage to charge the right price for their service. To operate the kind of system that we need, they should be charging $2.25 per ride. Right now they are collecting an average of sixty-nine cents per boarding, and they can't run the kind of service they're talking about here on that amount."

All we have to evaluate these two proposals, accelerated schedule versus "strict" schedule, are these two sets of bullet points on the pros and cons of the acceleration. According to Metro, if we accelerated the schedule here would be the results, besides having these three rail projects done earlier,

* We would have up to $3.5 billion funding gap
* We would incur additional debt and operating costs
* We would save on construction escalation costs
* We would require 2/3 vote of the Board to accelerate Measure R funds

Conversely, here is what shape following the plan as passed by the voters would have for Metro's fiscal state:

* Projects would be delivered in accordance with Measure R Expenditure Plan
* After operating deficit is resolved there would be no funding shortfall
* We would not save in construction escalation costs
* We would not incur additional debt and operating costs

In other words, let's not mark down "Downtown Connector Opening Party" on our calendars for 2018 just yet. There's a lot of big and real fiscal hurdles that Metro needs to jump through to show it can afford the acceleration before Villaraigosa can deal with the politics of trying to get 2/3 of the Board to follow his wishes.

Purple Line in puberty (Source: MetroRiderLA)

Link: Purple Line in puberty | MetroRiderLA

Purple Line in puberty

Contributed by Wad on July 13th, 2009 at 1:02 pm

Solair at Wilshire/Western Station

Images are by Yours Truly, shot for the anniversary. They can be seen on the MetroRiderLA Flickr pool.

It was today — July 13, 1996 — when the subway had been extended to Wilshire/Vermont, Wilshire/Normandie and Wilshire/Western stations. Back then, it had been known as the Red Line. Today, it is the same service but known as the Purple Line.

Koreatown has now had subway service for 13 years now. The definitive subway birthday story is my MetroRiderLA piece from 2006, its 10th birthday.

As the subway grew, so has the city. The Solair complex has finished construction atop the Wilshire/Western station, and the Wilshire/Vermont complex has a bustling retail hub around the subway station. The Summit on Sixth, a converted office building, is also open. The Wilshire/Normandie station remains mostly the same, though pretty much all trace of the Ambassador Hotel is now gone.

The best news, though, was from last November, with the passage of Measure R. It would reduce the importance of Koreatown as merely a branch of the busier Red Line, and raise it to the Wilshire trunk line it was meant to be.

Mid-July is also the birthday for the Green Line, which would now be 14, and the oldest of the siblings, the Blue Line, is 19 years young.

Two-car Purple Line train

Metro only ran two-car trains to Wilshire/Western during the midday on July 13.

MTA spending plan expands by $500 million with federal stimulus cash

MTA spending plan expands by $500 million with federal stimulus cash - LA Daily News

MTA spending plan expands by $500 million with federal stimulus cash
By Sue Doyle, Staff Writer
Updated: 05/28/2009 08:04:49 PM PDT

Pushing ahead with massive plans for highway expansion and rail projects, the Metropolitan Transportation Authority board on Thursday adopted a $3.9 billion budget for the next fiscal year.

The spending plan is 15 percent, or $500 million, more than last year's budget thanks to new money from the federal stimulus package and anticipated revenue from Measure R, a half-penny per dollar sales tax that kicks in July 1. The tax is expected to generate up to $40 billion over 30 years for transportation projects.

The San Fernando Valley will see two big projects from the plan: a four-mile extension of the Orange Line busway from Warner Center to Chatsworth and a $1 billion car-pool lane on the 405 Freeway through the Sepulveda Pass. Los Angeles County will also get 219 new buses.

"The public will see a lot of positive improvements," said Marc Littman, spokesman for the county's transportation agency, known as Metro. "We're going to get through this budget year in good shape."

The spending plan averts fare increases - a bonus promised to voters if they approved Measure R, which they did in November.

But Littman warned that tougher times lie ahead.

The county transportation agency saw $200 million slashed from the budget after Sacramento officials this year suspended a state transit assistance program for five years. Metro counts on the money to operate its bus and rail system.

So as the agency expands its transportation
Advertisement
Quantcast
system, it is losing out on money to operate it, Littman said.

At the same time, sales tax revenues are down 18 percent across the state because of the recession, according to the state Department of Finance. Metro has reported a 5 percent drop in revenue from two local sales taxes that annually provide about 60 percent of its budget.

To keep this budget balanced, Metro cut $130 million internally, trimmed administrative costs and is not giving employees raises for the fiscal year, beginning July 1, Littman said.

Officials also dipped into reserve funds from one-time deals such as land sales. The transportation agency will likely run out of reserves in 15 months, leaving officials warning that the budget for fiscal year 2011 will be rough.

"Reserves don't last forever," said Terry Matsumodo, Metro chief financial services officer.

Across the county, several multimillion dollar allocations for rail projects were approved in last-minute amendments to the spending plan.

A proposed rail line, the Gold Line Foothill Extension, received $10 million to link Pasadena and Montclair, with stops planned at several cities across the eastern county.

A downtown rail line, the Green Line, received $5 million on Thursday to connect to Los Angeles International Airport.