A local politician went to the nation’s capitol last week to lobby for $165 million to fund L.A. County’s transportation system, including $20 million for a light rail line in Santa Monica.
City Councilwoman Pam O’Connor spent three days rubbing elbows with politicians on behalf of the L.A. County Metropolitan Transportation Authority, whose budget is expected to go in front of Congress later this year.
The funding would go towards the preliminary engineering of the first phase of the Expo Line, connecting downtown L.A. to the intersection of Venice and Robertson boulevards in West L.A. The second phase of the project would extend the rail line from West L.A. to Santa Monica along Exposition Boulevard.
“It’s taken decades to move forward,” said O’Connor, indicating that some type of action may finally be near. “Mobility is getting tougher and tougher, and speeds are getting slower on the freeway.”
The MTA also is seeking assistance from Congress through the transportation equity act, which has provided more than $215 billion in transit and highway funding nationwide over the past six years. Dozens of cities are competing for the money and funding is in jeopardy because the act expires Sept. 30.
“California is kind of the harbinger,” said O’Connor, who represents L.A.’s 19 western cities on the MTA board. “What happens in California and our economy here has implications for the country.”
Santa Monica has for the past few years also retained a full-time lobbyist in Washington D.C. who lobbies for funding of local projects like the Expo Line and other capital improvements in the city.
O’Connor, who was joined by MTA’s CEO Roger Snoble and two other MTA board members, John Fasana of Duarte and Beatrice Proo of Pico Rivera, said she went to eight or 10 short meetings each day, getting to know Congressional members and staffers.
“Our goal was to open that door,” O’Connor said. “To let them know who we are. It’s putting a face to the region. We care we’re here. We’re taking time out of our lives.”
The group, which also addressed the Appropriations and the Transportation and Infrastructure committees, was in Washington D.C. during the American Public Transportation Association’s legislative conference that attracted officials from all over the world.
The MTA plans to use $25 million in homeland security funding, $70 million for the Eastside Light Rail Project, which will connect Union Station to East L.A., $44.2 million to buy buses and construct bus divisions and $5 million for the MTA’s bus system.
O’Connor said reactions to MTA’s request were mixed.
“Some folks were more optimistic,” she said. “Others seemed pessimistic. It was all over the board.”
O’Connor also attended the weekend meeting of the National League of Cities, a bi-annual gathering of about 200 city officials nationwide.
O’Connor, who is on the 25-member steering committee of league of cities, said the group discussed possible FCC limitations on cable, cable modems and privacy issues. Members will meet again in December to suggest future legislation.
Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on March 22, 2003. Read the original PDF.