Pep rally for subway plan

Barbara Boxer, who has been heavy on promises during her tough reelection campaign, says she's hoping to include the mayor's quixotic subway plan as part of a major transportation bill that Congress will probably take up after the fall elections. Villaraigosa is counting on the feds to advance him $40 million so that the projects being proposed - including a subway extension to Westwood - can be completed in 10 years instead of the scheduled 30. Villaraigosa, Boxer and several other big wigs were patting themselves on the back at a mass transit roundtable yesterday at City Hall. From the Daily News:

Boxer said she hopes to announce in October that the federal government can advance the funding to be repaid by the Metropolitan Transportation Authority through revenue from the Measure R sales tax. Approved by voters in 2008, Measure R was designed to provide $40 billion over 30 years for transportation projects through a half-cent increase in the county sales tax. "Measure R was a statement by the people that we want to see transit improvements," Boxer said. "And you have come up with an idea on how to accelerate construction. I think 30-10 is an idea whose time has come."