State to Keep Its Pledge on Metro Rail, Governor Says

Gov. George Deukmejian said Thursday that the state will keep its end of the bargain on Los Angeles’ proposed Metro Rail subway system but added that he does not blame the Reagan Administration for wanting to scuttle the project to help trim the federal budget deficit.

“We made the commitment that we would provide approximately $400 million, if the federal government went along and approved of their portion of the funding, and so we are still willing to do that,” the governor said.

However, he indicated that he found it hard to disagree with the Administration’s budget director, David A. Stockman, who earlier this week described Metro Rail as a program that would be a “foolish” waste of taxpayer money.

“I think it is very understandable that they have to find ways of reducing spending,” the governor told a Los Angeles press conference. “And where there are projects that haven’t even been started, I can certainly understand why Stockman would not want to have a major appropriation. . . .”

Budget Proposals

Among the nation’s governors, Deukmejian has been one of the staunchest supporters of President Reagan’s deficit-reducing budget proposals, and he strongly reiterated that support Thursday by declaring that Washington knows best.

“It’s not a question of whether or not I think that it’s wise to have a rapid transit system,” he said. “The question is--they have got to look at all of the circumstances right now in Washington.

“How do they best go about reducing the national deficit? I think they are in a much better position to make those judgments than I am or people in local government are. . . .”

At a separate press conference Thursday, supporters of the $3.3-billion Metro Rail denounced Stockman for his criticism of the project and said it was “the only reasonable answer” to Los Angeles’ traffic problems.

John Dyer, general manager of the Southern California Rapid Transit District, accused the Reagan budget director of engaging in “scare tactics” and disputed Stockman’s claim that $19 billion would be needed to fund all the new rail systems that are proposed over the next decade.

“It’s a fiction to talk about $19 billion,” Dyer said.

He said the “realistic number is $7 billion or $8 billion that can be achieved with the funding available” from the federal gasoline tax trust fund.

William A. Robertson, executive secretary of the Los Angeles Federation of Labor, AFL-CIO, said labor lobbyists will step up their efforts in Congress to win support for the project but conceded, “It’s going to be a tough fight.”

Robertson said the Administration has given the go-ahead to several highway projects that are more costly than the $186-million-a-mile Metro Rail and specifically mentioned two East Coast projects that he said ranged from $500 million to $1 billion a mile.

“In contrast to those other astronomical figures . . . this is a bargain in comparison,” he said.