Congress reacts to Metro vote on priorities

Kitty Felde/KPCC

Congresswoman Judy Chu comments on Metro vote

The Metropolitan Transportation Authority board Thursday approved a long range plan for transit projects. It kept the “subway to the sea” and a downtown L.A. transit project at the top of the list.

A group of local members of Congress favored projects outside metropolitan Los Angeles. Now they have to decide how much they want to help Metro win federal dollars.

Usually, members of Congress from Southern California are the targets of lobbyists. This time, they were doing the lobbying, trying to push the Metropolitan Transportation Authority Board into changing its transit project priorities. Lawmakers wrote an L.A. Times opinion piece and a letter to Metro board members, urging them to put the Gold Line extension and other projects higher up on the priority list.

"I think that if they work to address all the needs of the people around the region, then it’s a win-win."

Felde: Democratic Congresswoman Judy Chu of El Monte says Metro needs a unified Congress to get the money it needs for all its transit projects.

"It’s very disturbing if we’re expected to do so much for something that doesn’t include us."

Chu says that doesn’t mean she and other local members of Congress won’t help Metro get federal money for transit projects. She says it just means Metro should work more closely with them when it decides its priorities. Congress takes up the massive transportation re-authorization bill in the coming months.