Gold Line Extension Project Gains More Support in Dispute With Metro

The Gold Line Extension Project gained more support Thursday when the Metro Executive Management Committee voted unanimously to instruct staff to update the Measure R Expenditure Plan to include information that reflects the project's completion from the Azusa/Glendora border to Claremont.

The motion heads to the full board for consideration next week.

Cities including Glendora, Claremont, San Dimas, Pomona and Irwindale have urged Metro to update its information and the project’s estimated cost from $758 to $1.714 billion to complete the extension project through Claremont.

Foothill Extension Board Chair and Glendora City Councilman Doug Tessitor and Vice Chair Sam Pedroza wrote an editorial criticizing Metro’s lack of effort in including the project’s full information. 

“The unfortunate message is clear - Metro is committed to completing all Measure R projects, with the exception of the Foothill Extension to Claremont; and without Metro's commitment to completing the project, funding the line to Claremont will be all but impossible,” the letter read.

The San Gabriel Valley Council of Governments Transportation Committee also expressed opposition to the acceleration plan until complete information for the Foothill Extension project was in included in the amendment.

Habib Balian, CEO of the Gold Line Construction Authority, charged that Metro has misinterpreted the Authority’s request as a demand to fund the remainder of the project exclusively.

“We are simply requesting to be treated like every other under-funded Measure R project. We ask that they include the true total cost to complete the Foothill Extension to Claremont in the expenditure plan, and provide a strategy for funding project completion through a combination of federal, state and local funds…like every other project,” Balian wrote in an e-mail statement. “Not special treatment, just funding commensurate with the dictates of the Measure R promises; not more, and certainly not less.”