LOS ANGELES | Public Transport

[hoosier]

Originally Posted by LosAngelesMetroBoy

It could help infastructure a whole lot. But that money also goes to make sure i have body armor. I wish the military would streamline though, but if we could get the feds to streamline operations im willing to bet my pride that we could find a trillion dollars to reduce in taxes or invest in infastructure (as much as i dont think thats the feds job)

If we hadn;t invaded Iraq you wouldn't need body armor, which the government didn't even provide to soldiers initially. Families had to hold fucking bake sales to raise enough money to buy armor!!

Tons of federal money is wasted on useless fancy weapons systems and no bid contracts.

SOcial secuirty has a separate, dedicated funding source. It's trust fund has been raided by presidents several times to avoid having to raise taxes.

If you want infrastructure to be a state/local issue, prepare to have your taxes SKYROCKET, because those governments don't have near enough money to maintain it.

[Homer J. Simpson]

Originally Posted by matthewcs

Sorry, I tried to draw to firm a parallel btw Canada and the US that did not exist. I did not mean municipal govts, but rather provincial ones. I don't know the legal status of muni's in the US (I suspect it varies state-to-state).

Anyways, states and provinces bare most of the fiscal burden, both in expenses and income.

Off topic.

It is not entirely off topic.

Well what happened in Canada was that the Federal government offloaded a lot of costs onto Provincial governments in order to engineer surpluses. In Ontario's case, they then did the same thing in response to the downloading and put social welfare costs down to municipalities. So what happened in effect was that the upper levels of government were not interested in paying for programs so they forced them on towns and cities and halted spending on transit that was becoming increasingly needed.

It appears that at least California is recognizing that they need to push forward with progress on this front and are actually doing something.

[LosAngelesMetroBoy]

Originally Posted by hoosier

If we hadn;t invaded Iraq you wouldn't need body armor, which the government didn't even provide to soldiers initially. Families had to hold fucking bake sales to raise enough money to buy armor!!

Tons of federal money is wasted on useless fancy weapons systems and no bid contracts.

SOcial secuirty has a separate, dedicated funding source. It's trust fund has been raided by presidents several times to avoid having to raise taxes.

If you want infrastructure to be a state/local issue, prepare to have your taxes SKYROCKET, because those governments don't have near enough money to maintain it.

Social security and medicare have different dedicated funding sources that HELP to offset the costs. 75% of costs to social security and medicare (the 2 federal programs with dedicated sources of funding) come from the general fund.

Local taxes should skyrocket because the local people are the people that need the shit. If i live in nebraska, i dont need a subway in Los Angeles. Los Angelenos created their car culture they need to put the investement into their own city. Thats called personal accountablility.

[volsung]

There's a federal Department of Transportation. It should not just concentrate on highways but on ALL forms of transportation

[hoosier]

Originally Posted by LosAngelesMetroBoy

Local taxes should skyrocket because the local people are the people that need the shit. If i live in nebraska, i dont need a subway in Los Angeles. Los Angelenos created their car culture they need to put the investement into their own city. Thats called personal accountablility.

The federal government helped pay for most of those freeways in LA.

But LA contributes FAR more in income taxes than the entire state of Nebraska. So they should be getting a much larger share of federal revenue. California is a donor state, while Nebraska is a welfare state.

And LA County just approved a half cent sales tax increase to pay for infrastructure improvements.

[LosAngelesMetroBoy]

Originally Posted by hoosier

The federal government helped pay for most of those freeways in LA.

But LA contributes FAR more in income taxes than the entire state of Nebraska. So they should be getting a much larger share of federal revenue. California is a donor state, while Nebraska is a welfare state.

And LA County just approved a half cent sales tax increase to pay for infrastructure improvements.

Which is why nebraska almost never has budget shortfalls, almost never has problems meeting education requirements and most schools have what they need and omaha has the shortest commute in the nation. Yeah... real welfare state. In fact when it comes to taxes paid/federal recieved california is the #3 state for being in the 'welfare state' category (after Massachusetts and DC). So lets see... 30 million people in a state with income tax and they cant ballance their budget, state with 4 million people without income tax can ballance their budget. WOW!! that dont seem like a tough math assingment.

Local governments (city, county, state) are the ones that are supposed to pay for transportation between cities within their own borders. The feds threw money to LA becuase it made economic sense for the defense industry and we didnt have massive budget shortfalls. Now, we have a record setting shortfall with no expected date to ballance the budget, a massive failing bailout with a ever increasing price tag and you want scant dollars to go to a subway in LA?

thats why LA passed the sales tax increase, so LA can have enough moeny to qualify for FEDERAL MATCHING FUNDS which they currently cannot do. thats the WHOLE point of my arguments saying this is what more cities/counties/states should be doing, raising local taxes for capitol improvements instead of asking the feds to do it for them. Its called being proactive not waiting for the government to bail you out. you might try it sometime.

