LA mayor touts transit plan
Written by jrood
Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, who leads the second-largest U.S. city, said his plan to accelerate public-transit construction with a mix of local funding and federal aid can be used elsewhere as well, Bloomberg reports.
"Senator Dianne Feinstein
is supporting this project, saying it could become a national model,"
Villaraigosa said in a Bloomberg Television interview.
Villaraigosa has drawn
support for his plan from both of California’s U.S. senators, Feinstein and
Barbara Boxer. All are Democrats.
He’s seeking federal
guarantees or loan subsidies to allow borrowing for subway and light-rail
construction in the next year, so work can be completed in 10 years instead of
30. Los Angeles County voters passed a half-cent sales-tax surcharge in 2008 to
fund transit projects.
"This is a way for cities
and counties and states to come with money in hand to invest in jobs and
infrastructure, while at the same time partnering with the federal government,"
Villaraigosa said.
The initiative will create
jobs, the mayor said.
