Los Angeles — Downtown Streetcar Delayed

Rail Transit Online — August 2010

Los Angeles city officials have admitted they don't know when the proposed downtown circulator streetcar will be built, now that the project has been denied a $25-million federal grant. "We're reassessing the 2014 ribbon-cutting we were hoping to have," said City Councilman Jose Huizar, who represents part of the central city.

Huizar, whose office has been spearheading the streetcar as part of a redevelopment scheme dubbed "Bringing Back Broadway", said he's no longer planning to seek federal funding but instead will focus on creating a benefit assessment district that would tax commercial property along the route. Additional financing would come from local government and private-sector sources. "We're going to look for money anywhere and everywhere," said Huizar.

The Community Redevelopment Agency has already pledged $10 million but at least another $90 million is needed. The line would start at the north end of downtown, serving the Bunker Hill business district and the Civic Center, and run south on Broadway to Staples Center, the Convention Center and the L.A. Live entertainment venue.