Yesterday, I joined Mayor Villaraigosa, Councilmember Wendy Greuel, and several mayors from the Southern California region to urge residents to demand their fair share of traffic relief funding.

In November, California voters approved $20 billion in transportation bonds (Proposition 1B), which promised to help relieve our streets and highways from traffic congestion. Recently, California transportation officials proposed a funding plan that did not include $1 billion worth of highway projects sought for Los Angeles County. If approved, important projects that affect the 11th district, such as a northbound car-pool lane on the 405 freeway, would not receive any funding from this bond measure.

After protests from residents, staff of the California Transportation Commission yesterday recommended to increase funding and include Los Angeles County projects such as the car-pool lane project on the 405 freeway into the funding proposal, but this is not enough.

We must receive our fair share of these transportation dollars. Not only do we need full funding for the 405, we need funding for important Westside mass rail projects such as the Green Line extension to LAX.

In recent months, we have made significant progress on the Green Line. I have dedicated $500, 000 in CD11 funds for key initial studies to jumpstart the project. Assemblymember Ted Lieu has proposed legislation to create a Green Line Construction Authority. And a broad group of elected officials from the local, county, state, and federal level have formed the Green Line coalition.

By taking advantage of Proposition 1B funding, we can reduce traffic gridlock on our freeways and provide much-needed rail transit on the Westside.

I encourage Los Angeles commuters to demand their fair share of transportation funding.
The commission will vote on a list of highway projects tomorrow, Wednesday, February 28, 2007 in Irvine. You can reach the commission by phone at (916) 654-4245 or by email at California_Transportation_Commission@dot.ca.gov.

-Bill

They say that history has a way of repeating itself. Today, we celebrated the beginning of history repeating itself by breaking ground on the renovations to the Tom Bradley International Terminal (TBIT). TBIT was built prior to the 1984 Olympic Games to give the world a good first impression of our City when they came to watch their athletes compete.

And so now, as we begin our campaign for the 2016 Games, we begin the process of renovating our international terminal so that we can again ensure that the first impression travelers get of our City is one that makes us proud.

The newly renovated TBIT will make us proud too, as it will be a LEED certified building. That means that it will be energy efficient and will have less impact on the environment. It is important that as we move forward with the modernization of LAX that we act as a good neighbor and a good citizen. We are showing our commitment to that principle by making TBIT as green as possible.

I'm very excited that we are getting started on these renovations and taking the steps necessary to create the world class airport we deserve.

-Bill

As the caseworker in the Westchester Field Office, I spend most of my day referring residents to City Departments or explaining to them how they can obtain certain City services. Click here for a quick reference guide that may help you in your quest for getting the City to help you: http://www.lacity.org/council/cd11/cd11_serv.htm

Remember you can always call 3-1-1 for any City service!

-Nancy Aguilar
Constituent Advocate

Dispose of household hazardous waste and e-waste the right way at the "Household Hazardous and E-Waste Round Up". The event will take place on Saturday, March 3, 2007 from 9:00am-3:00pm at the Dock 52 Parking Lot in Marina Del Rey.

Universal waste such as household batteries, electronic devices, fluorescent light bulbs, and mercury thermostats SHOULD NOT be placed in your trash. Bring them to this event.

For a complete listing of what you can and cannot bring or information on events, please go to:

www.888CleanLA.com

About a week ago, the Los Angeles Times featured an article in their Real Estate section on Del Rey. I am the Field Deputy to Del Rey (and Mar Vista), and also a fourth generation Del Rey resident. Since starting this job, I have labored to explain to my own family and friends that they live in Del Rey - not to be confused with Marina Del Rey or Playa Del Rey. Marina Del Rey Middle School, the Venice Japanese Community Center, and the Mar Vista Gardens Housing Projects all fall within Del Rey’s borders, so you can understand the confusion.

Del Rey, which celebrated its 5th Annual Del Rey Day in October 2006, is beginning to form its own identity thanks to the efforts of dedicated community leaders and organizations. In collaboration with the Del Rey Neighborhood Council, our office is working to get City of Los Angeles/Del Rey signs placed along the border to distinguish this diverse, yet distinct area from its neighbors.

To find out more about the Del Rey community, please visit:

Del Homeowners and Neighbors Association http://www.delreyhome.org/
Mar Vista Family Center http://www.marvistafc.org/
Venice Japanese Community Center http://www.vjcc.com/
Del Rey Neighborhood Council http://groups.yahoo.com/group/drnc/

To read the LA Times article, please click here.


Nicole Velasquez
Del Rey and Mar Vista Deputy

A Great Day for Regionalism

Ontario Airport Press Conference
Originally uploaded by lacityorgcd11.

I was out at LA/Ontario today to celebrate a great day for regionalism. I joined the Mayor in announcing that one of the nation's largest regional airlines, ExpressJet, will provide non-stop flight service to 14 destinations, 29 times a day at LA/Ontario Airport. This new service will increase total daily departures by 25% and nonstop destination locations by 63% at LA/Ontario Airport.

We also announced that United Airlines will start providing regional jet service between LA/Palmdale and San Francisco by this summer. This service received a boost from a $900,000 small community air service grant from the U.S. Department of Transportation. LAWA is also allowed to contribute a $1,000,000 to help support the start-up period for United's service.

It was an exciting day for Southern California. These new services at LA/Ontario and LA/Palmdale will give the people living around those airports choices when they need to fly. Now, in the time it would have taken them to get to LAX, they can be relaxing at 30,000 feet.

-Bill