Today, in his weekly city hall column, Steve Hymon takes on funding that darn 'Subway to the Sea.' It's projected to cost a dazzling $5-billion and we can't seem to find a tree that grow this amount of money. Here are the funding ideas Hymon uncovers:

• The feds tend to contribute half, but some say they won't if the next bullet item is not repealed.
  
• In 1998, voters declined the government to use local sales tax for subway tunneling.
  
• Councilman Tom LaBonge wants sales tax to go towards it, but also is exploring a parcel tax.
  
• Councilman Jack Weiss is wanting a public/private partnership to build the subway.
  
• A sales tax increase of a half penny would bring in $500 million a year towards transit projects. But we already have one of the highest sales tax percentages in California as it is.

It will be interesting to see how this one plays out., We suspect the public won't be hearing too much on other tax initiatives from the city until after ballots are cast on February 5th's presidential primary ballot that includes the contentious Phone Tax proposition.

Image of possible alignments/routes for the 'Subway to the Sea' and Expo Line Phase II by Metro