Garcetti to Mobility 21: We’re Planning for the Next Measure R Campaign

 http://la.streetsblog.org/2013/10/29/garcetti-to-mobility-21-were-planning-for-the-next-measure-r-campaign/

By Damien Newton, October 29, 2013

 For a video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iEuZWtyqIdw

 

This morning, Eric Garcetti delivered a video message to the 1,000 attendees of Mobility 21′s 12 Annual Transportation Conference. The Mayor, in Washington D.C. to try and raise more funds for local and regional transit projects, stressed some familiar themes: America Fast Forward, Great Streets, Measure R…

But what grabbed my attention was about 20 seconds of text that may serve as the unofficial public kickoff for the next transit expansion ballot initiative campaign. Until there’s a more formal name, let’s call it Measure R++

This is why my first action as mayor was to call together a meeting of regional mayors from across the county to discuss the issues of future development. One common theme that emerged from that gathering back in August was that we desperately need more transportation investments. Currently, all the cities across L.A. County are submitting their ideas for investments as part of another transportation investment ballot initiative. These efforts will ultimately expand our transit system while at the same time increasing planning efforts to deliver vibrant neighborhoods across our transit network.

After the near miss last year, Garcetti is seeking to harness the ideas and power of L.A. County’s mayors to drive the next push. 2008′s Measure R changed how Los Angeles thinks about transportation and is largely responsible for the construction boom throughout the region. 2012′s Measure J wasn’t quite as inspiring and just missed. Will a new project list, combined with some project acceleration, make Measure R++ the next game changer? We’ll just have to wait and see.