Mayor Fasana on Gold Line

Come hear Duarte Mayor John Fasana provide his perspective at 8 a.m. Thursday, August 6, on the prospects and status of the long-delayed Gold Line Foothill Extension through Arcadia and east to at least Azusa. Fasana, a member of the Metro board of directors, will be the guest speaker at the monthly Government Affairs Forum in the conference room of the Arcadia Chamber of Commerce, 388 W. Huntington Dr. The forums are free and open to the public. Voters approved a half-cent County sales tax called Measure R last November to finally fund the light-rail extension for which Arcadia voters years ago overwhelmingly approved the construction of a bride over Santa Anita to carry the train before it gets to a station to be built east of the intersection of First Avenue and St. Joseph St. But the Metro board has yet to approve the extension from Sierra Madre Villa, which is part of a massive overall list of projects, all of which have been set for a vote that has been delayed multiple times, most recently July 23. The current wording in the proposal next set to be discussed and voted on in September, calls for the extension to be built by 2017 but others are trying to fast-track the extension to be completed by 2013 since it has been “shovel-ready” in all San Gabriel Valley cities in its path for years.