A half-cent sales tax that would have accelerated rail, highway, bus and transportation improvement projects across the region fell just .56 percent short of passage, The Source reported.
The final vote tally, released Sunday by the Los Angeles County Registrar, showed 66.1 percent of voters in favor of Measure J and 33.9 percent against the measure. It was about 14,000 votes behind the two-thirds approval needed to pass, according to the Metropolitan Transportation Authority's blog The Source:
... turnout was less in 2012 than in 2008 when Measure R was approved with 67.9 percent of the vote. In 2008, a total of 3,001,783 votes were cast in the Measure R election. The final numbers this year show that 2,863,951 votes were cast for or against Measure J.
Measure J would have extended the Measure R sales tax—the half-cent sales tax hike voters approved in 2008—for the next 30 years.
The sales tax increase is currently set to last until 2039, and is projected to raise $40 billion in that time period. Approval of Measure J would have extended the tax until 2069.
Metro responded to the final tally Monday morning, saying it's possible the agency might ask voters in the future to extend Measure R:
In the final vote tally, 66.11 percent of voters, nearly two million Los Angeles County residents, expressed confidence in Metro and the Measure R program. Progress will continue as Metro remains focused on delivering a dozen new transit projects and 15 highway improvement projects that voters approved four years ago in passing Measure R.
Did you want Measure J to pass or fail? Tell us in the comments section below.
What this shows is the takers are in the majority in Los Angeles! For now, I'll keep my smile with the news of MTA's loss... may they lose more and more measures that is against taxpayers.
The voters simply had enough of them. Metro lied its way to tax money in 2008, but their party is over. It is time for Metro to show real progress and put the interests of L.A. County first.
Have you guys seen the Expo Line? The proposed Purple Line extension? The expanded Gold Line and Orange line? The late weekend night hours for all rail? The Silver line bus system? And the subways built in the past decades? How can you NOT see how Metro has improved LA's public transport despite protesting from backwards folks like yourselves who are worried about narrower car lanes.
"Ken" R.
"Ken" R.
"Ken" R.
Between the crooked politicians and the Greedy union bosses , our tax dollars are not being used as they should .
In case you hadn't noticed, these funds also have effectively blocked casual use of the carpool lanes on the 110 and 10 freeways. They are now toll lanes for ExpressPass users! Money from Measure R made those lanes happen! Now casual users have to get a transponder ($40) and pay ($3/mon) if they don't use the lanes enough - and most casual users don't. How about extending the Green Line into LAX!!! That should have been at the TOP of the list - instead it is barely mentioned anywhere and it is so far down the list that it won't be of any benefit to anyone for at least another 30+ years!
For rails, except Red Lines, you can see more riders during the rush hours. Rail lines in LA are designed under one condition, you need cars to use
I don't know why you support Remember, rails don't go everywhere. Remember, all the jobs are not near rails Remember, our bus system stinks, and Metro will continue to cut service I don't know about you However, people can claim the transit riders only if they don't have cars. Understand, we still need cars, Even in New York and Hong Kong, people still drive. However, LA rail project improvement does nothing to help people who don't drive
can you get around in Pasadena, Culver City, or Long Beach without cars. There is reason that there are big parking lot structure in those area Don't mislead people
There are typos It should A half-cent sales tax that would have accelerated rail, highway, bus destruction and transportation improvement There are some bus improvement such as Orange Line However, most improvement result in "you need cars to use the system" If the system does not reach destination, spend more time waiting for buses or just drive
Very few Angelenos understand the math, geography & finances of subways or their true purpose in Los Angeles, As Los Angeles knew 100 years ago, subways were not viable transportation for Los Angeles as LA was destined to be a large circular city. Here's a byte to 1915 Traffic L.A. Study. http://bit.ly/cJh5BP People who are interested in learning the facts about any subway and Los Angeles should start with this document which was written by engineers and not by loopy urban planners. The sole purpose of LA subways is to be a false justification for super-dense projects. Look at Ken Alpert's article in CityWatchLA about the Casden project. Ken also fell for all the hype and trashed anyone who said that the purpose of the subways was to justify super-density and not improve transportation. The other evil of Prop J was the plan to borrow 30 years of money in the first 10 years and give all those billions of dollars to the corrupt developers of the subways and the high rises within 10 years. The fact that almost 2/3 of the voters feel for this folly of spending 100% of one's budget in the first 10 years, leaving no money for anything in years 11 thru 30, is frightening. LA needs Virtual Presence and if we do not act now, we will lose all the technology and jobs like we lost solar.