Transportation Funding

Before it can head to the ballot this fall, Metro's proposed half cent sales tax  measure needs to be approved by both the State Senate and the LA County Board of Supervisors.  Today,  it was widely expected that the  measure would pass the Senate  Appropriations Committee, but instead, after a 10 hour hearing that discussed issues ranging from ocean fisheries conservation to disaster relief, the Committee voted to  suspend their vote on A.B. 2321 until Thursday because there "were still a few issues that needed to be ironed out."

 

Here's an alternative to the "Drill Now!" mantra that doesn't involve ethanol subsidies or depleting the Strategic Petroleum Reserve. Earlier this month, Congressman Earl Blumenauer introduced the Transportation and Housing Choices for Gas Price Relief Act [PDF]. Blumenauer's hometown paper, The Oregonian, calls the measure a "smart bill":

One week after Metro moved a half cent sales tax to the fall ballot, the Bus Rider's Union launched it's first attack in the press against what it terms, "The MTA's sales-tax boondoggle" in today's on-line "Blowback" section of the Times.

Like a burned-out addict stealing to support a meth habit, U.S. Transportation Secretary Mary Peters said yesterday that due to declining gas tax revenues, the Highway Trust Fund would need to borrow money from its mass transit account to pay for road projects. Today's big news story was buried at the bottom of page A17 in the New York Times:

The House of Representatives recently passed a bill that would provide emergency funding to local transit systems facing simultaneous increases in ridership and fuel costs. The legislation is now stalled in the Senate. The Bush Administration has made clear their distaste for funding mass transit operating costs. They say they don't want local transit systems to become dependent on federal subsidies. Meanwhile, when it comes to subsidizing Midwestern farmers and the operating costs of America's fleet of private motor vehicles... well, here's how Michael Daly of the Daily News summed it up in his column yesterday:

Asm. Mike Feuer and Boardmember Richard Katz Chat With the Press After Tax Proposal Passes

Dear Metro Board Member,