You will be successful.

It may not improve traffic but it would give thousands of Angelenos an option to AVOID traffic by taking public transit instead of driving. Currently, for many destinations, there is no reasonable option BESIDES driving and being stuck in traffic.

The politicians (and the real-estate developers backing them) want you to believe that Measure R is designed to reduce traffic. That is not the case. The Metropolitan Transit Authority has already stated that the Expo Line will not reduce traffic on the 10 freeway or any of the adjacent boulevards. The Department of Transportation has publicly stated in a letter to the MTA that the at-grade Expo Line will make the traffic on the north-south streets such as Overland, Westwood, Sepulveda and Bundy considerably worse. The politicians (particularly in Santa Monica) have let the real estate developers run riot and now we have bad traffic on the Westside. But now the developers are at an impasse because the Environmentally Impact Reports for their big projects are stating that they can't build as high or as large as they want to because of the traffic. Measure R is their end run so they can keep building. Their dream is to fill in the gap between Century City and the Water Garden with numerous high-rise office and condominium projects. If you vote yes, you will be funding the high rise development of the Westside. At the very least shouldn't this be funded by a commercial real-estate tax instead of a sales tax? I urge you to visit the Vote Yes on Measure R website. They don't have a single statistic or expert in the field to back up their claims. That's because, despite thousand of riders, no rail line in Los Angeles has ever improved traffic

Half a cent? Only if you are spending $1. This is misleading. It is a .5% increase in sales tax. Only if you spend $5000 on goods and services in LA County will it cost you $25. That may be the average, but it will drive big ticket purchases out of LA County.

Stop the waste, start the projects and then ask for the tax increase.

Thanks, David. Creating new jobs is one of the upsides of the measure.

I think now is the time to pass this -- our economy needs a stimulus, and this would create 200000+ new jobs in future years.

Well, Chris-

I hear what you're saying. I'm still personally hoping that this measure will become reality.

Anyone else?

Ummm, people voting for higher taxes in this economy? I'm thinking probably not. Also, I think the estimate of people spending only $5,000 on taxable goods a year is a real lowball estimate. I think I'll start buying all my goods through the Internet to avoid higher local sales taxes.

Thanks for your comment, Carlivar.

But I that's what is so great about this measure. Train routes will be added throughout LA county. That includes the San Fernando Valley, The Westside, the South Bay, and the list goes on.

Most of L.A. gets trains, the majority of the San Fernando Valley gets the lame busways. Sigh.