Transportation Funding

Last night the Expo Construction Authority held a community meeting in the Vista Del Mar Child and Family Services Gymnasium, right in the heart of a community that has historically been opposed to construction of Phase II of the Expo Line.  As expected, it was hard to find a supporter of extending light rail from where Phase I ends in Culver City all the way to downtown Santa Monica.  In recent days, the Bottleneck Blog has done a great job of covering the controversy.

Assemblyman Mike Feuer finds himself back in the news this week.  All four of his legislative bills written to help L.A. County raise transit funds have cleared the Assembly and he was featured in a recent story aired nationally on National Public Radio.  However, when partisan politics becomes involved with policy, bad things can happen.

Yesterday the State Assembly passed Asm. Mike Feuer's A.B. 2558, the controversial piece of legislation that would allow voters to increase fees on drivers whose vehicles produce the greatest amount of pollution, despite unanimous opposition by the Republican caucus.

Here's a great way to support transit before we head in to another traffic-snarled Memorial Day weekend. H.R. 6003, the Passenger Rail Investment and Improvement Act, is currently in need of co-sponsors in the House (a version has already passed the Senate). The bill "authorizes Amtrak for the five years Fiscal 2008-2012, provides for capital assistance for states, and development of state rail plans," according to the National Association of Railroad Passengers. Five years of funding will, among other things, put a stop to the current practice of forcing Amtrak to beg for money every year.

If you want to see more projects such as the Downtown Connector, Tell Metro

Gold Line Trains to East LA Should Be Online in ’09 Buried in a press release announcing the public comment period on Metro’s 2009 budget, was a bit of good news for straphangers and bus riders: Metro will not have a fare increase in the 2009 Fiscal Year (July 2008-July 2009). Other highlights from Metro’s … Continued

Even as the price of gas turns into a hot-button campaign issue, the presidential candidates are studiously avoiding the "T" word -- transit -- for the most part.

Man, those Nigerian spammers are getting better every day. Here is a curious piece of e-mail that landed in the Streetsblog inbox today...