Westsidelife:
Quote:
New Starts funding *and* a federal loan. Okay, now there should be absolutely no reason why we can't get the Purple Line to Brentwood by 2019...
L.A. Seeks Federal Loan to Speed Measure R Projects
January 5, 2010
Los Angeles city officials filed a request with the federal government Tuesday to borrow money to speed up plans for the "Subway to the Sea" and other transit projects planned under Measure R.
The City Council asked that the proposed National Infrastructure Development Bank, to be created under legislation now pending in Congress, advance money to the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority to speed up Measure R projects.
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The proposed National Infrastructure Bank is a great idea and the legislation to create it has 44 cosponsors but it is now stalled in Congress
http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/bdquery/D?d111:6:./temp/~bddG3X::|/bss/111search.html|. Under the proposal from the Obama administration, the infrastructure bank would be capitalized with $5B per year over five years to make loans such as this to be repaid with a guaranteed funding source.
I attended a transportation roundtable back in October and I asked a staff member for some Republican on the Hill why this legislation hasn't advanced in Congress. The GOP is constantly stating the need for alternative forms of financing rather than raising the gas tax. This would appear to be perfect type of alternative financing for these large, long-term infrastructure projects. It seems like this proposal is stalled for no other reason than politics.
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