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County Supervisors Vote 'No' on Transit Sales Tax
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Photo by Adan Garcia via Flickr
The half-cent sales tax increase that is projected to bring in $30 to $40 billion over the next 30 years and has been a focus for Metro in getting the proposal on November's ballot has been an long and stressful journey. Today did not help.
In an unexpected move that was a 3-2 vote, the LA County Board of Supervisors rejected putting the sales tax increase on November's ballot. Michael Antonovich and Don Knabe voted against the measure with Gloria Molina abstaining. If Sacramento politicians pass a bill allowing it to hit the ballot, it can still go to the election booth anyway, but it will have to be on a separate paper ballot that will cost Metro $10 million unless they take the issue to court to force the measure onto the normal ballot.
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"Talk about opponents shooting themselves in the foot: With no sale tax there's no Eastside extension past Atlantic for Gloria Molina, no Foothill Gold Line for John Fasana and Mike Antonovich, and no increase in operating funding for the BRU's supporters," said green blogger Darrell Clarke, who expanded his thoughts on a post, in an e-mail to LAist.
Molina, who abstained said the proposal is a "nice concocted scheme... And every single and every step of the way it has made arrangements at how they were going to get more for one side of town versus the other side." She, who represents communities around East LA, is referring to the Westside's "Subway to the Sea" and Expo Line Phase II projects.
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