Tag Archives: transportation funding

Mayors across the United States show their support for America Fast Forward bond program to accelerate transportation projects

Posted by

MayoralLetterAFFBonds4-30-13

The America Fast Forward initiative got a nice boost last week when the U.S. Conference of Mayors issued a letter (above) to Congress supporting Metro’s attempt to create a new class of bonds that could be used to accelerate transportation projects across the country, including Metro’s Measure R highway and transit projects. From Metro’s government relations staff:

A letter sent by well over 100 Mayors from across the United States is encouraging the United States Congress to back our agency’s America Fast Forward Transportation Bond initiative.

America Fast Forward Transportation Bonds represent a new class of qualified tax credit bonds that would, if enacted into federal law, significantly increase transportation infrastructure investments across the nation.

The correspondence was spearheaded by the Immediate Past President of the United States Conference of Mayors, Los Angeles Mayor and Metro Director Antonio Villaraigosa.

The letter secured strong bi-partisan support, including from Scott Smith, the Vice-President of the Conference of Mayors.  Mayor Smith is a Republican who is currently the mayor of Mesa, Arizona.

Please find here a copy of the United States Conference of Mayors letter to Congressional leaders in support of America Fast Forward Transportation Bonds.  For your review, please also find here a brochure that includes details on our innovative transportation bond initiative and an illustration on how the America Fast Forward Transportation Bond process would work.

Here’s a helpful pamphlet from Metro explaining how the bonds would work. Congress last year approved another part of the America Fast Forward initiative that expanded a program that offers federal backing of low-interest loans. The bond program is the other equally important part of America Fast Forward.

AFF Bonds Single Page

President Obama’s proposed budget calls for $130 million for two Metro projects: Purple Line Extension and Regional Connector

Posted by
This page from the U.S. Dept. of Transportation booklet of budget highlights. Click above for the full document (pdf).

This page from the U.S. Dept. of Transportation booklet of budget highlights. Click above for the full document (pdf).

Some very welcome news via the proposed budget released today by President Barack Obama: the budget includes $130 million to help fund two of Metro’s big rail projects: the Purple Line Extension and the Regional Connector. The budget allocates $65 million to both projects.

This is the first time that both projects will actually receive federal money. The funds are extremely significant because they help supplement Measure R funds for two projects that are both very expensive and need additional funds. Although Congress still must approve the budget, historically these type of funds don’t change much during budget negotiations.

There’s another reason the money is important. The funds are the first payment for more federal dollars that will flow to both projects in future federal budgets via the federal New Starts program that helps local transit agencies pay for big, pricey transit improvements — such as new rail lines.

Formal agreements that detail the New Starts money are expected to be signed between Metro and the Federal Transit Administration later this year. The subway will be asking for $2.3 billion in New Starts money and has a budget of $2.4 billion for its first phase to La Cienega Boulevard. The Regional Connector will be asking for $671 million in New Starts money and has a budget of $1.3 billion.

Continue reading →

Metro Board to consider change to Measure R expenditure plan as part of latest project acceleration effort

Posted by

UPDATE: The item will be considered at April’s meeting of the Metro Board of Directors.

In 2010, the Metro Board of Directors approved the 30/10 plan, the idea being to build 30 years worth of Measure R projects in the next decade. Although it hasn’t yet worked out, that policy is still very much on the books — and Metro staff are still trying to advance Measure R road and transit projects.

The first part of a new acceleration strategy will come before the Metro Board at its monthly meeting on Thursday. In particular, Metro staff are recommending that the Board approve a public notice of a planned change to the Measure R expenditure plan that would allow second- and third-decade Measure R projects to begin receiving funds this decade.

If approved, the proposal would then be vetted by a three-judge panel that provides oversight for Measure R. After the judges release their findings, the plan is for the Metro Board to vote on the new dates for the expenditure plan and a new acceleration plan at the Board’s May meeting.

And what will the acceleration strategy be this time around? I don’t know the details beyond what’s in the staff report issued last week (the report is below). The report shows that Metro is looking at assembling funds from a variety of sources — Measure R, America Fast Forward loans and bonds (30/10 was renamed America Fast Forward in 2011) and possibly revenues from Prop A and C, the half-cent sales tax increases approved by L.A. County voters in 1980 and 1990, respectively.

