‘Downtown connector’ study is a dead end

Re “You can’t ride a study,” editorial, Oct. 2

The Metropolitan Transportation Authority has a long list of worthy projects that are priorities; unfortunately, state funding has been cut, federal funding is short and most of these projects are not funded in the foreseeable future.

The “downtown connector” is a worthy project but one that is not on the MTA’s priority list. This 1 1/2 -mile project would cost more that $250 million to construct and take money from the MTA’s other priority projects.

Projects on the MTA’s priority list constitute a multibillion-dollar commitment over the next several years, and there are simply not enough funds available in the near future to meet all of the worthy projects that we wish to build.

As a result, to spend $1.5 million to study the “downtown connector” project that we don’t have the funding to build any time in the next 10 years is a waste of money at this time.

YVONNE B. BURKE

ZEV YAROSLAVSKY

Supervisors

Los Angeles County