My tax dollars at work

As my trip in Guatemala winds down, my attention has turned back toward the States. And a rainy day here in Guate means that I have more time to write a quick column about something back home.

Los Angeles is building better public transportation infrastructure. I rode the Red Line (subway) to/from work for 6 months and loved it. Fantastic way to commute. You can find out more at metro.net. While it is still difficult (or near impossible) to live in many areas of LA without a car, LA is slowly becoming a city with far better public transit options. I think it's unlikely that it will ever rival NYC's subway, London's Tube, or Chicago's L (the main reason I feel that way is insufficient population density to justify the infrastructure investment), but I'm still very happy about the progress on better public transit. Besides, LA has way better weather than those other cities, so maybe it's ok to expect people to walk or ride bikes a bit more? Of course, LA needs more bike lanes as well, but that's not the subject of this blog.

Rather, the subject is the kickass job that the MTA (people who run the LA Metro) is doing with keeping me informed of current projects, specifically the new Expo light rail line. Right now, Phase 1 of the Expo Train is under construction. This section will go from just south of downtown LA (right near the USC campus) all of the way to Culver City (about halfway to the ocean from the start of the line). Phase 2, if completed as currently planned, will continue all of the way out to Santa Monica (the beach).

Check out the website, though: BuildExpo.org. As opposed to burying information on a random page linked only through the city's (or MTA's) website, the government bought and dedicated a separate domain to load up with information about this project. I think it's a very nice illustration of the difference between only making information available and actively trying to educate the public about what the government is doing. I mean, aside from having quarterly updates on construction progress, there has clearly been some attention to graphic design as well:

Pushing information out like this provides a level of transparency and accountability (they claim that Phase 1 will be completed this year) that helps ordinary citizens evaluate the performance of government and get a true sense of value from taxes spent. Imagine if we had similar websites for federal tax dollars. While sometimes tougher to conceptualize for non-infrastructure projects, hopefully we're moving in this direction.

Also, I would be remiss if I didn't give a nod to the SF Bay Area's own BayBridgeInfo.org. Right now on the front page is a neat video about how the Self-Anchored Suspension section of the new eastern expanse of the Bay Bridge is being constructed. They also have some neat information and graphics about this project. Of course, the current date for completion is listed as "late 2013," which I think means "hopefully in early 2015," but I'm sure bridges take a bit more time (and involve more potential delays) than light rail. The Bay Bridge website also has this:

The Skyway also features a 15.5-foot-wide bike/pedestrian path which is being built on the south side of the eastbound deck and will extend to Yerba Buena Island along the SAS. The path, which will be slightly higher than the roadway, is the result of a cooperative effort among bicycle and pedestrian groups, and participating agencies. This effort moves the Bay Area closer to completing the proposed 400-mile multi-use Bay Trail.

Niiiiice. But in regards to educating the public about the use of tax dollars in infrastructure, I have to give the nod to LA Metro. Now if we could just get similar websites for all tax dollars spent. Anyone else out there know of good transparency websites that are set up by the government?