Thanks to record budget surpluses in Sacramento and Washington, politicians last year were able to indulge in one of their favorite pastimes: dispensing pork-barrel projects for their districts. And for once, L.A was not left out, as area legislators and statewide elected officials brought in several billion dollars to the region.
Whether it was Gov. Gray Davis and Assembly Speaker Robert Hertzberg teaming up to send more than $1 billion in transportation funds to L.A., or Congresswoman Lucille Roybal-Allard pushing through a $34 million allocation for a new federal courthouse downtown, L.A.’s elected representatives brought home the bacon in a big way in 2000.
The timing of these funds couldn’t have been better, coming just as L.A. and the national economy are showing signs of slowing down. The infusion of government dollars in coming months can both boost crucial sectors of the economy and ameliorate the impacts of a slowdown on overburdened government services.
The county’s position in the government funding game is much better now than it was during the last slowdown a decade ago. Then, the region got hammered by defense cuts that L.A.’s congressional delegation was powerless to prevent, while much-needed state transportation dollars went to the Bay Area districts represented by the state legislative leadership at that time.
Since then, area representatives have learned to work more closely together, a crucial factor in the federal government’s decision last June to effectively bail out the county’s health care system to the tune of $1.2 billion over five years. It also helps that two of the three most powerful leaders in Sacramento, Gov. Davis and Speaker Hertzberg, are from the L.A. area. “There’s no question that having an Assembly Speaker from L.A. is very helpful,” said L.A. County Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky, who also sits on the board of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority. “Bob Hertzberg is the only Speaker I’ve known who will actually call me up and tell me: ‘I have the ability to get you some money; now what can we do for L.A. and the (San Fernando) Valley?'”
For example, Hertzberg shepherded through the Legislature Gov. Davis’ proposed funding of $236 million for the east-west transit line in the San Fernando Valley and $256 million for the Wilshire Boulevard busway/light rail project. In the process, he tacked on funding for the 405/101 interchange in the San Fernando Valley over and above what Davis had proposed.
And, according to Yaroslav-sky, Hertzberg was crucial in crafting the compromise that ended years of bitter discussions over the future of County-USC Medical Center. After Hertzberg’s designated negotiator Herb Wesson labored for months on the issue, “He (Hertzberg) was the key guy at literally the last minute of the session that tweaked the issue and brought the ponies home,” Yaroslavsky said.
Hertzberg’s predecessor, former Assembly Speaker (now mayoral candidate) Antonio Villaraigosa, also steered much-needed funds to L.A. In 1999, he was key in placing billion-dollar parks and waterways initiatives on the June 2000 ballot; those initiative passed overwhelmingly. As a result, L.A. is receiving hundreds of millions of dollars in much-needed parks funding.
Another Assembly Democrat, Gil Cedillo, brought home a lot of bacon for his downtown L.A. district, including $5 million for the retrofitting and conversion of St. Vibiana’s Cathedral into a California State University Los Angeles facility.
“This is a huge coup for downtown because it saves a historic structure and brings an educational institution into the heart of downtown,” said Jerry Jeffe, legislative manager for the L.A. Area Chamber of Commerce.
Cedillo was less successful in another endeavor: getting legislation passed that would have allowed L.A. and other cities access to state income tax files to track down tax scofflaws. However, he’s already reintroduced the bill for this session.
Hertzberg, Villaraigosa and state Sen. Richard Alarcon, D-Van Nuys, also teamed up to allocate $5 million for a flood control project in the Tujunga Wash in the northeast corner of the San Fernando Valley.
Wins in Washington
On the federal level, L.A. may not have top congressional leaders among its delegation, but that group still came through on a number of fronts. Of course, the biggest was the health department bailout, technically an extension of a waiver of Medicaid rules that allows L.A. to receive $1.2 billion over the next five years for indigent care.
Yaroslavsky, who was the county’s chief negotiator on that issue, credited the entire L.A. delegation, but singled out Sen. Dianne Feinstein and veteran Rep. Henry Waxman, D-Los Angeles.
“Both Feinstein and Waxman worked with me and others to arrange my meeting with President Clinton on the waiver extension,” Yaroslavsky said. “Henry helped run interference with the Office of Management and Budget, while Feinstein arranged the meeting itself.”
The meeting took place in late June at a Clinton fundraiser for Feinstein’s re-election campaign at the Beverly Hills estate of billionaire supermarket magnate Ron Burkle.
“After that meeting, I followed up with (Clinton administration) staff and within 72 hours a deal was reached, with less than a day to go before the extension expired,” Yaroslavsky added.
L.A.’s congressional delegation was also active on basic infrastructure issues. For example, the late Rep. Julian Dixon helped secure the funding in 1999 for the MTA to complete work on the last three Red Line stations.
Former Republican South Bay Congressman Steve Kuykendall was instrumental in securing a $44 million authorization for dredging of L.A.’s harbor. Port of Los Angeles spokesman Dennis McCarbery said that Reps. Steve Horn, R-Lakewood, and Juanita Millender-McDonald, D-Torrance, also helped in the effort, as did both Sens. Feinstein and Barbara Boxer.
And of course, there was Roybal-Allard’s successful effort in securing $34 million in funds for the design of the new federal courthouse downtown.
“When that building is done, it will be one of the major landmarks in all of L.A.,” the L.A. chamber’s Jeffe said. “Without Roybal-Allard’s help, it wouldn’t have happened.”
Not all the delegation’s actions brought dollars back home. Some were designed to save local governments and Angelenos some money. For example, Rep. Horn and other members of the California delegation stopped Congress from requiring local governments to insure their buildings against future disasters.
“That saved L.A. County $30 million a year,” said Reggie Todd, chief legislative representative for L.A. County’s Washington, D.C. office. “That money that was saved is just as important as $30 million in funding for another infrastructure project.”