So stay tuned. As always there’s a lot of balls in the air, particularly at the federal level, where Metro is trying to lock down New Starts money for the Westside Subway Extension and Regional Connector while also getting getting Congress to fully adopt and fund the America Fast Forward plan.

Mixed news on transportation funding from Congress — not exactly a shocker, people

Posted by

For masochistic readers following the tortuous path of transportation funding in Congress, here are a dynamic duo of legislative updates from Metro’s government relations staff.

The first is good news: the House of Representatives restored transportation funding in the budget for the second half of this fiscal year.

The second is not so good news: the House of Representatives is hacking away at transportation funding in a budget they’re preparing for the next fiscal year.

The updates:

House Adopts Six Month Stop Gap Spending Bill

This morning, the U.S. House of Representatives passed the Senate-amended version of H.R. 933, a six month stop gap funding bill for the Federal Government for the balance of Federal Fiscal Year 2013.

The bill was adopted by a vote of 318 to 109. As was shared in yesterday’s Legislative Alert, the U.S. Senate passed this bill last night by a vote of 73 to 26. In a welcome development, the bill includes language that aligns the level of funding for federal transportation programs with the amounts authorized for those programs under the newly adopted surface transportation bill, MAP-21.

Under the previous stop gap funding bill that covered the first six months of Federal Fiscal Year 2013, Congress ignored MAP-21 funding levels and kept the funding for federal transportation programs at the lower level provided in Federal Fiscal Year 2012.

Initial estimates of this change in policy indicate that federal transportation programs will receive a boost of $385 million dollars of regular discretionary budget authority for the balance of Federal Fiscal Year 2013. This stop gap funding bill is subject to sequestration, which will cut funding across the board for a number of defense and domestic discretionary programs.

Continue reading →

Metro and other agencies urge feds to release transit funding currently being withheld

Posted by

Further proof that there’s always something getting in the way of transportation funding in the nation’s capital. From Metro’s government relations starting nine:

Metro along with the Orange County Transportation Authority, the San Diego Metropolitan Transit System and Sacramento Regional Transit, sent a letter to Acting United States Secretary of Labor Seth D. Harris, urging the United States Department of Labor to release federal transit funding currently being withheld from public transit agencies in California. We will continue to keep you apprised as this issue continues to unfold.  Should you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact me.

House GOP releases plan to fund U.S. government for balance of federal fiscal year 2013; yep, it cuts transportation funding

Posted by

Hey — at least this post isn’t about the sequester! From Metro’s government relations squad: 

Today [Monday], the chairman of the House Committee on Appropriations, Rep. Harold Rogers (R-KY) released the text of legislation (H.R. 933) that would serve to fund the U.S. Government through the end of Federal Fiscal Year 2013 (September 30, 2013). The legislation would not fund transportation programs at levels authorized under MAP-21, the new surface transportation bill signed into law by President Obama last year. Rather, the legislation offered today offers reduced federal funding for a number of key federal programs, ranging from safety programs to the New Starts program. The cuts to federal transportation funding have been suggested despite the efforts of legislators, like U.S. Senator Barbara Boxer (D-CA), who warned in a letter to House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) that, “Congress made a commitment to the American people that we were going to invest in our nation’s infrastructure at a time when our economy needs it the most. Congress cannot go back on that promise.” Among the groups registering their strong opposition to the continuing resolution today was Mothers Against Drunk Driving which shared its concern that the legislation would cut grants designed to reduce drunk driving incidents. The House Committee on Rules is expected to consider H.R. 933 tomorrow morning. Please click here to view a copy of H.R. 933.

New York City’s transportation boss offers a few lessons on making the big changes actually happen

Posted by
Janette Sadik-Khan at last night's event. Photo by Juan Matute/UCLA.

Janette Sadik-Khan at last night’s event talking about closing parts of Times Square to traffic in favor of pedestrian plazas. Photo by Juan Matute/UCLA.

I had the good fortune of attending a forum last night with Janette Sadik-Khan, the innovative Transportation Commissioner for New York City. She was the featured speaker at UCLA’s Luskin School of Public Affairs Complete Streets Initiative, an effort to make local streets more user-friendly for pedestrians, cyclists, transit users and motorists.

