From left: Michael Antonovich, Los Angeles County Supervisor and Metro Board member, James C. Ledford, Jr. City of Palmdale Mayor, Art Leahy Metro CEO, and Ara Najarian, City of Glendale Council member and Metro Board Chair, at presentation of Measure R funds. Photo: Metro/Jose Ubaldo

Ara Najarian, Chair of the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority Board of Directors, joined Los Angeles County Supervisor Michael Antonovich and Metro’s CEO Art Leahy today to present Measure R sales tax money to the Palmdale City Council for use in improving transportation in the city.

The Measure R payment to Palmdale totaled $531,008 collected from July 1 through last month. Palmdale is projected to receive $80.8 million over the 30-year span of Measure R.

Measure R, a new half-cent sales tax approved by the voters in Nov. 2008, is expected to generate approximately $40 billion over its 30-year lifespan. As part of the measure, local cities within Los Angeles County receive 15% of the funding to use for major street resurfacing, pothole repair, improving traffic congestion, bikeways, pedestrian improvements signal synchronization and transit improvements.