"This has the potential to provide funding for much needed transportation projects," said Douglas Failing, director of California Department of Transportation operations in Los Angeles and Ventura counties. "It is a good mix of transit and road projects."
Various elected officials, particularly those representing the San Gabriel Valley, have complained, however, that their regions might not get their fair share of projects from the sales tax increase, and they want assurances that a Gold Line extension from Pasadena to Claremont would be funded immediately.
In particular, they want the board to give the Gold Line $80 million now so they can begin seeking more than $300 million in federal money. The board declined to do so Thursday.
"We've never been a priority for the MTA," said Habib Balian, chief executive of the Gold Line Foothill Extension Construction Authority.
Villaraigosa said that Gold Line proponents shouldn't worry and that the extension would be one of the first lines built, along with the Expo Line, which will run from downtown to USC to Culver City.
The mayor was ebullient after the 9-2 vote in favor of the measure.
"I worked very hard for those nine votes," he said. "I think it's indicative of the desperation that those who use our public transportation systems and highways feel."
To head off potential opposition, Villaraigosa persuaded board members to use sales tax money to push back to 2010 an MTA fare increase scheduled for 2009. The deal would also freeze fares for seniors, students, the disabled and Medicare users for five years.
Nevertheless, officials of the Bus Riders Union, an advocacy group, vowed to oppose the sales tax increase because they said it would funnel too much money to rail and not enough to buses, the backbone of the county's transit system.
County Supervisor and MTA board member Gloria Molina said she could not support the sales tax because she believed the list of projects was thrown together quickly and was not fair to some parts of the county.
"I think we are hurting ourselves in the long run," said Molina, who also complained that the Westside was getting a subway whereas the Eastside got a light rail line.
On the final vote, she abstained, and Supervisor Mike Antonovich and Duarte City Councilman John Fasana voted "no."
