LA Metro One Step Closer to Extending Purple Line Subway to West LA

U.S. Senators Barbara Boxer and Dianne Feinstein issued a joint press release Wednesday announcing that the U.S. Department of Transportation (USDOT) was taking a major step toward approval of a $640.8 Transportation Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Act (TIFIA) loan for the Westside Subway Extension. The expansion of the TIFIA program is a centerpiece of Metro’s America Fast Forward initiative, which also calls for the creation of a Qualified Transportation Improvement Bond (QTIBs) program.

"Today's announcement is a critical step towards creating an ambitious, multi-faceted transit network and putting Angelenos back to work,” Mayor and Chair of the MTA Antonio Villaraigosa said. “With this latest, generous loan commitment from the federal government, we will extend the Metro Purple Line from Koreatown to Century City all the way into Westwood, better serving the 300,000 commuters that pour into these job centers every day and putting approximately 40,000 Angelenos back to work.”

“As Mayor and Chair of the MTA, I will continue to push Congress and the Administration to provide Los Angeles and cities across the country with the innovative financing tools we need to accelerate construction of transportation projects and create nearly 1 million jobs nationwide when we need them most,”  Mayor Villaraigosa said.

TIFIA loans, when paired with the suggested bond program, hold the promise, as outlined in the America Fast Forward initiative, of dramatically accelerating the construction of Metro highway and transit projects.

On March 1, 2011, Metro had written a letter of interest to the USDOT outlining our interest in a TIFIA loan for the Westside Subway Extension and the Regional Connector. What occurred today is that the USDOT selected the Westside Subway Extension [and seven other projects] from a pool of 34 project sponsors that were seeking a total of over $14 billion in TIFIA loans to help finance some $48 billion of new capital investments. Metro must now submit a final TIFIA application with USDOT and await formal approval of our Westside Subway Extension loan over the next several months.

 The TIFIA program is designed to fill market gaps and leverage substantial private and other non-federal co-investment by providing supplemental and subordinate capital to projects. The TIFIA program offers project sponsors the following advantages:

·      Long-term loans at the comparable U.S. Treasury yield.

·      Ability to lock in the interest rate several years in advance of a drawdown, without any additional cost.

·      Right to prepay loan draw downs in whole or in part at any time, without penalty.

·      Potential willingness of USDOT to accept more flexible terms, such as back-loading debt service to reflect anticipated growth in the pledged revenue stream, and thinner debt service coverage margins than required to obtain an investment-grade rating in the capital markets.

·      Diversified source of debt capital (U.S. Treasury as lender), reducing market saturation.

·      Lower transaction costs.

Metro staff (finance and construction) will work to specifically outline the impact of this TIFIA loan on the Westside Subway Extension project. This effort will include how the TIFIA funds will be spent and the impact the loan will have, when paired with New Starts funds and a prospective low-interest federal bond program, on the timeline for building the subway to its terminus at the Veterans Administration Hospital in Westwood.

MOVE LA EVENT DEMONSTRATES CITY'S ENTHUSIASM FOR ACCELERATING TRANSIT

As HuffPost columnist/blogger Joel Epstein noted on his blog, Move LA’s “Transportation Conversation 3” and audience of 400 demonstrated on Tuesday the enthusiasm of this city for accelerating transit construction. He singled out panelist Jessica Meany of Safe Routes to School for her energy and insights and Infraconsult’s Mike Schneider for raising the concern that: “ . . . if we let Congress reshape the conversation to be about finding strictly public-private partnership solutions to our transportation needs, we do so at our peril.” Joel concludes: I left the conference optimistic but preoccupied with the sobering thought that if we don't win on America Fast Forward or reshuffle the Measure R project deck, we may have to wait until 2036 to see the extension of the Wilshire subway to the Westwood VA” — because if America Fast Forward isn’t enacted by Congress Metro will have to revert to the plan to build the line in three phases by 2036.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/joel-epstein/america-stumbles-forward_b_882697.html

Steve Hymon Tracks Move LA’s “Transportation Conversation 3” On The Source

LA Metro blogger Steve Hymon tracked Move LA’s “Transportation Conversation 3” event in downtown Los Angeles Tuesday on “The Source,” noting the comment of lunchtime keynote speaker GB Arrington of PB Placemaking, who said building parking near rail stations is like adding fuel to the fire of traffic congestion because it only brings more traffic into neighborhoods. And he noted that morning keynote Scott Bernstein of the national nonprofit Center for Neighborhood Technology likened building a transit system to inventing the telephone — the first phone was useless until the second one was built. Similarly, LA’s transit system becomes ever more useful to riders as we build more lines and provide more connectivity. 

http://thesource.metro.net/2011/06/21/big-transit-issues-discussed-at-move-la-event/  

