Nov 28, 2007 12:33 pm US/Pacific
Officials Call For Transit Plan To Ease Congestion
LOS ANGELES (CBS) ―
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The SoCal Association of Governments will spend $275,000 to retain a consultant who will be expected to create a plan to increase mobility.
CBS
For the first time in more than 20 years, city officials will develop a "strategic plan" to ease traffic congestion and improve public transportation in the sprawling Los Angeles region, Councilwoman
Wendy Greuel announced Wednesday.
The Southern California Association of Governments will spend $275,000 to retain a consultant who will be expected to create a plan to increase mobility while protecting the integrity of neighborhoods; make public transit more reliable; promote Los Angeles as an international trade hub; and develop sufficient transportation funding by 2030.
The plan is expected to be completed by May 2009. "Our roads are clogged, our commutes are long, our air is polluted, and every sign seems to point to these problems getting worse in the future," said Greuel, chair of the City Council's Transportation Committee.
"For too long, our leaders have put their heads in the sand and let the traffic get worse," she said. "For too long, we have seen individual ideas -- which may be good when proposed -- lacking, however, the vision and political will that is needed to reduce traffic and gridlock in Los Angeles."
To pay for the projects that will be identified in the plan, Councilman Tom LaBonge is proposing a $52 annual parcel tax on properties throughout Los Angeles County. Even if the councilman can build enough support for the tax increase, the initiative would not appear on the ballot until 2010.
Funds generated by the parcel tax would be handled by the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, and spending would be overseen by a citizen advisory panel.
"We're in it together, and we have to get out of it together," LaBonge said. "When Tom Bradley ran (for mayor) in 1973, he promised transit in 18 months and it took 18 years. It's going to take a decade to do -- even if we're successful tomorrow ... it will take at least five years of 24-hour work."
City officials will seek public comment on the plan. A mission statement and preliminary plan documents is available online at L.A. City Council
(© 2009 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)
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