February 24, 2005 MTA Board motions

Two motions relating to the Exposition light rail line were before the MTA Board on February 24, 2005: the LaBonge motion on studying underground rail, and the Antonovich, Fasana and Roberts motion on prioritizing the Foothill Gold Line.

It was clear from discussion that the LaBonge motion maintains the Expo Line's #1 priority for the region after the Eastside Gold Line, and that legal and funding obstacles keep a future Red Line extension years away.

For the long term, the Expo Line will complement a Red Line extension. Most of the Exposition route is three miles south of Wilshire, the same distance the Hollywood Red Line is north of Wilshire. Along the jammed-in-both-directions Santa Monica Freeway, Expo serves a different corridor with different destinations and population: USC, Exposition Park, Crenshaw, Culver City, West L.A., and Santa Monica, and over 800,000 people living within 2 miles.

Following are details of the motions.

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14. LABONGE MOTION that the MTA Board direct the CEO to:

Include in the MTA Long Range Transportation Plan a countywide policy, standards and/or criteria for determining where best to construct underground rail;

Work to remove the federal prohibition on the use of federal funds for rail tunneling in potential or high potential methane gas risk zones;

Analyze the impact of removing restrictions on the use of transportation sales tax revenues for planning, design, and construction of heavy rail tunnels in Los Angeles County; and

Assess any potential financial implications of removing restrictions on the use of transportation sales tax revenues for heavy rail tunneling on the capability of the MTA to develop and implement current, planned or approved transit projects and/or programs such as the Eastside extension of the Gold Line, the Exposition Line and other projects related to them.

Director LaBonge noted in introduction that it is a "motion to expand our planning options," that he supports current projects, but also that "I want us to start thinking of the future" and "the era of bulldozing neighborhoods and widening freeways is over."

Director Yaroslavsky was supportive, as long as it was clear that existing priorities come first. He also noted financial reality, that there is neither enough local, state, or federal money to build subways any time soon. It was emphasized that this motion would establish criteria for tunneling (applying to both a Red Line extension as well as future light rail line sections), but that a County vote would still be required to provide local funding.

Representatives of the four Westside cities (Beverly Hills Mayor Mark Egerman, Culver City Councilmember Carol Gross, West Hollywood Councilmember John Heilman, and Santa Monica Councilmember Richard Bloom) spoke in favor of the motion, as did 13 of 16 other speakers.

The Westside Cities COG supports completion of the Expo Line to Santa Monica, including grade-separations at Washington and National Boulevards. It also supports inclusion of a "Red Line extension to West Hollywood, Beverly Hills and West Los Angeles in the next update to the Long Range Transportation Plan."

LaBonge's motion passed 11-2; Antonovich and Roberts voted no.

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39. ANTONOVICH, FASANA AND ROBERTS MOTION that MTA:

1) support the completion of the Gold Line Foothill Extension Project to Montclair by 2014 as a significant congestion relief project subject to availability of federal funds consistent with FTA guidelines;

2) direct staff to work with the Authority to revise the ridership model expeditiously and develop a financial plan that addresses the FTA comments in order for the project to proceed to preliminary engineering;

3) enter into a Memorandum of Understanding with the Authority to reflect the above as well as the actions required in SB 1847 no later than April 2005; and

4) support replacing Pasadena, South Pasadena, and SGVCOG board seats on the Metro Gold Line Foothill Extension Construction Authority (Pasadena Metro Blue Line Construction Authority) with cities along the Phase II Gold Line alignment.

The Board instead approved (8-3) Yaroslavsky's substitute motion that items 1, 2 and 3 be referred to staff for consideration as part of the development of the Long Range Transportation Plan, and that item 4 be received and filed. Directors Fasana, Antonovich, and Knabe voted no; Roberts and Ludlow had departed.

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