Add fairness to transit funds
Re “A transit dead-end,” editorial, July 11
The taxpayers of Los Angeles County in the 87 cities and 134 unincorporated communities outside the city of Los Angeles have every right to ask for an equitable distribution of revenues from a new countywide sales tax.
This is not obstructionism. It is based on the historic failure of the Los Angeles city-centric MTA board to provide equitable regional funding for countywide projects. Traffic congestion is a countywide problem and more than 60% of the county’s population lives -- and more than 67% of the county sales tax is produced -- outside of the city of Los Angeles.
But AB 2321 will mandate the MTA to complete all projects listed in the legislation, including a $450-million-per-mile Westside subway extension, prior to funding new projects. This threatens regional equity.
The city of Los Angeles needs to work with the subregions to determine an equitable distribution of the $40 billion to be generated by this measure. If equity is not incorporated into this sales-tax measure, it will be defeated handily.
Michael D. Antonovich
Los Angeles
The writer is a Los Angeles County supervisor and a director of the MTA.
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