In addition to deciding whether the much-disputed Crenshaw-to-LAX light rail can add a tunnel and a station at Leimert Park, the Metro board tomorrow also is scheduled to vote on a sweeping policy to ensure construction jobs in hard-hit communities.
The Construction Careers Policy would cover construction for all new Metro projects for the next 30 years, promising thousands of construction jobs for communities with high unemployment. Supposedly, it also will offer career-track apprenticeship programs and jobs.
The 9 o’clock meeting is on the third floor of Metro headquarters, downtown, One Gateway Plaza, adjacent to Union Station.
Funded under Measure R, the half-cent sales tax, tomorrow’s vote is intended to guarantee good, quality jobs for targeted communities by increasing access to construction apprenticeship programs and jobs. The policy could set a precedent as the first of its kind for a major transit agency in the U.S.
In November 2008, Measure R was approved by a two-thirds majority, committing a projected $40 billion in traffic relief and transportation upgrades throughout the County over the next 30 years. Construction projects at Metro, including those funded by Measure R, totaling $70 billion in infrastructure investment, creating 260,000 construction jobs.
The vote follows a May decision by the County Board of Supervisors approving a Construction Careers Policy at Martin Luther King Jr. Hospital, and a March decision by Exposition Line Authority approving a Construction Careers Policy for Phase II of the Exposition Line Project. Similar policies have been adopted at the Port of Los Angeles and the Los Angeles Dept. of Public Works over the last year.
Ms. Kaufman may be contacted at lauriekaufman@earthlink.net
