Downtown property owners voted to approve a new special tax district to help fund a streetcar (project home page here). The tally of ballots — all mail-in — finished a few minutes ago with 73 percent approving of the district according to the city of Los Angeles’ unofficial count.

The money raised from the new tax will be used to attract the federal grants needed to fully fund the $125-million project. The streetcar in Portland that inspired many similar projects served as the funding model.

The proposed route is above. There will be easy connections to the streetcar from the Red/Purple Line subway, Regional Connector, Silver Line and many Metro bus lines. The goal is to open the streetcar in 2015 with construction beginning in 2013.

Congratulations to L.A. Councilman and Metro Board Member Jose Huizar and his staff for spurring the streetcar project. I think it will prove to be a tremendous benefit for many downtown neighborhoods and especially good for Broadway, a street with a lot of great old buildings and a lot of potential.

The news release is after the jump.

VOTERS APPROVE $62.5 MILLION IN LOCAL FUNDING FOR DOWNTOWN LOS ANGELES STREETCAR

Local funding for streetcar construction preliminarily receives 73% voter

support, exceeding the 2/3 super-majority needed to pass. Voter turnout far

surpasses expectations.

LOS ANGELES (December 3, 2012) – Plans to bring a streetcar system back to

Downtown Los Angeles took a significant step forward tonight as voters

approved $62.5 million in local funding for construction of the Downtown Los

Angeles Streetcar project through a not-to-exceed $85 million bond. The Los

Angeles City Clerk at 8:33 p.m. announced preliminary results of the special

mail-only election.

L.A. Streetcar funding was preliminarily approved by 73% of voters, handily

surpassing the 2/3 supermajority needed for the measure to be adopted, with

the streetcar earning 1,508 of the 2,066 ballots cast, achieving an

impressive 19.4% voter turnout – far exceeding expectations. According to

election records, in some localized elections such as those for school board

and community college seats held last May, turnout has been less than 10%.

Ballots were mailed by the City Clerk to registered voters within the

streetcar voting district, which extends approximately three blocks around

the proposed Streetcar route, on November 13. Ballots were required to be

returned to the City Clerk in time to be counted on December 3, 2012.

Streetcar advocates are pleased with the unprecedented high turnout, and

with the results. Councilmember José Huizar champions the Downtown

streetcar effort through his Bringing Back Broadway initiative.

“I want to thank the voters of Downtown Los Angeles for supporting this

effort and recognizing the huge impact the streetcar will have on transit

connectivity and revitalization in the Downtown area,” said Councilmember

Huizar. “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.”

The Los Angeles City Council voted this summer to form a Community

Facilities District (CFD) for the project, which called for the special

mail‐ballot election of registered voters in Downtown to decide on a

not-to-exceed $85 million CFD bond, which includes the $62.5 million the

streetcar will receive as construction capital, plus two years of

capitalized interest, bond issuance costs, reserve fund, and other costs.

The approved local funding will pay for approximately half of the project’s

$125 million construction budget. Federal funding will be sought to cover

the remaining construction costs for the project.

California state law dictates that when 12 or more registered voters reside

within an area to be taxed as a CFD, any vote on the tax must be of

registered voters.

L.A. Streetcar Inc. (LASI), a non-profit formed to promote the Downtown

Streetcar, worked with property owners in Downtown for more than four years

to develop the project. In August 2012, LASI launched a voter registration

and streetcar education campaign related to the CFD. Voter registration

skyrocketed within the boundaries of the proposed Streetcar CFD. The number

of registered voters within the CFD increased from 7,497 on May 21, 2012 to

10,283 on November 1, 2012 – a significant 37.2% increase, which compares to

a 14.7% increase in the rest of Downtown during the same time period, and

just 6.7% in Los Angeles County.

“We’ve earned great support from property owners who will be paying the tax

and who understand the benefits the streetcar will bring,” said Shiraz

Tangri, general counsel for LASI, the non-profit coalition of property

owners, civic and business leaders formed to advance the streetcar effort in

Downtown. “But the final decision on this critical funding was up to the

registered voters.”

“Our strategy was to get the information out there, and just ensure that as

many people possible within the CFD knew about the streetcar project,

understood the CFD tax and could make an informed decision. We found that

the more people knew and understood the streetcar and why it’s important for

Downtown, the more strongly they supported the streetcar. For a lot of

voters, it came down to their bottom line.”

