Metro Rail Supporters Try to Heal Latest Rift

Prominent Los Angeles lawyer-lobbyist and Democratic politico Mickey Kantor was on the phone early Tuesday trying to patch up the latest breech in the fragile coalition of official support for Los Angeles’ Metro Rail subway.

Powerful Westside Democratic Rep. Henry Waxman had announced Monday that he is prepared to switch from supporting to actively opposing the project, and Kantor is heading a high-powered, behind-the-scenes lobbying effort among Democrats here and in Washington to prevent Waxman’s defection.

A paid political strategist for the Metro Rail project who has connections throughout the top echelons of the Democratic Party, Kantor was quietly setting up meetings and trying to get the right combination of powerful people talking, searching for a compromise that satisfy an influential, one-time ally.

Without offering any details, Kantor said Tuesday afternoon that “some phone calls have been made and people are talking. . . . All relevant persons will be talked to. Hopefully there’s some middle ground.”

May Oppose Project

Waxman, a leader of the Westside-based Waxman-Berman political organization that has been a major force in state and local elections in recent years, said on Monday that he will actively oppose any additional federal funding for the 18.6-mile, $3.3-billion project unless he is given a guarantee that the commuter rail line will be rerouted around potentially dangerous gas fields in the Fairfax area of his district. It was in that area that seeping methane gas exploded several months ago in a clothing store, injuring 21 people.

After three months of quiet negotiations with Southern California Rapid Transit District officials and Kantor, Waxman said the transit agency’s promises to review the safety issues have not gone far enough. He noted that a city investigation of the blast designated a large part of the Fairfax area as either a “high-risk” or “potential-risk” zone for underground gas buildup.

RTD officials say that their tunneling and subway operation plans are safe and that they had been devising safety features long before the disaster at the Ross Dress for Less store.

As Kantor and other backers of the project worked behind the scenes, assessments of the potential impact of Waxman’s action were emerging, and they held bad news for the RTD.

The political rift comes at a bad time for the transit district, Mayor Tom Bradley, downtown business interests and other subway supporters, who are struggling to keep financing for the subway project alive in Congress. The Reagan Administration is strongly opposing further funds for the system.

As early as next week, the House Committee on Appropriations is scheduled to take up a major transportation bill that includes about $130 million in new funds for the first segment of the Los Angeles subway, as well as language that would commit the federal government to an additional $427 million in support. Within a few weeks, that bill is expected to face a crucial floor vote in the House.

“The timing is going to be tight,” said John Dyer, RTD general manager, referring to the search for a compromise with Waxman.

Waxman said he is prepared to listen to backers of the project. But he added, “If we were going to reach an agreement, I would have thought we would have reached it earlier.”

Acknowledges Concerns

Waxman also has acknowledged that he has concerns about the cost-effectiveness of the controversial downtown-to-North Hollywood rail line.

Tuesday morning, he was featured on a local radio talk show with Rep. Bobbi Fiedler (R-Chatsworth), a leading critic of the project. During the broadcast, Waxman suggested that by raising questions about safety, he is providing an opportunity for a reevaluation of the entire project.

“Let’s maybe all step back from this thing and think through this whole Metro Rail issue,” he told The Times afterward. “And think about the best route to take--the safest and the most cost-effective and not just feel bound and locked into decisions made in the late 1970s.”

While he insisted that safety is still his primary concern and that he still supports the concept of building a subway line in Los Angeles, he said his investigation of the underground gas issue “certainly makes me look more closely at those (other) issues.”

Could Hurt Project

If the Waxman revolt is not quelled by the time Congress returns to the capital next week, supporters and opponents of the project agree that it could seriously damage efforts of RTD officials and the Bradley Administration to keep the project alive.

Rep. William Lehman, a Florida Democrat and chairman of the House appropriations subcommittee on transportation, said that opposition by Waxman could “greatly endanger” the upcoming votes on Metro Rail funding.

Lehman, a strong supporter of the Metro Rail project, noted that Waxman is an “insider” in the Democratic-controlled House leadership. He said Waxman’s chairmanship of an important health subcommittee “gives him a lot of leverage to use elsewhere in the House. Besides that, he is very well respected.”

The Waxman-Berman organization includes several Westside and San Fernando Valley representatives in the House, but how many will go along with Waxman is unclear. Rep. Mel Levine (D-Santa Monica) a Waxman ally, said Tuesday that he still intends to vote for the Metro Rail appropriations. Waxman said he hopes to convince other members of his organization to oppose the project if it is not rerouted.

His success on that front may be the key to the future of the project. “Where there isn’t a fairly solid common ground from the delegation of a metropolitan area to support a project, then the other members like to avoid taking sides,” Lehman said in a telephone interview from Miami.

Fiedler Buoyant

In Los Angeles, Fiedler was buoyant at the prospect of having a key local Democrat as an ally.

“I consider it perhaps the difference between winning and losing the vote on the House floor,” she said. “We’re going to be a tough team to beat with him working the Democratic side and me working the Republican side.”

Bradley remained mum on the dispute Tuesday, but other supporters were cautiously optimistic that a settlement could be reached in the next several days. None were willing to concede, as Fiedler suggested, that opposition by Waxman would be a fatal blow to the project.

Said Kantor: “It would be serious. It wouldn’t be devastating. But he is articulate. He is respected and a major part of the project is in his district.”