Unlikely Partners Oppose L.A. Transit Funding Plan

In an unlikely collaboration, tax payers and the Los Angeles Bus Riders Union have joined in opposition to a proposal that would raise L.A. County sales tax a half-cent to provide funding for public transit.

1 minute read

August 18, 2008, 6:00 AM PDT

By Nate Berg

"With emerging numbers now showing that the Westside will get far more transit investment per capita, heavily subsidized by pissed-off taxpayers in the San Fernando Valley, and with the Bus Riders Union furious over the heavy emphasis on rail at the expense of bus lines, a proposed half-cent local sales-tax hike is creating really strange new bedfellows - united by their suspicion of Metro."

"If the sales tax is approved this month for placement on the November ballot by the state Legislature and Arnold Schwarzenegger - and that question is up in the air as chaos unfolds over the budget in Sacramento - and if voters approve it this fall, the new sales tax would raise $40 billion over 30 years."

"Most of the grandest projects would serve the Westside and South Los Angeles: $1 billion to build the Expo light-rail line from downtown to Santa Monica; $235 million for the vaguely defined Crenshaw Transit Corridor; nearly $1 billion to partially build a Subway to the Sea."

FULL STORY: Metro Sales-Tax Shell Game

Thursday, August 14, 2008 in LA Weekly

Transportation California Public Transit Los Angeles Funding Bus Riders Union Tax Payers View More

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