One-Cent County Transit Sales Tax

* Dana Gabbard (letter, May 29) raises a legitimate point about the importance of the one-cent county transit sales tax authorized by Props. A and C. They do, indeed, fund a variety of transportation needs, such as buses, shuttles, para-transit services for seniors and disabled people, freeway towing, etc.

That’s precisely my point, however, in suggesting a partial repeal or redirection of this nearly $900-million annual tax. Transit funding in Los Angeles County is increasingly a zero-sum or even negative-sum game. When the rail projects commenced more than a decade ago, we anticipated a far greater share of federal funding, which would have allowed more local transit dollars to be spent on improving the bus system. Instead, as state and federal officials lose confidence in the MTA’s mismanaged and overbudget rail projects, they further cut the agency’s funding--and as a result, these increasingly expensive projects gobble up an even larger piece of the shrinking transit funding pie.

My concern is that the MTA’s unchecked incompetence will plunge local transit policy into a death spiral, where deteriorating service undermines public support, which reduces funding, which further damages service.

Redirecting the existing transit revenue stream may be our last, best hope for ensuring that it doesn’t dry up altogether.

ZEV YAROSLAVSKY

Chairman, L.A. County

Board of Supervisors