Business and labor — intrinsically on opposite sides — have come together in a big way to support a November ballot measure that would raise sales tax in Los Angeles County by one-half cent and stream about $860 million annually for highway, rail, bus and road maintenance projects for the next 40 years.
Meanwhile, a loose-knit coalition in opposition to the measure may be growing.
Measure M, the Los Angeles County Traffic Improvement Plan, asks voters to approve a one-half cent sales tax starting in 2017 that would increase to one cent in 2039. The measure establishes a new, permanent sales tax with no sunset that requires two-thirds voter approval on Nov. 8.
A long list of projects include burrowing a transit tunnel under the Sepulveda Pass connecting West Los Angeles with the San Fernando Valley; extending the foothill Gold Line to Claremont; finishing the Purple Line subway to Westwood and the Crenshaw Line to LAX; running a new light-rail line from Artesia to Union Station; improvements to the Orange Line Bus Rapid Transit in the San Fernando Valley; building the Green Line extension to Torrance; fixing the 57/60 Freeway interchange and completing the 71 Freeway to Rio Rancho Road.
CREATING JOBS
While the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority says the measure would keep buses and trains running and fund 38 new projects in an effort to chip away at the 81 hours a year county residents spend in traffic, labor and business entities are eyeing new jobs, mostly in construction, an area hardest hit by the 2009 recession that took a huge bite out of the economy after banks dumped subprime mortgages.
According to a report from the Los Angeles County Economic Development Corp. released in July, Measure M would generate $80 billion in economic activity throughout five counties in Southern California while creating 465,900 new full-time and part-time jobs. By having a focused source of funds, carpenters, engineers, plumbers and electricians, for example, can stay working regardless of the vagaries of the economy, labor officials said.
“When we have public works jobs secured by bond financing, even when the economy is down, these types of projects will help keep the men and women of the building trades working,” said Ron Miller, executive secretary of the Los Angeles/Orange Counties Building and Construction Trades Council.
SOLVING TRAFFIC WOES
With the election two months away, labor and business have kicked off a campaign in support of Measure M. Unions have joined with big and small business, as well as chambers of commerce and municipal organizations, as well as conservative Supervisor and Metro board member Michael Antonovich, in supporting a sales tax increase for 10.2 million county residents.
The coalition’s support centers on a need that overrides their dislike of tax increases — transportation improvements for better movement of both employees to and from work and goods in and out of the twin ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach.
“This crazy cast of characters does not stand together all that often. But we stand together for Measure M,” said Tracy Hernandez, founder and CEO of the Los Angeles County Business Federation, or BizFed, which consists of 325,000 businesses and 163 business associations.
The unusual pairing started off slowly. “They (BizFed members) weren’t ready to support it in the early days,” Hernandez said.
BizFed’s 275-member board voted recently as a supermajority (two-thirds) in support, matching what the measure will need in November, after working with Metro to include regional projects and local streets funding for 88 cities.
“We don’t always agree,” Miller said of labor and business. “But when we do, we are strong.”
Stuart Waldman, president of the Valley Industry & Commerce Association, said the group likes the Sepulveda Pass project as well as others that will benefit the San Fernando Valley. Coming together with labor means all sides are serious about solving L.A.’s traffic woes.
“Our system is broken,” Waldman said. “If we continue to do nothing, well, then we can’t complain.”
OPPOSITION ALSO VARIED
Likewise, those opposed to the tax measure are equally strange bedfellows.
The Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association recently voted to oppose Measure M, joining the Bus Riders Union/Fight for the Soul of the Cities, Beverly Hills Mayor John Mirisch and many cities in the southeast county area and the South Bay who say projects benefiting their region would take too long to get started.
The Jarvis group doesn’t see a need for more taxes and instead calls on the state to stop diverting transportation dollars to other projects and for Caltrans to cut what an auditor called overstaffing of 15 engineers.
“We are in full agreement that California’s transportation system is falling apart and in immediate need of repair but that is what we are paying existing taxes for,” said Jon Coupal, the association’s president.
The Bus Riders Union opposes Metro’s tilt toward rail, which it views as elitist. Barbara Lott-Holland, co-chair of the group, said Metro has cut 1 million bus service hours in the last 10 years as a result of rail expansion, leaving L.A.’s poorer, transit-dependent riders waiting longer at bus stops for less frequent service.
“Ridership on rails has gone down,” Lott-Holland said. “Rail is for people who have a choice between using their cars or riding the rails.”
Mirisch, in an essay on the website CityWatch posted Sept. 1, called Measure M a “Frankenstein’s monster constructed of various disparate, nonintegrated parts with the primary goal of passing a tax, rather than providing the entire county with the best possible, fully integrated mobility system.”
In a blow to cities opposed to the tax measure, a judge Tuesday rejected a petition filed on behalf of South Bay and southeast-area cities seeking significant changes in the ballot language, saying there was no evidence the wording was confusing to voters. The petition alleged that the ballot label for Measure M did not include the actual 1 percent total rate of the tax to be imposed. The petitioners also claimed the ballot label for Measure M does not state that the proposed tax would be permanent.
Carson Mayor Albert Robles said after the hearing that he and the other coalition members were disappointed with the ruling and are considering an appeal. He said Metro’s argument that the coalition was required to seek help from the Legislature was not an option because it would have been too late to do so in time for the November election.
“All we are seeking is transparency,” Robles said, adding, “The voters shouldn’t be misled and confused.”
City News Service contributed to this report.
