Measure R

Metro is considering shifting some unused highway contingency funding to transit - but the board could amend highway spending more broadly, perhaps to align with equity, complete streets, and climate goals

Yesterday, Governor Jerry Brown signed Senate Bill 767 authorizing Metro to place a sales tax on a future ballot to fund transportation growth.The ballot measure would likely appear on the 2016 fall ballot, along with the presidential race, Congressional races and a variety of local races.

There is a new twist in the path to a 2016 Los Angeles County transportation sales tax measure, tentatively being called "Measure R2."

There is a new chart out that shows some of what a possible new Metro sales tax, "Measure R2" might look like. As outlined in this earlier article, the sales tax would be put to the voters in the presidential election in late 2016, but the political process shaping the proposal is happening right now. If all goes according to schedule, the Metro Board will finalize an expenditure plan in July 2015.

There is a lot of discussion these days about a potential ballot measure for a new sales tax to fund transportation projects and programs for Los Angeles County. The non-profit Move L.A. has dubbed the future tax "Measure R2," after the successful 2008 Measure R half-cent sales tax. Move L.A. first offered their "straw man" proposal on how to spend the money one year ago. More recently, they hosted forums in South L.A., the San Fernando Valley, and downtown L.A. to discuss potential future transportation funds and projects.

“We have to build an army of people who are willing to say 'enough is enough,'” said Mayor Eric Garcetti at Wednesday's MoveLA conference at Union Station, speaking of the region's traffic and pollution problems.

Riding my bike the 15 miles between my apartment and a Move L.A. forum on the future of transit at Southwest College on a dreary Saturday morning while battling the tail end of a stubborn respiratory infection was not among the brightest ideas I had ever had, I reflected as it began to drizzle and my hacking started getting the best of me.

(Move LA's mission is to build a broad constituency that will advocate for the development of a comprehensive, diverse, robust, clean and financially sound public transportation system for Los Angeles County. Denny Zane is the executive director. Gloria Ohland is the policy and communications director.)

Last week, Move L.A. convened its annual transportation conversation conference under the banner of "Imagining Measure R2." The daylong conference was profiled in the L.A. Times and at the Source. Today SBLA takes a look at Move L.A.'s "strawman" R2 proposal presented that day. It's a draft for purposes of discussion, very likely to change some before it would reaches the ballot in 2016. It looks a lot like Measure R, but there are also a few big differences.