[Editor’s Note: Former Santa Monica City Councilman and arch-activist Mr. Zane is the founder and chair of Move LA, a leading backer of Measure R six years ago.]
[img]2644|right|Denny Zane||no_popup[/img]With voter approval of Measure R at 67.8 percent in 2008 – generating over $36 billion for mostly transit investments – Los Angeles County began to reinvent itself from a city best known for unbearable traffic and smog to one becoming known as a model of innovation, where business, labor, environmental and social justice communities can find common cause.
Measure R has been a game-changer for L.A. It has changed the way the nation views us, and it should change the way we view ourselves.
We are now a success story, a county that is fixing its problems.
Let us imagine a Measure R2 for 2016. A half-cent sales tax for 45 years could raise $90 billion. Metro could complete the Wilshire Subway, the Foothill and Eastside Gold Lines, and a congestion-busting light rail tunnel through the Sepulveda Pass along the 405, connecting the San Fernando Valley with the rest of L.A. County.
We could reinvent neglected arterials into “grand boulevards,” expanding transit service significantly, enhancing bicycle and pedestrian infrastructure while creating major economic development opportunities for moderately scaled mixed-use developments with affordable apartments for core transit users.
We could invest in zero and near-zero emission goods movement projects, reducing diesel emissions while helping new clean technologies gain market acceptance.
We could create tens of thousands of new jobs, reduce congestion, clean our air, dramatically reduce greenhouse gas emissions, and create a healthier lifestyle.
Why not be the community we aspire to be? We already have the best weather.
See www.MoveLA.org
