Target Date to Sign Financing Pact for Metro Rail Missed

A target date for wrapping up a crucial federal financing contract for the Los Angeles Metro Rail project passed Wednesday without an agreement and officials say their announced hopes for breaking ground this month have been dashed by Reagan Administration efforts to stall the release of funds for the subway.

Despite the delays, Nikolas Patsaouras, president of the Southern California Rapid Transit District board, said he is optimistic that differences will be resolved soon and construction will begin “in the spring.”

Also on Wednesday, the RTD board narrowed its list of possible Westside Metro Rail routes, which are being redrawn to avoid areas of potentially hazardous methane gas.

Uncertainty Remains

Three routes--all of them entirely underground--were selected for further study, including a new alternative that would serve more of Hollywood by taking a different path through the Santa Monica Mountains to the San Fernando Valley.

But as studies on Westside extensions of the subway continue, uncertainty remains about when construction might begin on the first 4.4-mile segment of the line between downtown’s Union Station and Alvarado Street.

Last December, in the climax of a long legislative battle over the project, a huge federal spending law earmarked $429 million for the Metro Rail project. The law also instructed the Administration, which strongly opposes the project, to negotiate within 90 days a contract for the full federal share of the first segment or report back to Congress as to why it could not reach agreement.

At the time, a jubilant Mayor Tom Bradley and other supporters of the project predicted there would be a March ground-breaking on the subway, which has fallen two years behind its original construction schedule.

But talks on the financing agreement have proceeded slowly because of disputes over key language provisions regarding the flow of federal dollars to the project, and the law that called for Administration action within 90 days does not specify a penalty for non-compliance.

In addition, President Reagan as part of his 1987 budget proposal issued a so-called recision order on Metro Rail funds--a formal notice that he does not want to spend the money. The recision is not expected to gain required support of Congress, but it remains in effect until April 15 and until then prevents the execution of the full financing contract.

Congressional Actions

Administration officials on Wednesday mailed a 100-page draft of a financing contract to RTD officials, but RTD officials said they would not comment until they evaluated its contents.

If delays continue, congressional supporters of the subway have warned they may attempt additional unspecified legislative actions to force Administration transportation officials to speed up the release of construction funds.

The thorniest issue in the contract talks has been how to deal with a $199-million “gap” in federal financing that has been promised by Congress but not appropriated. The December spending measure called for $429 million in federal funds to be earmarked for the first leg of the subway, including $129 million previously approved by Congress but withheld by the Administration, $101 million for 1986 and about $199 million in subsequent years “as made available by the Congress.” The remainder of the funds are to be provided by the city, county and state.

Because all of the federal funds are not currently available and the President’s 1987 budget calls for sharp limitations on spending for transit projects, the Administration is demanding that local tax funds be pledged to make up the shortfall before the project begins.

Ralph Stanley, administrator of the Urban Mass Transportation Administration and the Reagan Administration’s point man in the contract talks, said late Wednesday that his proposed contract calls for the City of Los Angeles and the Los Angeles County Transportation Commission to assume the liability for any shortfall in federal funds. “I think it is a very reasonable offer from their standpoint. (The commission) is 100% behind it and the mayor is 100% behind it,” Stanley said.

Lack of Funds Alleged

Stanley said such a provision is necessary because there is not enough transit construction money to complete the Metro Rail project and several other mass transit systems that Congress has ordered built in other cities--a point that congressional leaders dispute.

RTD and county transportation commission officials are worried that admitting they have more local funds available for the project may weaken their ability to argue in Washington later this year for the remaining $199 million in federal funds for the first segment. They want the contract drawn to ensure that local funds are used only as a last resort. Rick Richmond, the transportation commission’s executive director, said the issue is “whether (the $199 million is) identified at the outset as federal funds or local funds.”

Richmond has tentatively indicated to UMTA officials that the county’s half-cent sales tax for transit could be used to make up a shortfall of federal funds. The commission has already pledged $176 million from the transit tax to the first leg of the project. A recent analysis prepared by the commission staff showed that adding $199 million more would not disrupt other approved projects, such as the Century Freeway and Los Angeles-to-Long Beach light rail systems, although it would reduce the ability to build future projects.

On the Westside routes, RTD officials said the three selected for detailed study ranked highest in preliminary evaluations based on such factors as response at community meetings, compatibility with city land-use plans, potential patronage and cost. The finalist routes also include tentative station locations for the first time.

Fourth Alternative

RTD General Manager John Dyer said a fourth alternative that is still being drafted by the Los Angeles City Council also will be subject to detailed review.

All of the latest proposed routes would form a “wishbone” around an area of potential methane gas pockets identified in a city report after an explosion at a Fairfax clothing store in 1985. Westside Democratic Rep. Henry Waxman won an agreement from RTD to reroute the project around the potentially hazardous area.

The top-ranked route in the preliminary evaluations was the “H” alternative. Unlike earlier proposals, which would parallel the Hollywood Freeway through the Cahuenga Pass, that alternative would travel west through the heart of Hollywood on Sunset Boulevard and tunnel under the Santa Monica Mountains near La Cienega Boulevard.

Because of strong opposition from residents in the Fairfax District, a proposed surface route through that area was eliminated. After additional community meetings on the Westside in April, RTD officials hope to select a final route by early May.

Proposed Rail Routes Route H would divide into two branches at Wilshire and Western, the northern route going up Western, west on Sunset to Fairfax and tunnel through the mountains into North Hollywood. The western branch dips down and ends at Pico and San Vicente.

Route C1 would split at Wilshire and Western, the northern leg going up Western, briefly on Sunset and then north along Caheunga Boulevard into North Hollywood. The western branch is the same as Route H.

Route A3 would split at Wilshire and Vermont, the northern leg going up Vermont, west on Sunset and then north along Caheunga Boulevard into North Hollywood. The western leg dips down and ends at San Vicente and Olympic.