LA Gets Hosed

Right. Tell me if this makes any sense to you, because I am still scratching my head.

The voters passed billions of dollars of funding for state transportation projects. After years of underfunding, there are way more projects that need money than can will get it. Luckily, there is a commission set up that gives recommendations on where to spend all that dough. Arnold appoints the members of that commission. They made their preliminary recommendations and shockingly urban areas like LA and SF are grossly underfunded. Even though LA has 28% of the state's population, 33% of its traffic congestion, but it would only get 12% of the initial $2.8 billion.

So, yesterday we had the strange site of Arnold issuing a press release in the middle of the debate about all of this to a commission he appointed. More than a dozen LA elected officials made the trek up to the Capitol to lobby for more funding. They were particularly concerned with the omission of new carpool lanes for the 405.

Then the mayor headlined a parade of elected leaders urging commissioners to rethink their spending priorities as they weigh the first installment of an overall $19.9-billion transportation bond that was approved by voters last November.

Villaraigosa and nine other officials — including state Sen. Sheila Kuehl (D-Santa Monica) and Assemblyman Mike Feuer (D-Los Angeles) — addressed the commission.

"We always talked about the 405 as a high-priority project," Villaraigosa told the commission. "We were very concerned and very chagrined that the staff did not recommend this project."

It wasn't just the local elected officials in the chorus of those objecting. They were joined by some heavy hitters.

By the end of the day, Assembly Speaker Fabian Nuñez (D-Los Angeles), Senate President Pro Tem Don Perata (D-Oakland) and Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger had piled on, adding their voices to the chorus calling for the commission to re-examine its allocations.

"I strongly urge the commission to reconsider the projects on the … list for funding in this initial round of programming," Schwarzenegger wrote to commission Chairwoman Marian Bergeson, a former state education secretary and senator from Newport Beach. "There are significant projects omitted ... that I believe should be reconsidered."

At the top of Schwarzenegger's list was the 405 Freeway.

Yes, Arnold was lobbying his own commission during the day of the debate. I smell something fishy. There should have been plenty of opportunities for Arnold to make clear his priorities to the commission, prior to the release of the preliminary recommendations. Issuing his objections during the middle of the debate was a very high profile way to get his voice heard, an overly dramatic one. I can't help but think that he is trying to pay lip service to LA and SF.

Todd has more here, and notes that only one of the nine commission members comes from LA.