There are only 20 days left until the MTA board meets a final time to decide the fate of the Gold Line Foothill Extension -- whether to greenlight it for construction from the Sierra Villa station to Montclair.

  

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   by Scott Hettrick

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If $4.50 per gallon-and-rising gas prices makes you want to see this project built in the near future, you must contact any and all members of the MTA board immediately and let them know your feelings. A list of e-mail addresses and phone numbers of each board member is included below.

  

The federal government has already agreed to kick in about $200 million if the MTA will just commit to about $80 million for this $1 billion ready-and-waiting project as opposed to the $5 billion or so Subway-to-the-Sea project that is still in the concept stage.

  

A representative from the MTA, Ann Kerman, addressed the Arcadia Chamber of Commerce Government Affairs Forum Thursday to say that the MTA has the Goldline Foothill Extension project on the long-range unfunded list right now. Unless that changes and it gets moved to the list of funded projects by June 26, it will surely not get built at all or be put on the back burner for many more years.

  

The MTA's last-minute conceptual back-up funding plan to put a half-cent County sales tax on a future ballot is too squishy to count on.

  

The best chance of getting it put on the funded list is for as many people as possible from Arcadia and the San Gabriel Valley to join college students and Mayors from other cities, as well as Congressman David Dreier and others, in making your voice heard by MTA board members as loudly as possible before they make their final decision at the monthly MTA board meeting on June 26.

  

Here is the list of contacts for MTA board members:

  

Metro [MTA] Board Members L.A. County Supervisors
Michael D. Antonovich Supervisor, Fifth District 869 Kenneth Hahn Hall of Administration 500 West Temple Street Los Angeles, CA 90012	fifthdistrict@lacbos.org 213-974-5555 Fax 213-974-1010 5th District map
Yvonne Brathwaite Burke Supervisor, Second District 866 Kenneth Hahn Hall of Administration 500 West Temple Street Los Angeles, CA 90012	seconddistrict@lacbos.org 213-974-2222 Fax 213-680-3283  2nd District map
Don Knabe Supervisor, Fourth District 822 Kenneth Hahn Hall of Administration 500 West Temple Street Los Angeles, CA 90012	contact form 213-974-4444 Fax 213-626-6941 4th District map
Gloria Molina Supervisor, First District 856 Kenneth Hahn Hall of Administration 500 West Temple Street Los Angeles, CA  90012	molina@lacbos.org 213-974-4111 Fax 213-613-1739 1st District map
Zev Yaroslavsky Supervisor, Third District 821 Kenneth Hahn Hall of Administration 500 W. Temple Street Los Angeles, CA 90012	zev@lacbos.org 213-974-3333 Fax 213-625-7360 3rd District map
Representing the City of Los Angeles
Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa 200 North Spring Street, Room 303 Los Angeles, CA 90012	mayor@lacity.org 213-978-0600 Fax 213-978-0750
David W. Fleming Latham & Watkins	david.fleming@lw.com
Richard Katz	rksylmar@aol.com
Councilmember Bernard Parks 200 North Spring Street, Room 460 Los Angeles, CA 90012	councilmember.parks@lacity.org 213-473-7008 Fax 213-485-7683
Representing other cities in L.A. County
John Fasana Councilmember City of Duarte 1600 Huntington Drive Duarte, CA 91010	fasanajr@pcmagic.net 626-357-7931
Bonnie Lowenthal Councilmember, District 1 City of Long Beach 333 West Ocean Blvd., 14th Floor Long Beach, CA 90802	bonnie_lowenthal@longbeach.gov 562-570-6919 Fax 562-570-6590
Ara Najarian Councilmember City of Glendale 613 E. Broadway, Room 200 Glendale, CA 91206-4391	anajarian@ci.glendale.ca.us 818-548-4844 Fax 818-547-6740
Pam O'Connor – Metro Board Chair Councilmember City of Santa Monica 906 9th St.#2 Santa Monica, CA 90403	pam-oconnor@santa-monica.org 310-458-2749 Fax 310-458-6686