The streetcar CFD will place a special tax on land owned by all Downtown

private property owners, located within the district, including condominium

owners, with amounts tiered based on a property’s proximity to the proposed

route. At an estimated 5% bond rate, a 10,000 sq. ft. parcel will be taxed

$4,490 if located directly on the proposed streetcar line; $3,640 if located

one to two blocks away from the streetcar; and $1,730 if located

approximately three blocks away. Condominium units will be charged their

unit’s proportional share of the underlying land, similar to the structure

of most home owner association fees. The majority of condominium units

within the streetcar CFD will be charged $100 or less per year, with a

median cost of $60 annually – less than dinner out once a year, or one

parking ticket that can be avoided by using the streetcar.

“The streetcar will help move Downtown into the next phase of

revitalization, and that’s good for everyone,” said Steve Needleman,

executive committee member of L.A. Streetcar Inc., and owner of ANJAC

Fashion Buildings and the Orpheum Theatre. “My family has been involved

Downtown for two generations, and I’ve been involved with L.A. Streetcar

since its inception. I’ve done the math on what this will cost my companies

and even though it’s never easy to pay another tax, this is the right thing

for Downtown. I believe the streetcar will provide benefits for property

owners far beyond what we will pay into it.”

AECOM estimates the Downtown L.A. Streetcar will bring $1.1 billion in

additional development Downtown, $24.5 million in additional annual tourism

spending, $47 million in additional revenues to the City of Los Angeles over

25 years and more than 9,000 jobs – above and beyond what will happen

Downtown without a streetcar.

Billions of dollars in new development in Portland and Seattle are credited

in large part to the modern streetcar systems that have opened in those

cities during the last decade. In Portland, 55 percent of all new

development in the city has occurred within a few blocks of the streetcar

line. In Seattle, more than 2,000 new residential units have been built and

the property value of vacant land has increased 123 percent around the

streetcar line, as opposed to 53 percent citywide.

More than 30 new streetcar systems are currently in various stages of

planning, construction or expansion in other cities in North America,

including Atlanta, Boise, Charlotte, Cincinnati, Dallas, Fort Lauderdale,

Milwaukee, New Orleans, Oklahoma City, Phoenix, Portland, San Antonio,

Seattle, St. Louis, and Washington DC.

Jessica Wethington McLean serves as Executive Director of Councilmember

Huizar’s Bringing Back Broadway initiative and his Director of Downtown

Economic Development, roles which have put her on the front lines of the Los

Angeles Streetcar effort.

“A lot of heart, soul and dedication have gone into this project – it’s very

important to all of us, so while we will celebrate tonight, everyone

involved knows we have no time to rest on our laurels. This is just one step

of many in front of us as we do the hard work necessary to bring the

streetcar to Downtown and make Los Angeles the nation’s next streetcar

city,” said Wethington McLean.

The Downtown L.A. Streetcar is planned as a modern, fixed-rail streetcar

system to link with regional transit using Broadway, 11th, Figueroa, 7th &

Hill Streets to serve the Civic Center, Broadway and the Historic Core, the

Fashion District, South Park, L.A. Live and the Convention Center, the

Financial District, and restaurant row through the Jewelry District. A

potential design alternative which will be achieved if funding is identified

would run up onto Grand Avenue to serve the city’s cultural institutions.

The streetcar would run seven days a week, approximately 18-hours a day.

Modern streetcars are curb running and travel at the same speed and in the

same lane of traffic as other vehicles. Streetcars are carbon emissions free

and fully accessible for people with disabilities, parents with strollers,

or cyclists with their bikes.

The CFD adopted by voters includes taxpayer protections which mandate that

no tax will be levied and no bonds will be drawn until the streetcar (1)

clears its environmental review process (2) secures the remainder of

construction funds from governmental / non-CFD sources and (3) has an

approved 30-year operational plan to match the expected 30-year timeline of

the bond. Once drawn the bond amounts will be fixed for the duration of the

bond. They will not increase or require renewal.

Pending federal approval for the remainder of the construction budget, the

streetcar project could be under construction by the end of 2014, and

running through Downtown as early as 2016.

Learn more about the Downtown L.A. Streetcar project at www.streetcar.la.

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