Los Angeles Streetcar Approved By Voters

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A $125 million streetcar running through downtown Los Angeles has been approved by voters. The LA residents voted for a new special property tax to fund the streetcar.

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The streetcar, which needed a 2/3 majority to pass, received 73 percent of the 2,066 ballots cast. The vote was specifically on a plan to tax property owners near the planned route. The streetcar is currently planned to run along the L.A. Live sports and entertainment hub to the Civic Center along the city’s historic Broadway core.

While this vote isn’t the end of possible debate, it makes it very clear that it’s a project that the public is behind.

“Now that the people have spoken, Los Angeles is well on its way to bringing a modern streetcar back to Downtown Los Angeles. With this critically important local funding approved, we will now work closely with our Washington D.C. representatives to advocate for the federal funding needed for construction,” said area Councilmember José Huizar.


 
“The average condominium owner would pay about $60 per year,” notes Guzman, “with the majority of residential units taxed less than $100 annually. Commercial building owners would pay far higher amounts.”

The backers of the project are aiming to complete construction by 2016.

Sources: Planetizen & Los Angeles Downtown News
Image Credit: www.streetcar.la


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James Ayre

James Ayre's background is predominantly in geopolitics and history, but he has an obsessive interest in pretty much everything. After an early life spent in the Imperial Free City of Dortmund, James followed the river Ruhr to Cofbuokheim, where he attended the University of Astnide. And where he also briefly considered entering the coal mining business. He currently writes for a living, on a broad variety of subjects, ranging from science, to politics, to military history, to renewable energy.

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