Photo credit: OC Weekly
AD74’s Assemblyman and SD2 Candidate Allan Mansoor has made his position on the 405 Toll Lanes very clear, and more than once. Again in Friday’s Daily Pilot, his excellent commentary make the most important point of all for the Supervisorial District he wants to run: Toll lanes go against the spirit of Measure M funding.
His conclusion:
By putting public employee unions before taxpayers, PEG, Caltrans and the legislative majority that passed SB 1298 will burden working-class taxpayers with exorbitant tolls to drive on roads they’ve already paid for. Who else is supporting the toll lanes? Wealthy corporate interests like [Big Lucy Dunn’s] Orange County Business Council (OCBC). They’re backing [Michelle Steel] a wealthy candidate from Los Angeles in the election to succeed John Moorlach on the Board of Supervisors. Their goal is to use Measure M funds to build the infrastructure to support toll lanes while fulfilling the Measure M promise of adding a lane to the 405. Then at some point in the future, they will convert what has already been built into toll lanes.
This issue really boils down to trust and truth. Without Measure M, Caltrans cannot build toll lanes on the 405 – they need to improve the infrastructure (widen bridges, etc.) first. But we already have the money to give Orange County everything it wants, for free, without tolls if we just cut the waste. County supervisors have a vote on OCTA and can stop the toll lanes from going forward. Let’s clean up the mess before grabbing more taxpayer money.
