Robbins Reverses Stand, Pushes Bill to Delay Valley Rail

After a month of indecision, state Sen. Alan Robbins on Thursday night told a cheering throng he will push for a two-year delay in Metro Rail construction in the San Fernando Valley and a ban on building a light-rail system in North Hollywood and Van Nuys.

The Van Nuys Democrat, who until mid-July had insisted that subway work must begin by the state-mandated Sept. 29 deadline, said he is changing his position on Metro Rail in response to widespread community support for a postponement.

Robbins and Assemblyman Tom Bane (D-Tarzana) assured the crowd at St. Charles Catholic Church in North Hollywood that the Legislature will promptly pass their bill incorporating Metro Rail postponement and a trolley moratorium.

In a written vote administered by Robbins’ staff, the crowd of mostly light-rail opponents voted 219 to 11 in favor of the Robbins-Bane plan.

Until July 22, Robbins had said he was unwilling to consider any change in legislation he authored in 1984 that requires the Southern California Rapid Transit District to begin subway work in the Valley within one year of the ground-breaking in downtown Los Angeles, which occurred Sept. 29 last year.

And he had repeatedly vowed to go to court Sept. 30 to force the RTD to comply with the law.

In revealing the Robbins-Bane plan in July, both legislators said they would back it only if there were widespread support.

“The people have spoken, as far as I’m concerned,” Robbins said after Thursday night’s straw vote.

Both Bane and Robbins have been under pressure from the Eastern Sector Transit Coalition, a well-organized group fighting to stop the Los Angeles County Transportation Commission from routing a proposed trolley through either North Hollywood or Van Nuys. The group has turned out up to 700 protesters at public hearings on the light-rail line.

The plan permits Robbins to satisfy the coalition’s demand for aid while backing away from his increasingly isolated position of demanding immediate Metro Rail construction in the Valley.

The 1984 law also requires the RTD to spend on the Valley part of the subway 15% of the non-federal funds spent on Metro Rail construction outside the Valley. The Robbins-Bane plan would require that money to be placed in a trust fund until construction begins.

Support Fades Away

Robbins said he introduced the 1984 legislation, which at the time had strong backing from homeowner and business groups, to prevent the RTD from giving Valley subway construction a low priority.

However, Robbins’ former supporters on the issue began to desert him in April when the RTD unveiled its plan for complying with the law. Most recently, seven of the eight Los Angeles City Council members with Valley districts endorsed the delay.

RTD officials had said that if the state, City Council and County Transportation Commission pay the $74-million cost, they would tunnel from Universal City 4,500 feet north to the Ventura Freeway over the next seven years.

Homeowner leaders and County Transportation Commission officials promptly took issue with the plan.

Critics said the structure of Robbins’ legislation was forcing the RTD to drag out for seven years work that ordinarily would take no more than three years, increasing disruption of Studio City and North Hollywood neighborhoods.

Also, the 4,500-foot tunnel is almost certain to go unused for a decade or more before the line is extended the final 1.4 miles from the Ventura Freeway to Metro Rail’s planned northern terminus at the intersection of Lankershim and Chandler boulevards in North Hollywood.

The final extension to the North Hollywood station would be part of the third phase of Metro Rail construction, scheduled to begin sometime after 1994.

In fact, RTD officials say they are unable to promise at this time that there will be enough money to extend the subway north from Hollywood to Universal City in the second phase of construction, which is scheduled to begin in 1988.

Federal Funds Involved

The first phase, begun 11 months ago, is a 4.4-mile stretch between Union Station downtown and the intersection of Wilshire Boulevard and Alvarado Street.

Opponents of the RTD plan also say that work would have to be done without federal aid, because federal law prohibits participation in construction of isolated transit segments such as the Valley tunnel.

Typically, the federal government pays half the cost of a mass-transit project.

“I would not want to be a Valley elected official who left millions of dollars of federal funds on the table to build a tunnel that is not going to be used for a long time,” said Jacki Bacharach, a Rancho Palos Verdes councilwoman and member of the County Transportation Commission.