More disappointment from local leaders

The disappointed politicians are out in full force today.

This press release just popped up in my email from the office of Assemblyman Ed Hernandez, D-West Covina, who said he is disappointed in the passage of the toll lane legislation that will allow the Federal Department of Transportation to implement a congestion pricing plan that would take existing carpool lanes on the 10, 110, and possibly the 210 freeway, and convert them all into toll lanes, as Dan Abendschein reported.

This is from the press release:

"I am disappointed that SB 1422 was able to move forward today. I had serious concerns about this toll lane plan from the start. This was a hastily crafted proposal that has led to fundamentally flawed legislation....

"We really needed more time to carefully consider this plan and flesh out the details before we voted on it. Not only were there obvious conflicts between the legislation we voted on today and the agreement Metro signed with the Department of Transportation, Metro only began actively seeking community input on these toll lanes this month.

In fact, the only real opportunity for affected communities to hear this plan in detail previously had been at a meeting I organized this past June in West Covina as Chair of the San Gabriel Valley Legislative Caucus.

How could we have voted to authorize toll lanes when we don't even know what they will be charging people?"

"This whole plan is patently unfair on its face. We cannot ask people to start paying tolls to access their freeways already paid for with taxpayer dollars, especially when they can barely afford to put gas in their cars as it is... ."