L.A.’s Transportation Chief Resigns

Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa accepted the resignation Wednesday of city transportation chief Wayne Tanda, the first department head to step down since the new mayor took office.

Before becoming mayor, Villaraigosa chaired the City Council’s Transportation Committee, where he was a frequent critic of the department management. During the mayoral campaign, he promised he to do more to unsnarl traffic in the city.

Since Villaraigosa’s election in May, speculation about Tanda’s eventual departure had been rampant around City Hall.

Mayoral spokeswoman Janelle Erickson said Villaraigosa did not pressure Tanda to leave the job.

In a statement, Villaraigosa praised Tanda’s contribution to the city.

“Mr. Tanda has worked to relieve traffic congestion, reduce the impact of development on city streets and ensure the safety of the millions of drivers who commute on Los Angeles’ streets,” he said.

“The need to improve our transportation system and get Los Angeles moving again is as great as any need facing the city of Los Angeles, and Mr. Tanda met this challenge with enthusiasm.”

As Transportation Committee chairman, then-Councilman Villaraigosa often expressed frustration with the department. In January, he blasted it for failing to ask for its share of millions of dollars in parking fines from a company that collected them on the city’s behalf.

“The loss of these kinds of public funds is staggering,” Villaraigosa said at the time, blaming transportation officials for the oversight.

Tanda, who could not be reached Wednesday, was appointed general manager of the department in July 2002. He had previously headed the transportation department in San Jose, his last post in a 31-year bureaucratic career in that city, according to a biography on the city of Los Angeles website.

In his resignation letter, Tanda touted the department’s work improving traffic flow and increasing safety for drivers and pedestrians.

He said his resignation would take effect Sept. 30 and he would return to San Jose, where his wife is an elementary school teacher.

The mayor, who left for a vacation in Hawaii on Wednesday, said he planned to name an interim general manager in the coming weeks.