RESTORE FUNDS FOR HIGHWAYS, ARNOLD WARNED.Byline: Steve Geissinger Sacramento Bureau With roads crumbling and traffic going nowhere fast, a coalition of transit groups warned Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger Arnold Alois Schwarzenegger (German pronunciation (IPA): [ˈaɐ̯nɔlt ˈaloɪ̯s ˈʃvaɐ̯ʦənˌʔɛɡɐ] and lawmakers Tuesday to restore billions in voter-approved highway funds or face a ballot initiative campaign before spring. Leaders of the effort to restore $5.5 billion in Proposition 42 money and other transportation funds, borrowed over the past two years to ease the state deficit, said much of the money would have gone to the 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. and Bay Area regions. ``Our elected leaders have violated the voters' trust,'' said James Earp James Cooksey Earp (June 28 1841-January 25 1926) was the little known older brother to old west lawman Virgil Earp and lawman/gambler Wyatt Earp. Biography James Earp was born in Hartford, Kentucky, and was raised in a tight-knit family environment. , executive director of the California Alliance for Jobs. The coalition of labor and other groups, which held a Capitol news conference, said it also wants to head off any diversions of Proposition 42 money in the 2005-06 budget that Schwarzenegger will propose in January. Suspension of Proposition 42, which earmarked gasoline 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. for road work, would cost Los Angeles County $332 million in the fiscal year beginning July 1. The suspension would threaten planned work on several projects, including 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. Orange Line; the San Diego Freeway The San Diego Freeway (Interstate 405, and the part of Interstate 5 south of the El Toro Y[1]) is one of the principal north-south highways in Southern California, and the major beltway of I-5 running through Southern California. car-pool lane northbound from the Santa Monica Freeway The Santa Monica Freeway is the westernmost segment of Interstate 10, beginning at the western terminus of I-10 at the Pacific Coast Highway in Santa Monica, California and ending southeast of downtown Los Angeles at the famous East Los Angeles Interchange. to the Ventura Freeway; and improvements on the 405-101 connectors. But the Republican governor, as he prepares to propose another $100 billion-plus state budget next month, faces another deficit - this time of nearly $7 billion. Many of the easier solutions - besides huge spending cuts, tax hikes, or both - have been exhausted. He has ruled out tax hikes. ``I won't be surprised if we don't like what we see,'' Earp said, referring to possible suspension of Proposition 42 again during the coming fiscal year. Schwarzenegger's aides declined to comment about budget details and Proposition 42 until the spending plan for the next fiscal year is unveiled next month. Steve Geissinger, (916) 447-9302 sgeissinger(at)angnewspapers.com |
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