The new FAST federal transportation bill:
The new federal transportation authorization is a so-called long-term funding bill. But it’s not—it’s a 5-year bill, which doesn't allow agencies to plan for big projects. Our local sales tax measures, on the other hand, provide the long-term funding needed to ensure projects will get built.

Gentrification:
We are seeing the displacement of the very people we thought we were building this system for.

Local jobs:
We may not have the capacity and the qualified workforce that we need to build such a big transit system. We may even have a hard time contracting the work out. This is why we are working with community colleges to create construction careers programs so we know we’ll have a qualified workforce.

Integrating technology into transportation culture:
We are in the midst of a huge acceleration of technology and innovation in the transportation business as in the rest of the world. I think we need to create a culture where innovation is accepted, but there are a lot of people who think their job is to say “no.”

Where we are with the transit build-out:
There are 5 projects under construction: The Gold Line to Azusa opens in March and the Expo Line to Santa Monica will open mid-year. The Crenshaw Line is 50% completed. We’ve completed 15% to 20% of Section 1 of the Purple Line to UCLA and are selecting bids for Phase 2. We’re hoping to accelerate Phase 3 to UCLA and the VA. Construction on the Regional Connector has begun.

A sales tax that would generate $120 billion:
We are talking about a sales tax measure that will extend Measure R for another 18 years and augment it with another ½ cent sales tax for 30 years. That will make us the infrastructure capital of the world. We’re talking about $60 billion for capital projects and another $60 billion to operate the system and fund Local Return. We'll present our investment program to the board in mid-March. There are 2,300 projects submitted by the Councils of Government, worth probably $240 billion—twice as much money as we could raise. So the sausage making has begun. From March to June we’ll take public comment. In June we’ll ask for a vote on whether to put the measure on the ballot.