EDITORIAL : STOP THE RAIL RIPOFF; GET REAL AND BUILD A COMPREHENSIVE MASS TRANSIT PLAN.Why has Los Angeles Los Angeles (lôs ăn`jələs, lŏs, ăn`jəlēz'), city (1990 pop. 3,485,398), seat of Los Angeles co., S Calif.; inc. 1850. County Supervisor Michael D. Antonovich Michael Dennis Antonovich (born 1939 in Los Angeles, California) is a member of the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors representing the Fifth District, which covers northern Los Angeles County, the Antelope, Santa Clarita, Pasadena, and parts of the San Fernando and San turned his back on his old friends in 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. ? For years, he promised to guard, protect and defend the Valley's interest in a rail line. We believed him despite critics who accused him of scuttling Scuttling is the act of deliberately sinking a ship by allowing water to flow into the hull. This can be achieved in several ways - valves or hatches can be opened to the sea, or holes may be ripped into the hull with brute force or with explosives. any hope for Valley rail with his freeway monorail monorail, railway system that uses cars that run on a single rail. Typically the rail is run overhead and the cars are either suspended from it or run above it. scheme. Why, then, did he try to retaliate against the City Council members for demanding that 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. do something about the scandal over taking taxes out of the Valley but giving nothing back? Pitting one area against another for dwindling dwin·dle v. dwin·dled, dwin·dling, dwin·dles v.intr. To become gradually less until little remains. v.tr. To cause to dwindle. See Synonyms at decrease. transit dollars is not the kind of statesmanlike approach we've come to expect from the fair and honorable Mr. Antonovich. He claims his retaliatory move to withhold millions in sales taxes from Los Angeles has nothing to do with the fact that he lives in South Pasadena South Pasadena (păs'ədē`nə), city (1990 pop. 23,936), Los Angeles co., S Calif., a residential suburb of Los Angeles; inc. 1888. Medical supplies, clothing, and transportation and electronic equipment are manufactured. , favors completion of the Blue Line to Pasadena over the Valley line and no longer represents much of the Valley. He says he wants to force L.A. to pay its past due bill of $60 million for cost overruns on the Hollywood line. He also wants city leaders to realize no subway will ever be built through the Valley at $350 million a mile. On that point, he is absolutely correct - the subway to the Valley is looking more and more like a mirage. And that goes double for new promises for an east-west Valley light-rail line. The City Council is to be commended for finally making a concerted effort to get the Valley its fair share in transportation dollars. Unfortunately, whatever deal is brokered to end the MTA deadlock, it's an even bet the Valley will be shortchanged. After so many broken promises about rail over the years, much of the city is angry about being shortchanged. Perhaps the federal, state and local officials involved in this fiasco ought to take a cold, hard look at the whole transit plan and determine whether it's really worth the billions being poured into it. Leaders also must stop making promises about future rail that will never be delivered. That was supposed to be the idea behind the federal demands to develop a ``recovery plan'' for the MTA. Instead, MTA developed a ``snookering plan'' to get more federal money without making any real decisions. Given the cost overruns and time delays, the first question that needs to be answered is whether rail lines are really the best answer to L.A.'s transit problems. If the answer is that rail is a billion-dollar dead-end line, let's face it and get moving with a realistic alternative. It's time to get real. Leaders should bring in all stake holders and come up with an honest plan for mass transit that benefits all of Los Angeles. |
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