The L.A. Business Journal is reporting that transit officials have approved paying for a major study of extending the MTA's Red Line to the ocean, and putting a light rail connector through downtown.
Problem is, the story's behind a firewall and I'm having trouble accessing the full article - the LABJ site's registration system allowing access seems to be snafu'd at the moment. More details when I can track them down online.
In any case, this news has huge implications: The original MTA went years over schedule and millions of dollars over budget, including near-disastrous collapse of Hollywood Boulevard, huge budget overruns and a couple of sandhog fatalities ...
And that was more than 10 years ago. Imagine the politics, cost and NIMBYism the project will have to hurdle before we can ever come close to seeing it happen.
Anyway, seems there was a little money left over: The MTA built this very slick little QTVR virtual tour of the red line - sound clips and all.
I wonder how smoothly the next phase of the bricks-and-mortar version will go, and whether Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa - long a Red Line extension booster - will get/take credit for getting the study funded ...
The MTA board members apparently steam-rollered new chair Gloria Molina's objections and approved spending $10 million on 21 studies, including the Red Line extension item.
The whole thing appears to be boiling down to a power struggle between Molina and Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, who has long backed public-transit expansion including the 14-mile "subway to the sea":
Even if voters approve the proposed state transportation bond, "we couldn't fund all of the projects that are being studied here," she said.
California voters will decide in November whether to approve a $20-billion bond issue for public transportation. If they do, the MTA can expect at least $1 billion from it.
MTA Chief Executive Roger Snoble said the studies package took an "unusual" route to the board. It was never vetted by any board committee or during public budget hearings.
In response to Molina's criticism, Villaraigosa last week defended the proposed studies as having "been discussed, debated many, many times." He said they were needed if the agency hoped to compete aggressively for federal grants and state bond money.
Posted by: Mack_Reed on Thursday, June 29, 2006 - 08:56 PM
