4) THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT HAS BECOME A SMART LENDER AND NOT JUST A BIG SPENDER: 
The mayor has been widely acknowledged for his visionary “30-10 Plan,” now termed the “America Fast Forward” program, to build out 30 years of transit projects in just 10 years. Mayor Villaraigosa is still working with Congress to find new ways to leverage investment for transportation infrastructure by adding financing strategies to the federal government’s portfolio of grant programs. No less august a think tank than the Washington DC-based Brookings Institution has cited the mayor’s “bottoms up federalist approach” as one of the “Top 10 Metropolitan Innovations to Watch.” It’s “bottoms up” because it encourages the federal government to provide incentives for local governments, voters, corporate, civic, labor and environmental leaders to step up and help themselves — as LA County voters did in 2008 by voting for the Measure R sales tax, which can be used to secure financing from the private sector as well as the federal government. The mayor’s “America Fast Forward” proposal to provide flexible, low-cost credit assistance consisted of 1) a low-interest loan program, which was adopted by the federal government in 2012, and 2) a bond program that provides federal tax credits to investors in lieu of interest payments, which the mayor is urging Congress to adopt now. Together these programs would enable the accelerated construction of all Measure R projects. “Policymakers in DC didn’t know how to respond to a local politician who came asking for money that would be paid back, as opposed to the other kind,” wrote Jake Blumgart on the Next American City Blog. As Villaraigosa told Washington Post columnist Harold Meyerson in 2010, “They laughed. They said they didn’t have a program that could do this.”
Mayor Villaraigosa's Top 10 remarkable transportation achievements:
#5: LA's port has gone green, reducing toxic emissions by half. Read more.
#6: LA Metro's bus fleet has expanded faster than any other in the U.S., is the cleanest in the world, and Metro's fares are the lowest: Read more.
#7: LA Metro's Project Labor Agreement and Construction Careers Policy make tens of thousands of jobs available in low-income communities. Read more.
#8: LA is becoming a better city for walking and biking. Read more.
#9: All 4,398 traffic signals in the city are synchronized. Read more.
#10: The Transit Corridors Cabinet is reorienting the city around public transportation, repairing the urban fabric, and preserving single family neighborhoods. Read more.
The mayor has been widely acknowledged for his visionary “30-10 Plan,” now termed the “America Fast Forward” program, to build out 30 years of transit projects in just 10 years. Mayor Villaraigosa is still working with Congress to find new ways to leverage investment for transportation infrastructure by adding financing strategies to the federal government’s portfolio of grant programs. No less august a think tank than the Washington DC-based Brookings Institution has cited the mayor’s “bottoms up federalist approach” as one of the “Top 10 Metropolitan Innovations to Watch.” It’s “bottoms up” because it encourages the federal government to provide incentives for local governments, voters, corporate, civic, labor and environmental leaders to step up and help themselves — as LA County voters did in 2008 by voting for the Measure R sales tax, which can be used to secure financing from the private sector as well as the federal government. The mayor’s “America Fast Forward” proposal to provide flexible, low-cost credit assistance consisted of 1) a low-interest loan program, which was adopted by the federal government in 2012, and 2) a bond program that provides federal tax credits to investors in lieu of interest payments, which the mayor is urging Congress to adopt now. Together these programs would enable the accelerated construction of all Measure R projects. “Policymakers in DC didn’t know how to respond to a local politician who came asking for money that would be paid back, as opposed to the other kind,” wrote Jake Blumgart on the Next American City Blog. As Villaraigosa told Washington Post columnist Harold Meyerson in 2010, “They laughed. They said they didn’t have a program that could do this.”
Mayor Villaraigosa's Top 10 remarkable transportation achievements:
#5: LA's port has gone green, reducing toxic emissions by half. Read more.
#6: LA Metro's bus fleet has expanded faster than any other in the U.S., is the cleanest in the world, and Metro's fares are the lowest: Read more.
#7: LA Metro's Project Labor Agreement and Construction Careers Policy make tens of thousands of jobs available in low-income communities. Read more.
#8: LA is becoming a better city for walking and biking. Read more.
#9: All 4,398 traffic signals in the city are synchronized. Read more.
#10: The Transit Corridors Cabinet is reorienting the city around public transportation, repairing the urban fabric, and preserving single family neighborhoods. Read more.
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