EDITORIAL : DERAIL THIS ONE; 2 SUPERVISORS MAKE SNEAKY LAST-DITCH MOVE TO PROTECT WASTEFUL SUBWAYS.SUPERVISORS Yvonne Brathwaite Burke and Gloria Molina Gloria Molina is a member of the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors, and the current chairwoman of the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority.[1] Molina grew up as one of ten children in the Los Angeles suburb of Pico Rivera, California, U.S. are trying to play a dirty trick on Los Angeles County taxpayers. In a foolhardy fool·har·dy adj. fool·har·di·er, fool·har·di·est Unwisely bold or venturesome; rash. See Synonyms at reckless. [Middle English folhardi, from Old French fol hardi : effort to preserve the long record of corruption and incompetence in the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, the two are forcing the 13 elected officials who serve on the countywide transit agency's board to make a clear and public choice Thursday. The choice is simple: Allow voters to decide in November whether to kill all new subway projects or confuse voters so that L.A.'s subway fantasies can be kept alive for another day. The board should answer clearly: It must not allow any new subway construction and should reject the Burke-Molina ploy. Subways have been a costly and scandal-ridden disaster for the entire county, serving almost no one while eating up precious funds for affordable transit. Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky understood this when he circulated petitions and qualified an initiative for the November ballot that would put an end to the subway nonsense by cutting off use of the 1 percent countywide transportation sales tax sales tax, levy on the sale of goods or services, generally calculated as a percentage of the selling price, and sometimes called a purchase tax. It is usually collected in the form of an extra charge by the retailer, who remits the tax to the government. on subway construction once and for all. But Burke and Molina have come up with a cheap trick to try to muddy the issue. They want the MTA (1) (Message Transfer Agent or Mail Transfer Agent) The store and forward part of a messaging system. See messaging system. (2) See M Technology Association. 1. (messaging) MTA - Message Transfer Agent. board to approve a competing measure for the November ballot that would halt new subway construction only for six years. They know as well as anyone that this is a phony alternative since the MTA is so deeply in debt it can't afford any new subway projects for at least that long anyway. Their goal is to confuse voters and defeat the Yaroslavsky initiative. If they succeed, they will prevent progress in planning an affordable transit system that could begin to work for all the people of the county within a few years. From the San Fernando Valley San Fernando Valley Valley, southern California, U.S. Northwest of central Los Angeles, the valley is bounded by the San Gabriel, Santa Susana, and Santa Monica mountains and the Simi Hills. to Pasadena and the San Gabriel Valley The San Gabriel Valley is one of the principal valleys of southern California. It lies to the east of the city of Los Angeles, to the north of the Puente Hills, to the south of the San Gabriel Mountains, and to the west of the Inland Empire. , and across the Eastside to the Mid-City, the MTA has cheated the public out of its tax dollars. If Yaroslavsky's proposal passes, as we hope it does, it will force the MTA to figure out a system of busways, shuttles and possibly light rail that will get the Los Angeles area moving again - a system that is affordable and workable. This is the only way out of the dilemma of worsening gridlock Gridlock A government, business or institution's inability to function at a normal level due either to complex or conflicting procedures within the administrative framework or to impending change in the business. and deteriorating public transit in every part of the county. But the giant subway construction companies and their well-paid lobbyists and the politicians who feast on their largess lar·gess also lar·gesse n. 1. a. Liberality in bestowing gifts, especially in a lofty or condescending manner. b. Money or gifts bestowed. 2. Generosity of spirit or attitude. are a powerful machine that will fight to the finish to keep their gravy train from being cut off. The MTA board has a choice Thursday: corruption and incompetence or a hopeful transit future for the taxpayers, bus riders and commuters of Los Angeles County. Board members should vote against Burke and Molina. Let voters decide in November to stop more subway construction and get a reasonable transit system in the future. |
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