Federal Gold Line Funds Expected

By Fred Ortega, San Gabriel Valley Tribune, Calif.

Nov. 28–PASADENA — Congress members said Tuesday they expect to secure about $320 million in federal funding for the first phase of the Gold Line extension — as long as state and local officials can come up with the remaining $80 million.

Speaking at his office, Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Pasadena, said there was a “good chance” that language guaranteeing an 80 percent commitment would make it into the final version of a federal transportation bill. A representative for Rep. David Dreier, R-San Dimas, also was optimistic about the federal funding.

“(Dreier) is very confident about a federal match,” said Alisa Do, Dreier’s spokeswoman, who was joined by representatives from half a dozen other state and federal lawmakers at the summit, as well as mayors from the various cities along the proposed 24-mile, light-rail route from Pasadena to Montclair.

Environmental studies and preliminary design work have already been completed for the project, which could reach the border of Azusa and Glendora by 2011. But officials need about $400 million to build that first phase of the line.

That means state and local agencies have to come up with about $80 million if they want to start the project on schedule by the end of next year.

“I feel confident the (Federal Transit Administration) will help us, but they won’t simply accept our word — they want money on the table,” said Schiff, who was joined via teleconference by Rep. Grace Napolitano, D-Santa Fe Springs, during the meeting. They promised to present a letter to federal transportation officials touting the bipartisan show of support for the project by local officials.

The meeting also included strategy sessions to determine where the local funding would come from, Schiff said.

The focus of the strategy sessions was the roughly $3.6 billion in mass-transit funding provided by Proposition 1B, the transportation bond approved by voters last year.

“Pursuing that bond money is the chief avenue we are considering,” said Rob Charles, chief of staff for Assemblyman Ed Hernandez, D-West Covina. “There is of course the option of direct appropriation, though that is less likely given the current state budget crunch.”

Any Gold Line funding from the Proposition 1B bond would have to first be approved by the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority, Charles said.

Based on allocation formulas determined by the state Legislature, the MTA should receive about $1 billion of the $3.6 billion in Proposition 1B money available for mass transit, said John Fasana, a Duarte councilman and MTA board member.

“Metro will probably program about $160 million of that money this week, but none of that will be for the Gold Line,” said Fasana. “Frankly, many board members including (Los Angeles) Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa are very frustrated that they haven’t programmed any of that money for new projects.”

That is because much of the funding is being used to backfill about $300 million MTA lost earlier this year, when Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger shifted more than $1 billion away from the state transportation budget.

“Our hope is that going forward we will be able to get at least some of that money for the Gold Line,” said Fasana, who did not rule out the floating of bonds by local municipalities to make up the difference.

“We are going to have to decide as cities what we are willing to do at the local level,” Fasana said.

All of the local officials present Tuesday pledged their support for the project.

“We are very excited,” said Montclair Mayor Paul Eaton. “Almost daily, people in my city call us and ask when they are going to be able to ride the light rail.”

Monrovia Mayor Rob Hammond said his residents have already been dealing with increased congestion since the connection of the 210 Freeway to the 15 Freeway opened.

“We have to give our residents alternatives (to driving),” Hammond said. “If we don’t do something now, the problems are only going to get worse.”

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