The Downtown streetcar project has its 30-year operational plan and half its funding lined up, but there's still that little matter of the final $62.5 million to take care of. The tax that Downtown residents imposed on themselves is expected to raise half the streetcar construction money, and the hope is that the federal government will pony up the rest. To that end, streetcar supporters--including City Councilmember Jose Huizar--are just back from a trip to Washington, DC, where they were trying to drum up support for the project. The timing could have been a little better; as a statement from Huizar's office notes, "given the recent federal sequester, programmatic federal funding for this year and subsequent years is not solidified." However, the group was "strongly encouraged" to work with the Federal Transit Administration to apply for the Federal Small Starts program, which they aim to do in the next two months. Huizar sounded optimistic in his statement, saying that significant commitment to streetcar funding LA has already made "makes us one of the best candidates in the nation to receive federal funding."
· The Downtown Los Angeles Streetcar Loop is Officially a Go [Curbed LA]
Filed under:
Loading comments...