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Metro Backtracks on Frivolous Stimulus Money Giveaway
Photo by ~db~ via the LAist Featured Photos pool on Flickr
With the $215 million in federal stimulus funds Metro received (it could go up to $315) for transportation projects, they are giving cities a minimum of $500,000. But the Pasadena Star News found that smaller cities were taking that money and trading it for as low as 62-cents to the dollar for money they could use on anything they wanted (Example, one city would trade their $500,000 earmarked for shovel ready transit projects with another city for $315,000 in cash that they could use for anything they wanted). "That was a misunderstanding on somebody's part," Metro board member and Mayor Villaraigosa appointee Richard Katz told the paper in a follow up story. "It is our intention that all of the stimulus money be for transportation purposes and transportation only."
But another board member, John Fasana, said that "the cities felt the latitude to do this, and Metro frankly was allowing it within the last week. But based on the concerns that have been expressed, they decided it might be safer to go back to a strict interpretation. They didn't want some investigation to put any of the money at risk."
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You come to LAist because you want independent reporting and trustworthy local information. Our nonprofit newsroom doesn’t answer to shareholders looking to turn a profit. Instead, we answer to you and our communities. We are free to follow facts wherever they lead and to hold power to account without fear or favor. Our only loyalty is to our readers and listeners and our mission: to inform, engage, and strengthen Southern California’s communities.
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