Los Angeles is the future -- watch your back New York! That's what the New York Post told readers a month ago, and it wasn't tongue in cheek. Writers Andy Wang and David Landsel were effusive in their praise for L.A.'s transformation: "A decade of building real transit... Of creating truly walkable neighborhoods... For the first time in generations you will soon be able to travel by rail between downtown and Santa Monica. Soon after expect a subway stop on Rodeo Drive."

It wasn't the only such story. In April, an Atlantic Cities story asked "Is SoCal America's Next Environmental Success Story?" And a story on Slate speculated whether Los Angeles was becoming "America's next great mass-transit city." Apparently the media noticed there were three transit lines under construction this year for the first time in LA County history, or at least since Henry Huntington was building the Pacific Red Car lines a century ago. Next year work on three more lines begins.

Measure R, the half-cent sales tax passed by voters in 2008, has ushered in a new era of transportation choices -- making it possible to double the size of the rail system and the number of stations in 30 years. Meanwhile, commuting by public transit is up 11 percent, according to the 2009 American Communities Survey, taking a lot of cars off the road.

Measure J -- on the ballot next Tuesday -- would usher in this new era with a bang, making L.A. County more healthy, prosperous and sustainable, with cleaner air, in about a decade. Measure J would construct seven iconic transit lines and eight highway improvement projects all over L.A. County in 13 years instead of 27, as is currently planned under Measure R.

Read the rest here.

 

The Los Angeles Sentinel had endorsed Measure J!! "The right to vote is a sacred honor, right and responsibility that so many African Americans have fought and died for . . . Yes on Measure J."

La Opinion has endorsed Measure J! "Measure J proposes to take advantage of the moment to make a good business deal, to accelerate the construction of already approved transportation improvements, and to share the costs with additional taxpayers. This is a proposal worthy of being supported."
Read it here.

All major LA County newspapers have now endorsed Measure J: the Los Angeles Times, Daily News, Pasadena Star News, San Gabriel Valley Tribune, Whittier Daily News, Daily Breeze, Long Beach Press Telegram.

Move LA Executive Director Denny Zane and CA Assemblymember Michael Feuer making the case for Measure J at this month's Westside Urban Forum. Dan Rosenfeld, senior deputy for LA County Supervisor Mark Ridley Thomas, who has remained neutral, was charged with what he called "the unenviable assignment of laying the case against Measure J." The debate was moderated by David Abel, editor-in-chief of the Planning Report, and printed in this month's edition.

It began: "Measure R is responsible for the recent transit boom in Los Angeles County and has been hailed as a political and economic triumph, with more than two thirds of voters supporting a tax at the height of the recession. In extending the sales tax by another 30 years, Measure J will allow Los Angeles Metro to borrow off of an extended future revenue stream, thus making it possible to expedite project timelines and create much needed jobs. Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa's proposed 30/10 Initiative is where the effort began, "to use the long-term revenue from the Measure R sales tax as collateral for long-term bonds and a federal loan which will allow Metro to build 12 key mass transit projects in 10 years, rather than 30. Accelerating construction of these 12 key Metro projects will result in substantial cost savings."

Read it here.

From their website: "LACBC is endorsing Measure J to extend the Measure R half-cent sales tax for transportation for an additional 30 years. In 2008, LA County residents voted to approve Measure R, which provided $40 billion for specified transit and highway projects, bus operations, and local transportation improvements. Many cities, like Los Angeles, are using its Measure R local returns to build out their bike networks. Measure J would accelerate these projects by providing a more predictable revenue stream against which Metro and local cities can bond to build projects now.

"LACBC works closely with MoveLA, the coalition of labor, business, and environmental organizations backing Measure J. MoveLA shares our vision of a bikeable, walkable, and transit-friendly Los Angeles County and are working with us at Metro to ensure that our regional transportation policy supports these goals. As LACBC makes the case for greater investments in biking and walking ("active transportation"), Move LA will be right there with us. We encourage you to support Measure J on Election Day on Tuesday, November 6th."

Visit http://la-bike.org/

The Long Beach Press Telegram reports that weekday ridership on Metro's rail lines increased 12 percent in September 2012 over the previous year for an average weekday ridership of 357,096 people: The Blue Line is up 10 percent with 92,120 riders, the Green Line is up 3.4 percent with 46,393 riders, Gold Line is up 10.6 percent with 41,987 riders, the Red and Purple subway lines are up 2 percent with 155,940 weekday boardings, the Orange Line is up 18 percent with 31,787 riders, and Expo, which reported 11,347 riders when it opened in May surpassed 20,000 in September.

Ridership on Metro's bus system held steady, with an increase of less than 1 percent, averaging more than 1.18 million passengers on an average weekday in September.

