Sacramento – Senator Tony Mendoza (D-Artesia) issued the following statement calling on the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority (Metro) board to postpone its vote this week on the Los Angeles County Traffic Improvement Plan (Plan) for the proposed ballot measure until after an oversight hearing scheduled for this Friday in Los Angeles by the State Senate Transportation and Housing Committee on the Plan:
“I call on the Metro board to postpone its vote this week on the revised Los Angeles County Traffic Improvement Plan until the State Senate has had an opportunity to hold a public oversight hearing on the Plan.
“This revised Plan was only released to the public on June 10th. More time is needed for a thorough public review of the Plan.
“Given the concerns raised by numerous stakeholders and the fact that the Plan will not be able to be changed or modified for decades, we must ensure it is thoroughly reviewed and meeting the transportation needs of residents throughout all of Los Angeles County.
“Senate President pro-Tem Kevin de Leon authored SB 767 last year authorizing Metro to place a new transportation sales tax measure on the ballot. This measure called for a bottom-up approach to develop a Plan working with the Council of Governments, local groups and residents. Metro did not meet this requirement in good faith and in a fair manner.
“Most importantly, the Board has not delivered on projects promised in Measure R1 which was approved by voters in 2008. Many of these projects have been postponed for many years and bumped behind others despite the complete lack of project pre-planning done for these other projects.
“Breaking these promises to voters from the previous measure should be a cause for concern with this revised Plan.
“This is why we call on the Metro board to postpone this week’s vote and allow the Senate and the public to have an opportunity to assess how Metro carried out the process in coming up with the revised Plan and determine if it meets the needs of building a representative 21st Century transportation system which benefits all of Los Angeles County.”
Background
On June 16, 2016, State Senate President pro Tempore Kevin de León (D-Los Angeles) sent a letter (see attached) to Metro board Chair Mark Ridley-Thomas requesting that the board postpone its vote on the Plan pending the outcome of an oversight hearing on the Plan, scheduled for Friday, June 24th in Los Angeles.
Los Angeles (LA) County is expected to grow by 2.4 million people by 2057. Metro is updating its Long Range Transportation Plan (LRTP) to enhance mobility, fairness in representation and quality of life for LA County, meet its transportation needs, and position the region for future growth.
The foundation for the updated LRTP is a Draft Expenditure Plan which includes nine categories of funding for a variety of transit-related infrastructure projects and programs to build and operate a multi-modal transportation system. More information on the Metro plan may be found at http://theplan.metro.net/