[phattonez]

California's state government is inept. There is a saying that goes "where California goes, so goes the rest of the country." It's very worrying to me if the US goes in the direction of California.

Now, about LA's Metro . . .

[LosAngelesMetroBoy]

I heard there was a development where they were doing the enviromental impact study for the wilshire extention, any word on that (the news out here is BEYOND SLOW we get cnn 2 days late).

[phattonez]

Nothing new about that extension. I don't think they've presented the LPA to the Metro board yet.

[LosAngelesMetroBoy]

one day yall are going to explain the red tape of that city to me. I grew up outside there for most of my life and i STILL dont understand the red tape of LA county.

[phattonez]

Very simplistically, first the Metro board conducts feasibility studies, and then meetings are conducted to determine the Locally Preferred Alternative (LPA). Then the LPA is presented to the Metro board and then they determine whether or not to follow through on the project.

[LosAngelesMetroBoy]

ok, so what is the status on the purple line. IM assuming there going to use the old feasability study from the late 80's/early 90's and the LPA is the northern route thru weho or am i completly wrong here.

[phattonez]

The LPA seems to be a line mostly under Wilshire with a short diversion through Century City, but also a branch that goes up La Cienega to Hollywood/Highland. A new EIR would need to be done.

[LAmarODom420]

When will EIRs in urban areas be streamlined per Steinberg's sustainable development bill??

[LosAngelesMetroBoy]

Dosent the red line already go up la cieniega to hollywood/highland or am i compeletly off.

and a lil jog thru century city is probally one of the best ideas ever. It can cut under the golf course to get to the beverly center and the wilshire buildup by the 405

[LAmarODom420]

Originally Posted by LosAngelesMetroBoy

Dosent the red line already go up la cieniega to hollywood/highland or am i compeletly off.

and a lil jog thru century city is probally one of the best ideas ever. It can cut under the golf course to get to the beverly center and the wilshire buildup by the 405

The Red Line currently goes up Vermont to Hollywood Blvd. You are thinking of the Pink Line, which will likely go down La Cienaga from Hollywood and Highland, thereby connecting the Beverly Center.

The Purple Line extension will follow Wilshire faithfully except for a deviation to Century City.

[hoosier]

Nebraska has barely over 1 million people. No one wants to live there. There is no culture, no sights to see, nothing of excitement. It is easy to have a small commute when you live in a low population state.

And no, the interstate highways were not built for the defense industry. That was the justification Eisenhower used to get Congress to sign off on the price tag. They have always been used predominantly as commuter and freight arteries.

[LosAngelesSportsFan]

can we get back to the Los Angeles Metro? we have a lot to talk about with Measure R passing, two lines under construction and new lines in planning.

[Substructure]

This is what LA used to look like in the 50's :
http://youtube.com/watch?v=AAPMvhD62kA

By that time, America had over 650 light rail networks, and Chicago alone had 683 streetcars on its street in 1948, LA being probably close to that.

Then everything got wiped out to make room for more cars. They thought that "what is good for GM is good for America."

[LosAngelesSportsFan]

Big news from the LA Times. Could start construction in 3 years!!

Subway could take another step forward in January
5:48 AM, December 10, 2008

Subwaymap The long-sought subway extension on the Westside could clear a big hurdle next month when local transit officials may vote on moving forward with environmental studies of the project, according to Metropolitan Transportation Authority officials.

The agency has spent the past year studying whether a subway is needed and what route it could take. The so-called "alternatives analysis" is almost complete and will almost certainly be submitted to the MTA board for consideration in January, said Jody Litvak, a spokesperson for the Westside effort. The findings of the study have been public for months: the subway is needed and it should follow a route mostly down Wilshire Boulevard before swinging south to Century City and then back north to Westwood. The MTA also said that if possible, a second four-mile line should be built between Hollywood and eastern Beverly Hills. (See map above).

--Steve Hymon


Litvak said Tuesday that the study will also recommend that the board go ahead and launch the environmental studies that will probably require three years to complete. The MTA is also looking at consultants it could hire to do the environmental reports, an expense likely to run into the millions of dollars, Litvak said.

Until recently, asking the board to go ahead with the studies might have been a sketchy request, as the subway had no funding source. But things have changed. Voters last month approved Measure R, a half-cent sales tax increase to pay for more transportation projects in Los Angeles County. The most expensive Measure R project is the subway, which is slated to receive $4.1 billion of the tax hike.

So when would ground break on the subway? "If everything goes smoothly and we get the approvals and the federal funding comes through, we’ve got about three years until the shovels are in the ground," Litvak said.

The subway isn't scheduled to start receiving money from Measure R until 2013 at the earliest, although the MTA board could change that. The studies, if begun, will also start answering some of the more specific questions hovering over the project: the exact alignment, location of stations and depth of the rail line.

In the meantime, it appears that subway supporters and foes can ink their calendars for a big vote after the New Year.