Read it in the Long Beach Press Telegram.

You may have seen the YES on Measure J TV ad on MSNBC during the presidential debates, or on another channel but it's also posted here (up top). And the YES on Measure J for Jobs website is live as well: http://measurej.org/

Measure J has been endorsed by a broad spectrum of organizations ranging from the American Lung Association of California to the Sierra Club and NRDC, to the LA/OC Building Trades and the LA County Federation of Labor, to the LA Area Chamber of Commerce and a dozen other business coalitions, to the American Jewish Committee to the LA City Council and Santa Monica City Council, etc. All endorsers are posted on the website. Only 14 days left until Nov. 6.

Move LA Deputy Director Beth Steckler wrote about Measure J on LAANE's blog: The U.S. Census reported in September that San Francisco and San Jose are the richest cities in the nation and that the poverty rate in California increased for the fifth year in a row, to 16 percent of the population. The Great Recession has been brutal for working people and clearly we aren’t out of the woods yet.

We need jobs. Good jobs. Here. Now. A lot of people in Los Angeles have been working on making that happen, especially around transit, and the efforts are starting to pay off. First, L.A. County voters approved the Measure R half-cent sales tax in 2008 that raises $40 billion for transportation – here, in L.A. County – over 30 years. Then, the Los Angeles Alliance for a New Economy (LAANE) and the L.A.-Orange Counties Building & Construction Trades Council convinced L.A. Metro to take the extra steps to make sure Measure R jobs are good jobs. L.A. Metro agreed to a “Project Labor Agreement” with the Building Trades Council to use skilled crafts workers on Measure R projects. This ensures that the transportation construction jobs will be good jobs.

L.A. Metro is breaking ground with a new “Construction Careers Policy” that will open a door for people traditionally shut out of good construction jobs. Because of this policy 40 percent of the work on Measure R construction must be done by people from low-income communities, the very places where the poverty rate is probably rising the most. Another 10 percent of the work must be done by “disadvantaged workers,” who have a hard time getting work in a good economy and little hope in a bad one.

To qualify as disadvantaged, a worker must select two hardships from a list that would challenge any of us: chronically unemployed, homeless, single parent, veteran of the Iraq or Afghanistan wars, no high school diploma or GED, growing up in foster care, receiving public assistance, a history of involvement with the criminal justice system, an apprentice with less than 15 percent of the hours required to become a journeyman. Pick any two and it feels almost like a recipe for a life in poverty. But Metro’s Construction Careers policy is creating opportunity.

We’re building something important here that can be replicated in other parts of the state and across the U.S. With Measure R we’ve voted to tax ourselves to build the local transit and road improvements we want. With the Project Labor Agreement we’ve guaranteed the jobs will be good jobs employing skilled labor. With the Construction Careers Policy we are creating opportunity for some of our neighbors who are struggling the most, giving them the chance to work at a good job that can lead to a career.

But the Measure R construction program stretches over 30 years and that’s a long time to wait — for the build-out of the transit system and for a job. That’s where Measure J comes in. Measure J, which is on the November ballot, extends the Measure R sales tax 30 more years, providing L.A. Metro with a longer revenue stream to secure the financing it needs to build these projects and provide these jobs now. If Measure J passes in November, L.A. Metro anticipates having seven transit projects and eight highway improvement projects under construction by the end of 2013 and completed within the decade – equating to 250,000 jobs over that time.

Good jobs, here, NOW. Be part of making it happen. Vote on November 6.

Read it on The Frying Pan.

The Los Angeles City Council voted 10-2 to support Measure J today. The resolution was introduced by Councilmember Eric Garcetti, with Councilmembers Bill Rosendahl, Paul Koretz and Jose Huizar.

The only "no" votes were Councilmembers Bernard Parks and Paul Englander. Councilmembers Bill Rosendahl, Tony Cardenas, and Jose Huizar were not present at the time of the vote.

 

On the City Watch website Ken Alpern points out that newspapers across the spectrum from "liberal" (LA Times) to "conservative" (LA Daily News, Long Beach Press Telegram, San Gabriel Valley Tribune, Daily Breeze, etc.) have all endorsed Measure J, because, he writes: " . . . it ensures that planned and vetted transportation projects will be built within our lifetimes. Not just more talk and meetings—construction and implementation before our very eyes.  Not fantasy and hot air, but reality.  The only ones opposing Measure J are either obsessed with agendas that are opposed to Metro’s decades-overdue freeway, road and rail transportation projects, unrealistically want more money for projects that have already been assigned a fixed budget, or are just plain misinformed."

On City Watch:

It was a double-header for Measure J on Sunday! The Daily News as well as the LA Times endorsed, and the Daily News editorial was headlined: "It's traffic relief in LA County faster, cheaper." Read it below.