Half-cent tax expected to pass
By Daniel Schonhaut
Nov. 9, 2008 10:17 p.m.
Measure R, which is predicted to raise $40 billion for public transit projects throughout Los Angeles County, is expected to pass by a narrow margin.
Just more than 67 percent of the counted votes have been in favor of the measure so far, according to a recent report from the county Registrar-Recorder, which oversees the counting of ballots. Two-thirds must approve the measure for it to pass.
Official election results will not be announced until Dec. 2. The law requires that all ballots are tallied by this date.
“The last I heard there were about 500,000 ballots that still have to be counted,” said Rick Jaeger, a spokesman for the Los Angeles County Metro Transit Authority, which put Measure R on the November ballot.
The measure, if passed, will levy a half-cent sales tax on L.A. County residents beginning July of next year.
Metro estimates the tax will cost residents about $25 each year and will generate $40 billion over 30 years.
“The money will be spent mainly on highway projects, rail projects and bus projects,” Jaeger said.
Although there are plans to begin construction of new rail lines as early as next year, Jaeger said Westwood residents should not expect to see a reduction in traffic any time soon.
“The first project that Measure R will fund is the Exposition Line from Culver City to Santa Monica. After that will be the rail line extension from Pasadena to Azusa, the Green Line extension into LAX and the Crenshaw Line along Crenshaw Boulevard,” Jaeger said.
Metro does intend to build a light-rail line along Wilshire Boulevard that will cut through Westwood, but according to Jaeger, “the money for that project probably won’t come until 2013, and it will take about 10 years to complete.”
The new light-rail trains will run along tracks that connect places across Los Angeles, greatly expanding the current mass transit system.
Bruins for Traffic Relief, a student group committed to improving public transportation in Los Angeles, campaigned in support of Measure R in the weeks leading up to the election.
“I think it is important to expand public transportation in L.A., and Measure R is a really good way to do it,” said Mikhail Silin, external vice president for the group.
The measure “allots money to all the different areas in the county instead of just going project by project. This will do a lot in terms of reducing traffic, air pollution and congestion,” Silin added.
Silin, along with fifth-year student Matthew Vogel and fourth-year student Robert McShane, founded Bruins for Traffic Relief during spring quarter of last year.
The group promoted its message by holding “Yes on R” signs along Wilshire Boulevard, participating in the Transportation and Sustainability Fair, and encouraging students to join the Bruins for Traffic Relief Facebook group, which currently has more than 240 members.
Silin does not intend for the group to end with the campaign for Measure R.
“All of us in Bruins for Traffic Relief are going to get together and see what we want to do next, but there’s always something going on in public transportation that we could work on here at UCLA.”
Although he acknowledged that plans to improve transit in Westwood are far off, Silin remained optimistic about the future of transportation for UCLA students.
“I think right now a lot of students feel like they’re trapped in Westwood and never really get to know L.A.,” Silin said. “A rail line will allow students to go out more and explore the city. Hopefully they will become more connected with Los Angeles and will feel like a bigger part of the community than they do now.”