New York has taken a number of bold steps since Sadik-Khan began working for Mayor Michael Bloomberg in 2007: building new public plazas in places that were once streets (including parts of Times Square), creating new bus rapid transit lines with the New York MTA, adding 300 miles of bike lanes and implementing traffic calming measures to reduce fatalities and injuries caused by motor vehicles in New York City’s five boroughs. The New York MTA is also building a new subway line and extending another.

In other words, New York City made a lot of significant changes quickly, not letting distractors or controversy get in the way even when things didn’t break their way (such as a plan to implement congestion pricing in Manhattan). I think most of what she discussed is highly relevant here, given that some big changes are underway in L.A. County courtesy of Metro’s Measure R program along with many other local initiatives and projects that are either being discussed, studied or implemented across the county.

I few things I heard that I really liked:

•”Just remember the headlines don’t always translate into the opinions of actual people,” said Sadik-Khan. Couldn’t agree more. It’s difficult in some media reports to gauge the degree of opposition or support for a particular projects and many media outlets either don’t offer the context or disclosed they rely on the same people for years for quotes.

•”Safety and sustainability go hand in hand,” she said. “You won’t get more people walking or biking if they don’t feel safe.” Several cities in L.A. County are quickly putting in new bikes but I haven’t seen a lot of data about which are being used and which are not — and why not. For example, there are new bike lanes directly next to three lanes of freeway-like traffic on Huntington Boulevard in El Sereno. It’s great to have the lanes, but I have seen very few people actually using them and non-productive lanes could harm the overall program. 

Continue reading →

State legislation proposed regarding transportation sales taxes

Posted by

Here’s the latest from Metro’s government relations staff — and not exactly a surprise considering the narrow losses at the polls of transportation sales tax ballot measures in Los Angeles and Alameda Counties. Both received more than 66 percent ‘yes’ votes but lost by less than one-half of a percentage point:

Senator Carol Liu (D-Pasadena) Introduces Legislation To Establish A Lower Vote Threshold For Transportation Sales Taxes

Yesterday marked the first day of the 2013-2014 legislative session for the State of California and a number of bills were introduced.

Senator Carol Liu (D-Pasadena) introduced a proposed constitutional amendment, SCA 4, that would establish a lower vote threshold of 55 percent for propositions related to funding local transportation projects. Metro staff will bring this to the Board for consideration and further discussion during the January 2013 Board cycle.

 

The text of the bill is posted after the jump.

Continue reading →

Transportation headlines, Thursday, Sept. 13

Posted by

Here is a look at some of the transportation headlines gathered by us and the Metro Library. The full list of headlines is posted on the Library’s Headlines blog, which you can also access via email subscription or RSS feed.

BART turns 40: some history lessons (The Berkeley Blog)

Writer Ethan Elkind has three suggestions for the next 40 years: more development around the stations (meaning some cities need to lift zoning restrictions), more service in the urban core and less service in the ‘burbs.

Reducing vehicle miles traveled: a national perspective (NRDC)

A new survey commissioned by the Natural Resources Defense Council indicates — and I’m not sure this is shocking — that of those polled, many want to see more investment in transit and still feel somewhat beholden to driving. Support for transit reached across the political spectrum.

Profitable or not, China doubles down on investments in new Metro systems (The Transport Politic)

Ridership has been strong on many of the new Metro systems opened across China — but profits have been in short supply. Nonetheless, the nation has decided to forge ahead and keep building local rail projects in large cities because they’ve proven to be very popular (one reason is low fares). As Yonah Freemark points out, China obviously believes increased mobility profits the nation in other ways, even when the farebox doesn’t cover the entire cost.

Rep. Henry Waxman interview (pdf) (Beverly Hills Weekly)

The long-time Congressman is running for reelection. In this long interview (page 8), he is asked about his history with the Westside Subway Extension. He also indicates support for the project as long as safety mitigations are followed.

Video: President signs the Surface Transportation Bill

Posted by
Screen shot of President Barack Obama signing Surface Transportation Bill that includes 'America Fast Forward' credit: www.whitehouse.gov/live

Screen shot of President Barack Obama signing Surface Transportation Bill that includes ‘America Fast Forward’ credit: http://www.whitehouse.gov/live

The Surface Transportation Bill was signed into law at 5:32 EST. In case you missed it, here is a replay in the ‘photos & video’ menu of the White House website.

About America Fast Forward embedded in transportation bill: previous post