This is, as LA County Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky is fond of saying, LA’s Golden Age of 
Infrastructure Investment, and there’s good news on several fronts: There are 3 transit lines under construction now in LA County (Crenshaw just broke ground, and the Expo and the Gold Line extensions to Santa Monica and Azusa are more than 50% complete) and 2 more are likely to start construction as early as this summer (Westside Subway, Regional Connector). Also, the rumor from Washington DC is that there’s a really good chance the America Fast Forward tax credit bond program that Metro and the City of LA have been advocating will be a part of the transportation reauthorization this year. This bond program is Part 2 of the 2-part “30-10” financing strategy to build all Measure R-funded rail lines in 10 years not 30 -- Part 1 is the TIFIA low-interest loan program adopted by Congress in 2012. The bond program would bring the “30-10” plan back into view and allow for the acceleration of more LA transit projects. Last but not least, ongoing discussions about what could be funded by Measure R-2 (a possible half-cent sales tax increase or sales tax extension) just get more interesting as time goes by. The link below is one possible formulation of what a new tax could fund, based on the conversations Move LA has participated in.
LINK TO MEASURE R2 — A WORK IN PROGRESS
Infrastructure Investment, and there’s good news on several fronts: There are 3 transit lines under construction now in LA County (Crenshaw just broke ground, and the Expo and the Gold Line extensions to Santa Monica and Azusa are more than 50% complete) and 2 more are likely to start construction as early as this summer (Westside Subway, Regional Connector). Also, the rumor from Washington DC is that there’s a really good chance the America Fast Forward tax credit bond program that Metro and the City of LA have been advocating will be a part of the transportation reauthorization this year. This bond program is Part 2 of the 2-part “30-10” financing strategy to build all Measure R-funded rail lines in 10 years not 30 -- Part 1 is the TIFIA low-interest loan program adopted by Congress in 2012. The bond program would bring the “30-10” plan back into view and allow for the acceleration of more LA transit projects. Last but not least, ongoing discussions about what could be funded by Measure R-2 (a possible half-cent sales tax increase or sales tax extension) just get more interesting as time goes by. The link below is one possible formulation of what a new tax could fund, based on the conversations Move LA has participated in.LINK TO MEASURE R2 — A WORK IN PROGRESS
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