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Downtown Streetcar Takes Big Steps Toward Reality

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A streetcar in Portland | Photo by Zach Behrens/LAist
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Congress has cut federal funding for public media — a $3.4 million loss for LAist. We count on readers like you to protect our nonprofit newsroom. Become a monthly member and sustain local journalism.

Plans for a streetcar in downtown Los Angeles are moving along. The nonprofit charged with the project earlier this month applied for $25 million from a federal "urban circulator" grant. That course of action prompted the Metro board yesterday to take charge and become the lead agency for the environmental review, a document needed in order to proceed with the project.

The project, which will carry passengers between L.A. Live and Bunker Hill, mainly via Broadway, is expected to open in 2014.

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