On a related issue, Garcetti said he would not commit to supporting a sales tax increase to fund billions of dollars of improvements to Los Angeles County's highways and public transit. The county's Metropolitan Transportation Authority is contemplating whether to develop a ballot initiative that would build on a 2008 measure voters passed to expand freeways, subways and light rail in the traffic-choked region.
The authority's own polling suggests that the public is not ready to support a measure at the two-thirds majority required for passage, whether this year or in 2016. Garcetti said a "steady campaign" could persuade enough voters that the first tax has helped,James Conner Jersey, "but I'm not going to support something" that would not pass.