DENNY ZANE EXPLAINS AMERICA FAST FORWARD AND URGES US TO DREAM BIGGER

This interview with Denny Zane is from the program book for Move LA’s “Transportation Conversation 3” on June 21, and is downloadable as a pdf here.
LA Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, LA Metro, the Move LA coalition and others are asking the federal government to provide low-interest loans and long-term bonds secured by Measure R’s 30-year revenue stream to raise the money up-front that is required to build all Measure R projects in 10 years, not 30. Currently there are no federal programs that provide that level of financing. America Fast Forward, the national branding of the 30-10 Plan, would expand national interest and support for programs like 30-10 by increasing funding for the TIFIA (the Transportation Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Act) from $110 million per year to $1 billion. In this interview Gloria Ohland asks Move LA Executive Director Denny Zane to explain why Measure R and “30-10” are game-changers, why we should begin thinking about Measure R 2, and why Move LA is promoting transit-oriented development. Click here to download.

Click to download interview.

Move LA featured in the NY Times Energy & Environment Section!

Los Angeles Leads Full-Throttle Dash for U.S. Transit Cash.

http://www.nytimes.com/gwire/2011/06/06/06greenwire-los-angeles-leads-full-throttle-dash-for-us-tran-379.html

America Fast Forward Moves Closer to Becoming Reality

Read the full LA.Streetsblog.Org article.

MOVE LA APPLAUDS SENATOR BOXER AND REPUBLICAN COMMITTEE LEADERSHIP FOR EXPANDING TIFIA PROGRAM IN DRAFT FEDERAL TRANSPORTATION BILL

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Wednesday, May 25, 2011

Contact Denny Zane, executive director of Move LA, 310-570-5870, or Gloria Ohland, 323-222-5508

MOVE LA APPLAUDS SENATOR BOXER AND REPUBLICAN COMMITTEE LEADERSHIP FOR EXPANDING TIFIA PROGRAM IN DRAFT FEDERAL TRANSPORTATION BILL

TIFIA to be folded into America Fast Forward, with funding increased to $1 billion a year

LOS ANGELES — Move LA applauds U.S. Senator Barbara Boxer (D-CA) and the Environment and Public Works Committee she chairs for the announcement Wednesday that the committee is drafting a federal transportation bill that would include an expanded TIFIA loan program as well as guaranteed funding for bicycle and pedestrian projects.

Boxer talked to reporters after she and a bipartisan coalition of committee members issued a joint statement about their progress. Issuing the statement with Boxer were Senator James Inhofe (R-OK), ranking member of the EPW committee, Senator Max Baucus (D-MT), chair of the Transportation and Infrastructure Subcommittee, and Senator David Vitter (RLA), ranking member of the subcommittee.

Boxer said the committee is planning a $339.2 billion bill, to be called Moving Ahead for Progress in the 21st Century (MAP-21), which would fund the federal transportation program at current levels plus inflation, and increase TIFIA funding from the current level of $110 million a year to $1 billion a year. The TIFIA program would keep its name but be folded into a larger program called America Fast Forward — based on Los Angeles’ 30-10 plan to accelerate transit projects with lowcost loans and low-interest bonds from the federal government.

TIFIA funding is expected to leverage an additional $30 billion a year in private investment, which Boxer said would increase funding for transportation infrastructure over the life of the bill to almost $500 billion.

“At Move LA are we are very pleased that a bi-partisan group of four Senators with very different political views have come together in a difficult political environment to support investment in transportation infrastructure,” said Move LA Executive Director Denny Zane. “Move LA and its business-labor-environmental coalition, working with LA Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa and LA Metro, played an important role in initiating and formulating the America Fast Forward program. A big congratulations to the Mayor for his exceptional advocacy on our behalf in Washington DC.

“We are very pleased that the 30-10 plan has ‘grown up’ to become not only a good idea but a national program,” Zane added. “America Fast Forward will leverage private investment in projects that create jobs but will not exacerbate the federal deficit over the long term.”

Boxer said that she’s still considering including an infrastructure bank in the bill and that she is hoping for a six-year bill. But she acknowledged that a two-year option is still very much in the mix. Boxer also reiterated her support for indexing the gas tax to inflation in order to increase Highway Trust Fund revenues, but she acknowledged that it is a non-starter.

In their joint statement the Senators said that, “Our goal is to attain the optimum achievable authorization length depending on the resources available. It is critical that this be done in a way that does not increase the deficit and can achieve bipartisan support.” Boxer said the committee plans to start hearings on the final draft of the bill in two weeks and to mark it up before the July 4 recess.

Move LA is the nonprofit business-labor-environmental coalition that helped ensure passage of Measure R in 2008. Move LA’s mission is to build a broad constituency that will advocate for the development of a comprehensive, diverse, robust, clean, and financially