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From The Huffington Post:
Officials and community members agree: Leimert Park should get a metro stop on the planned Crenshaw/LAX line. The neighborhood, a historic symbol and vibrant scene of the African-American community in Los Angeles, won approval for a station from Metro Board officials last Thursday. But it was only a job half-done, reports the 'LA Times.'
While $1.7 billion is set aside for the Crenshaw/LAX line, funding was never explicitly set aside for the Leimert Park stop, and the Metro Board community meeting didn't change anything in that regard. Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa and Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky, who were present at the meeting, expressed cautious support to the LA Times.
Villaraigosa called for a "a fiscally responsible proposal" that adheres to the set budget, while Yaroslavsky said, "The only question was, and remains, how to pay for it." The Leimert Park metro stop and the necessary tunnel under Park Mesa Heights would cost an additional $131 million and $269 million, respectively.
In a HuffPost blog published before the meeting, LA County Supervisor Mark Ridley-Thomas (and the campaign's main proponent), said wrly: "It turns out an agency with a $4.15 billion annual budget and $40 billion available over the next 30 years through Measure R, the 2008 transit funding ballot measure has a little bit of financial wiggle room."
His collaborative research with the Metro planning staff revealed that the abandoned "Red Line Project" frees up $251 million for Leimert Park's use, as well as a $1.4 billion pot of money for low-priority projects that could be transferred for other means. Still, his findings weren't enough for the Metro Board to commit financial support to the project everyone agrees should be implemented.
Read more here.
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