$62 Million OKd for Subway Extension
President Clinton signed a spending bill Wednesday that allocates $62 million to keep the Metropolitan Transportation Authority’s Hollywood-to-North Hollywood subway extension on track to open in two years.
“We are delighted,” MTA chief executive Julian Burke said.
The spending bill includes $8 million to study mass transit alternatives for Los Angeles’ Eastside and Mid-City, where subway extensions have been put on hold, and $3 million for bus purchases.
MTA officials were worried that they would receive substantially less for the subway project after the Senate recommended $30 million in funding.
In celebrating the $62-million appropriation, Rep. Julian Dixon (D-Los Angeles) credited the efforts of a united, bipartisan Los Angeles County congressional delegation, and an “unprecedented show of support” from a coalition of business, labor and local political officials.
The $62 million for the subway includes only $38 million in new funding, however. The other $24 million is money left over from last year’s appropriation, which had been earmarked for the now-suspended Eastside subway extension.
Dixon said the appropriation signals a vote of confidence in the agency’s efforts to get its financial house in order.
The federal government is paying for about half of the entire subway project’s $5-billion cost, with county and state taxpayers covering the rest.
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