Gold Line

Los Angeles County Supervisor Mike Antonovich today called for a review of expenditures made by the Metro Gold Line Foothill Extension Construction Authority -- the latest volley after three high-profile officials, including South Pasadena Councilman Michael Cacciotti, left the authority board earlier this year following conflict-of-interest accusations. The motion to the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority -- co-authored by fellow board directors Glendale City Councilman Ara Najarian and county Supervisor Don Knabe -- also calls for an independent review of the Exposition Metro Line Construction and Alameda Corridor-East Construction authorities.

Rose Queen Ashley Moreno urged people who will be attending the 2005 Tournament of Roses Parade to take the train to the parade. With a crowd of a million expected along Colorado Boulevard on Jan. 1, parade-goers can avoid the hassles of parking and traffic, she said. The Gold Line train will run for free between 9 p.m. and 2 a.m. on New Year's Eve. Along with delivering the message, Moreno and her court of six princesses received a lesson on how the trains along the Gold Line are operated.

photo op As a constituent of Mr. Antonovich's district who regularly uses transit, I am appalled at the continued "tunnel vision" exhibited by our county officials. In his editorial denouncing SB314, the proposed half-cent sales tax measure, Mr. Antonovich dispenses so much misinformation and ignorance of both the legislation and our countywide transit network that I don't know where to begin. Antonovich complains that extending the Red Line subway will not serve the entire county.

MICHAEL D. ANTONOVICH Our county's new Gold Line rail system is successfully playing a vital role in the realization of our county's regional transit plan. However, a ballot measure by Gov. Gray Davis to raise the sales tax by a half-cent for the budget- busting subway threatens this plan. The Gold Line can be expanded by utilizing existing freeway medians and abandoned railroad rights-of-way for a comprehensive at-grade and aboveground rail system.

Booze conosuers are putting forth their best efforts to get Gov. Jerry Brown to sign bill into law that would overturn a ban on serving cocktails made with infused alcohol in the state, Laist.com reported. For almost the past 100 years it has been illegal for bars to serve a drink made with spirits infused with other flavors, including herbs or vegetables, when the infusion is not done prior to the bottling process. Music with a local flare The Glendale Latino Assn.

Getting to Jury Duty Hassle I've been called for jury duty in downtown Los Angeles. Being retired, I have no problem serving on a jury. But the people who run the jury service seem to have absolutely no common sense. I can ride my bicycle from my home to the Pasadena Court in 15 minutes. No problem. It would save gas, time, traffic congestion and pollution, all the things the environmentalists and L.A. Times tell us we should be doing. So I call the jury people and tell them that and ask for a transfer to Pasadena Court.

Now, I will agree with Mr. Michael D. Antonovich that the Gold Line will play a vital role in the county's public transit plans, but so does a Red Line extension to the dense and bustling Fairfax District so Metrolink and Gold Line commuters can easily get to work from their homes. A Green Line connection that actually serves the airport terminals so tourists don't need to rent a car to get around the Greater L.A. area. The Expo Line to Santa Monica so everyone can comfortably ride the line to the beach to beat the Valley heat.

Robert Chacon La Canada Flintridge City Council members heard the same message Friday during a breakfast meeting with Los Angeles County Supervisor Michael Antonovich and officials from several departments: Funding will be a stumbling block for most issues they are considering. From hiking trails to transportation projects to library hours, the state's cash flow problem will determine what happens in 2004-05. The only issue the council discussed with the supervisor that will not directly be affected by the state's budget is a sound wall study that the city is paying for itself.

Two local city council members from La Cañada and Glendale are campaigning for appointment to the Metropolitan Transit Agency board, representing the San Fernando Valley and the North County. The seat is opening up because of the retirement of Lancaster Mayor Frank Roberts, who is not seeking re-election to his city council. MTA board members must be elected officials. Seeking the post are La Cañada Flintridge Councilman Dave Spence and Glendale Councilman Ara Najarian. Spence said he has 10 or 12 issues he wants to pursue on the board, and one of them is the so-called "missing link" for local transit.

