LABC Sustainability Summit Part 3: Villaraigosa’s Keynote

Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa

The California Sustainability Alliance recently attended the Los Angeles Business Council 2010 Sustainability Summit as a cooperating organization – here’s part three in our series on what we learned there. The event was brimming with impressive speakers and panelists, including Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, who expressed pride in his perfect attendance record at this 3rd annual event.

The mayor began by expressing his perspective on the sustainability value proposition, which he believes contributes not just to the environment but also to jobs and the overall economy. He then took a quick dive into the financial crisis currently facing the city of Los Angeles, which has tried to raise electricity rates in order to maintain solvency. He explained that he believes rates need to go up not just to keep the city solvent, but also to enable action on important policy goals. In particular, the city is heavily reliant on coal for its power generation. While this choice helps to keep rates down, Villaraigosa expressed his conviction that the city must change its generation mix to incorporate more low-carbon sources such as natural gas and renewables.

Villaraigosa spent the remainder of his keynote addressing one of his passions – improving public transit in Los Angeles. He focused on Measure R, which was approved by LA County voters in 2008 with an overwhelming two-thirds majority. The measure provides $40 billion in funding over the next 30 years for numerous transportation projects, including several related to sustainability, such as:

• Doubling the size of the rail system in Los Angeles County
• Building a “subway to the sea”
• Establishing bikeways and pedestrian improvements
• Maintaining low fares for public transit while expanding service
• Carpool lanes

Measure R is an unprecedented investment in public transit; and to make it even more impressive, Villaraigosa has championed accelerating the timeline from thirty years to ten. While completing the numerous projects in Measure R will be a challenge – it requires cooperation amongst all 88 cities in Los Angeles County – the initiative will be a true game-changer, vastly improving both environmental sustainability and quality of life for Los Angelenos. Measure R is also expected to create 166,000 jobs and save 10 million gallons of gasoline annually, contributing to economic growth and energy independence. Emphasizing the diverse benefits of this project, Villaraigosa called on business, academia, and health professionals to work together in support the initiative, concluding, “The time to act is now.”

As a former Angeleno, I can’t wait to see my hometown finally build a more sustainable transit system. For those of you currently living in Los Angeles County, tell us – how is implementation of Measure R affecting your daily life? What do you think the County’s transit priorities ought to be?