Transit Systems Federal Aid

Cities that choose to establish more energy-efficient transportation methods stand to share up to $25 billion in federal grants and other incentives over the next decade under Vice President Al Gore's energy plan. Overlooking a sparkling Lake Michigan on Thursday, Gore announced the third and final portion of what has become a $148-billion "national energy security and environment trust fund."

Cities that choose to establish more energy-efficient transportation methods stand to share up to $25 billion in federal grants and other incentives over the next decade under Vice President Al Gore's energy plan. Overlooking a sparkling Lake Michigan on Thursday, Gore announced the third and final portion of what has become a $148-billion "national energy security and environment trust fund."

Led by angry San Fernando Valley lawmakers, the Los Angeles City Council voted Tuesday to freeze $200 million in contributions to the Metropolitan Transportation Authority because of proposed delays to a long-sought Valley rail line. The 9-2 vote--following nearly an hour of often emotional debate--blocks the payments until city and MTA officials rewrite a regional "recovery plan" to move up the start of construction on the Valley line.

In a stroke of good fortune for an agency that rarely has any, the Metropolitan Transportation Authority is projecting that it will have $1 billion more than expected over the next six years to help stabilize its topsy-turvy finances and fund bus improvements and highway and mass transit projects.

The proposed Metro Rail line to the Eastside got a two-pronged financial boost Friday from U.S. Transportation Secretary Federico Pena in a decision hailed as historic by local Latino officials. At a news conference at Los Angeles City Hall, Pena announced the award of $275 million in Metro Rail funding and an agreement to eventually pay an additional $187 million for newly identified costs of the 3.8-mile Eastside extension of Metro Rail.

Franklin E. White on Thursday faced the toughest task of his 18-month tenure as head of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority: how to persuade the federal government that local officials can competently build the city's subway. In his brief tenure here, White has endured a nine-day bus strike, a lawsuit accusing the MTA of discriminating against minority and poor bus riders, a budget deficit and a litany of problems with the subway's construction.

Improbably, things got worse for the Metropolitan Transportation Authority on Friday as federal officials stunned the agency by ordering it go back a third time and produce a "recovery plan that is financially and technically responsible." In response to federal demands that the MTA get its house in order before receiving additional money from Washington, the agency drafted its first recovery plan in January. But it was rejected. The agency then sent a new document back to Washington in June.

A key congressional panel Tuesday cut back federal funding for Los Angeles subway construction to its lowest annual level this decade, allocating $61.5 million--short of the $100 million sought by the Metropolitan Transportation Authority. But MTA officials said they should be able to keep the Hollywood-to-San Fernando Valley subway extension on track by dipping into reserve funds.

The massive Santa Ana River flood control project, which could save as many as 3,000 lives during a major storm, got a big boost Wednesday when President Bush called for spending more than $90 million on the program in the next fiscal year. In addition to the river project, the President's 1993 budget request includes $3.

In a significant step toward bringing Metro Rail into the San Fernando Valley, the House Appropriations Committee voted Tuesday to provide $163 million to push the system's construction to North Hollywood, East Los Angeles and the Mid-City area. At a time of intense competition for scarce federal transportation funds, the panel recommended that the Los Angeles system receive 27% of the nationwide total of $593 million for new transit systems.

Here is how members of the California House delegation voted Friday on the highway and mass transit bill. Democratic Sens. Dianne Feinstein and Barbara Boxer also voted for the measure.

Congress gave final approval Friday to a $216-billion highway and mass transit bill that would funnel as much as $20 billion to California and create some 170,000 jobs throughout the state in the next six years. The transportation bill--the largest public works program in U.S. history--was painstakingly negotiated in recent weeks by lawmakers working assiduously to reconcile differing House and Senate versions of the legislation.

Senate leaders agreed Thursday to boost federal funding of mass transit programs by an additional $5 billion over six years to help cities buy new buses and finance construction projects such as Los Angeles' Metro Rail. The extra transit funds were negotiated behind closed doors as the full Senate continued to debate a $173-billion, six-year highway spending bill. The measure could pass the Senate as early as next week, with House action expected to follow shortly.

Throwing up a potential obstacle to the MTA's plans for keeping subway construction to North Hollywood on track, a local congressman vowed Thursday to oppose any more federal funding for the Metro Rail project until the transit authority agrees to share more money with cities. Rep. Howard P. "Buck" McKeon (R-Santa Clarita) accused the Metropolitan Transportation Authority of "hijacking" $207 million from cities by directing the money into the subway project.

Throwing a potential obstacle into the MTA's plans for keeping subway construction to North Hollywood on track, a local congressman vowed Thursday to oppose any more federal funding for the Metro Rail project until the transit authority agrees to share more money with cities. Rep. Howard P. "Buck" McKeon (R-Santa Clarita) accused the Metropolitan Transportation Authority of "hijacking" $207 million from cities by directing the money into the subway project.

A key congressional panel Tuesday cut back federal funding for Los Angeles subway construction to its lowest annual level this decade, allocating $61.5 million--short of the $100 million sought by the Metropolitan Transportation Authority. But MTA officials said they should be able to keep the Hollywood-to-San Fernando Valley subway extension on track by dipping into reserve funds.

A five-syllable word being uttered by a new House committee chairman has truckers, road builders, auto clubs and other members of the highway lobby shuddering. Rep. Robert A. Roe (D-N.J.) advocates giving states the "flexibility" to spend federal highway funds on mass transit systems. Although many urban areas would love to do so, they cannot under current law. But that law expires Sept. 30.

Setting the stage for a confrontation with the Bush Administration, House leaders Thursday introduced a $153-billion transportation bill that would raise the federal gasoline tax by a nickel a gallon. The five-year package, which would grant states unprecedented flexibility to direct billions of dollars in federal transportation aid to mass transit instead of highways, calls for spending $48 billion more than President Bush had proposed in February.

Improbably, things got worse for the Metropolitan Transportation Authority on Friday as federal officials stunned the agency by ordering it go back a third time and produce a "recovery plan that is financially and technically responsible." In response to federal demands that the MTA get its house in order before receiving additional money from Washington, the agency drafted its first recovery plan in January. But it was rejected. The agency then sent a new document back to Washington in June.

Led by angry San Fernando Valley lawmakers, the Los Angeles City Council voted Tuesday to freeze $200 million in contributions to the Metropolitan Transportation Authority because of proposed delays to a long-sought Valley rail line. The 9-2 vote--following nearly an hour of often emotional debate--blocks the payments until city and MTA officials rewrite a regional "recovery plan" to move up the start of construction on the Valley line.