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.
No comments:
Post a Comment