Dear Editor: I am writing in response to your editorial “Downtown Streetcar: Those Who Will Pay Should Have a Say.” As a property owner who will be assessed significantly for this project I understand how the state’s legally required structure and technicalities can cause confusion. But for the Downtown News to criticize the project for a state-required voting structure is not only disappointingly ill-informed but also inconsistent with the newspaper’s own endorsements of other similarly structured taxes levied on property owners.
It is simply false to suggest that it is unique for a special tax to be placed on a property owner’s bill without a direct vote of that property owner. Property owners are regularly assessed with special taxes and fees that appear on our tax bills without our vote. In fact, your publication has endorsed many of these taxes, including those that support the school and community college districts, and other public needs.
Likewise, the streetcar is a public improvement. It is also an investment in the future of Downtown, and a project which has had significant input over the course of a number of years by stakeholders across Downtown, gaining well-deserved and widespread support.
Los Angeles Streetcar, Inc. (LASI) is a non-profit formed by property owners and civic leaders to bring a streetcar to Downtown as part of a public-private partnership. The LASI board consists primarily of commercial property owners and the heads of the business improvement districts in the streetcar area. LASI’s board members and project supporters own or represent properties which will pay the vast majority of the assessment to provide the local funding necessary to secure federal construction dollars for the project – whether they will vote on it directly, or not.
None of us is anxious to increase our tax bills. Nonetheless, there are many of us who have committed our time and financial resources to LA Streetcar because we believe it is a sound investment that will bring new tenants, patrons and businesses to our properties throughout Downtown. The private sector has most definitely had our say and we have played a critically important role in moving this project forward from day one. I wish we could always have a 100% consensus but that is not real in today’s world. There will always be those that will disagree with a project such as this as many did when the Metro tax was assessed for the downtown Red Line Station years ago. We have all seen the growth in the ridership of rail transit in Southern California and this project will another part of its future success downtown.
In addition to the numerous public meetings conducted by the City and Metro over the last three years – many of which have been documented in your publication – LASI worked directly with property owners to improve the project. These efforts have included multiple mass mailings to affected property owners, presentations to each theaffected BID’S and hosting several property owner meetings in 2010, 2011 and 2012 to solicit comments on the project and its funding mechanisms. As a result, the proposed route has been revised to better serve areas it was not reaching previously. The decision Downtown News praises – to base the assessment formula on land area, rather than building area – arose directly out of insistence that the assessment more fairly and evenly place investment across all types of properties.
We demanded protection of our investment with a commitment that the public sector will be responsible for operation and maintenance of the streetcar system for the entire length of the special tax. Furthermore, it was made abundantly clear by commercial property owners that residential users, who undoubtedly stand to benefit greatly from the project, should not receive a “free ride” and must be included in the assessment to pay for the project’s construction. California state law mandates that if residential properties are included in such an assessment, the vote on the tax must be of registered voters in the project area. For the Downtown News to suggest the streetcar vote should be handled otherwise puts forward a false choice because a different voting method would not only be a violation of state law, but would also contradict the desires of the very property owners your editorial disingenuously asserts have been “forced to the sidelines” on the voting issue.
Clearly, the streetcar project and the assessment methodology for bringing it to fruition have been crafted and developed with significant, long-term involvement and input by a large group of commercial property owners. This important work with the property owners who will pay the streetcar assessment was conducted over the course of several years - long before current proceedings necessary to call for a vote of registered voters was even brought forward.
The Downtown L.A. streetcar will provide circulator transportation between Broadway, the Historic Core, South Park, L.A. Live, the Convention Center, the Financial District, Jewelry District and the Fashion District. It will bring with it tremendous economic development, job creation and benefits to all of Downtown. A majority of Downtown’scommercial property owners have already weighed in to support the project – it’s now time for this newspaper to get on board.
—Steve Needleman
Broadway Property Owner and LASI Board Member
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