How I’m voting for the environment in the Nov. 4, 2008 election.
Want to fund the Subway to the Sea and other public transit projects in LA County? Then vote yes on Measure R, because that’s exactly what the measure will do if passed.
Basically, Measure R would raise the LA County tax by a half cent, then use that extra money to build subways and improve other public transportation, as well as fix up some freeways and roads.
You may wonder why anyone could be against Measure R, considering the horrendous traffic in LA today. After all, the Subway to the Sea, once built, would move people from downtown LA to Santa Monica beach in just 35 minutes — regardless of car traffic! Why would anyone oppose that?
Well, the opposition to Measure R comes from those who want that extra tax revenue earmarked for their pet projects. Those in Pomona would like a subway or light rail specifically servicing Pomona peeps. Those in the valley would like Metro lines expanded in the valley, etc.
Now, I’m not against a rail line servicing Pomona or other parts of the valley or wherever else people want rail lines. However, I’m tired of seeing public transportation initiatives getting beaten down because they don’t solve all problems everywhere.
When it comes to public transportation in LA County, we have a reverse NIMBY issue going on. Everyone agrees we need more public transit, but because funding’s so limited, everyone fights any initiative that doesn’t directly support their own ‘hood.
If we’re gonna improve public transport in LA at all, this “it doesn’t help me personally so I oppose it” thing has gotta stop. If anything, we should be working to support each others’ projects, not tearing each other down in an ill-guided attempt to promote our own pet projects.
Yes, we need rail lines connecting all suburbs to LA proper. But we’re not gonna get there without agreeing to build out individual rail lines, one by one. Right now, we’re trying to build out the subway line in the area with the most density — aka the subway to the sea. Once we build that, it’ll make it easier for every future line to connect to it — thereby ensuring easy access to both downtown and the Santa Monica beach, as well as everything in between: Koreatown, Beverly Hills, Miracle Mile, etc.
This fact was clearly illustrated in the last round of Metro’s Westside Extension meetings, which showed that the benefits of the subway line would be felt throughout the county:
Even the rather conservative LA Times has come out pro Measure R, arguing that “L.A. County residents have a chance to turn our Third World transit network into something more befitting a world-class metropolitan area, and they should take it by approving Measure R.”
The Yes on Measure R peeps have already started airing ads:
Metro too’s put together a less opinionated guide about the measure.
Feel passionate about public transit? Then show up on the corner of Wilshire & Gayley in Koreatown Westwood this Friday, October 17, 2008, from 4 – 6 pm to join UCLA’s Bruins for Traffic Relief with their pro-Measure R, anti-gridlock Rally.
No wonder I love you so much, Siel.
You said everything I have saying against the political parochialism against Measure R (which, one will note, comes loudest from Supervisors Antonovich, Molina, and Knabe, and from the elected officials in the San Gabriel Valley.
Hopefully the public will see that a comprehensive plan cannot distribute the funds based on population, without taking into account the density of that population, the percentage of transit-dependent in any given area, and the existing use of what services are available.
While I understand the misguided protest from the SGV, which thinks the extension of the Gold Line east of Pasadena should be the center of the plan, the reality is more along the lines of the Metro map you reproduced showing the benefited areas of a subway extension to the Westside. Pure and simple: There is no single project in the plan that serves as large a population, has as great a population density, and has the highest use of existing services, as the subway extension. The map (and your comments on it) clearly shows that the benefits go far beyond the Westside.
Only about a third of the benefits are identified as Westside-centric. The next largest area that would benefit is the SGV. The clueless politicos there might ask why, but the answer is clear to those of us out here in the real world. There are a lot of people who live in the SGV but work in downtown, BH, Century City, and the Westside. They already take Metrolink in large numbers, but the connecting link to the Westside is missing for them.
Measure R can make that connection happen. And, the SGV politicos are loath to admit, there is money for their project in there too.
Comment by Kymberleigh Richards — October 16, 2008 @ 8:10 am