City officials are talking about a potential express bus line along the Ventura (134) Freeway between Pasadena to North Hollywood, in the hopes of creating a public transit connector that supplies the missing link that forever has eluded the region. But the answer may already be in place, and could be a lot less costly. The proposed bus line — which Burbank, Glendale and Pasadena officials are discussing with the Metropolitan Transit Authority — would connect the Gold Line in Pasadena to the Red Line in North Hollywood.

Even if the outcome of nearly every race in California from president on down is certain, your vote still matters when it comes to ballot measures, most of which can go either way: death penalty, three-strikes law, competing soak-the-rich tax-increase schemes and L.A. County Measure J, which more than any other actually has a direct impact on the quality of all our lives. My own view is that extending the one-half percent sales tax through 2069 just four years after we agreed to pay the Measure R transit tax for 30 years without knowing they would burn our money in just 10 years by borrowing against future revenue is premature and unnecessary.

Los Angeles County Supervisor Mike Antonovich today called for a review of expenditures made by the Metro Gold Line Foothill Extension Construction Authority -- the latest volley after three high-profile officials, including South Pasadena Councilman Michael Cacciotti, left the authority board earlier this year following conflict-of-interest accusations. The motion to the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority -- co-authored by fellow board directors Glendale City Councilman Ara Najarian and county Supervisor Don Knabe -- also calls for an independent review of the Exposition Metro Line Construction and Alameda Corridor-East Construction authorities.

Booze conosuers are putting forth their best efforts to get Gov. Jerry Brown to sign bill into law that would overturn a ban on serving cocktails made with infused alcohol in the state, Laist.com reported. For almost the past 100 years it has been illegal for bars to serve a drink made with spirits infused with other flavors, including herbs or vegetables, when the infusion is not done prior to the bottling process. Music with a local flare The Glendale Latino Assn.

A 33-year-old man was in critical but stable condition Saturday after being stabbed during what began as a fist fight on the Metro Gold Line as it traveled through Pasadena , authorities said. The victim, whose name was not given, was aboard the northbound light rail train about 6:30 p.m. Friday when he began fighting with Jose Paul Vasquez Flores, 36, the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department said. Metro deputies and authorities with the Pasadena police and fire departments met the train at the Memorial Park Station at 125 E. Holly St. in Pasadena.

EAGLE ROCK — The grass-roots effort to block a proposed underground tunnel connecting the Long Beach (710) and Foothill (210) freeways coalesced onstage this weekend when a number of elected officials and scholars panned the project as wasteful and unwanted. Assemblyman Anthony Portantino (D-La Cañada Flintridge) delivered a keynote address at Occidental College against the proposed extension and said there’d likely never be enough money to fund the project. “Shoving tunnels down the throats of the people .

When voters go to the polls this November, a great deal of focus will be on the presidential choices, but there are some very important propositions and measures that will also be on the ballot that need an equal amount of scrutiny. One of those important measures is Measure R, a 30-year tax plan that will generate $40 billion for traffic congestion relief projects in Los Angeles County. L.A. Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa and the L.A. County Metropolitan Transportation Authority are proponents of the bill.

Supervisor Michael Antonovich railed against a proposal to raise Los Angeles County’s sales tax by a half-cent to fund transportation projects Wednesday during the monthly meeting of local Republicans. The proposed sales-tax increase, approved by the Metropolitan Transportation Authority board in July, could raise up to $40 billion for transit and highway projects — including funds for a proposed extension of the rail line known as the “subway to the sea” — over the next 30 years.

The spring opening of Americana at Brand, Glendale?s newest shopping center and ?destination,? will be one of the major events coming up in 2008. The center being built by developer Rick Caruso has been a major topic of court battles and political skirmishing for years, as the final product for the long battle to establish a Town Center in the central part of the city. Glendale?s previous commercial poster child, the Galleria, has taken a beating over its efforts to prevent its new super neighbor from opening, just losing a multi-million dollar settlement for alleged dirty tricks against the Caruso project.

Getting to Jury Duty Hassle I've been called for jury duty in downtown Los Angeles. Being retired, I have no problem serving on a jury. But the people who run the jury service seem to have absolutely no common sense. I can ride my bicycle from my home to the Pasadena Court in 15 minutes. No problem. It would save gas, time, traffic congestion and pollution, all the things the environmentalists and L.A. Times tell us we should be doing. So I call the jury people and tell them that and ask for a transfer to Pasadena Court.