L.A. Council Votes to Put Light-Rail Issue on June Ballot

The Los Angeles City Council voted Wednesday to ask San Fernando Valley voters in June if they support construction of a light-rail line and, if so, whether they favor creation of a citizens’ commission to recommend routes.

The council voted 8 to 5 to present the light-rail question to voters. Eight “yes” votes are required to order the drafting of a proposed advisory referendum. The council must give final approval to the measure before it is assured a spot on the June 7 ballot.

Later Wednesday, however, the council’s Transportation and Traffic Committee voted to recommend that the full council establish the citizens’ panel immediately. It was unclear how the creation of such a panel would affect the proposed referendum.

The council, which debated the referendum question for 2 1/2 hours Tuesday without reaching a decision, talked for another two hours Wednesday before Councilman Gilbert W. Lindsay cast the deciding vote.

Lindsay voted to support an old political ally, Mayor Tom Bradley, who proposed the referendum. Bradley and Councilman Mike Woo last week proposed the vote by citizens in an effort to end a stalemate over construction of a Valley trolley line.

Community Opposition

The county Transportation Commission last December dumped the controversy in the laps of Valley elected officials after all five of the commission’s proposed light-rail routes for the Valley ran into stiff community opposition.

Commission officials warned that, if local officials fail to resolve the stalemate, the Valley could lose millions of dollars to other areas for construction of a light-rail line.

Councilman Zev Yaroslavsky, an expected challenger to Bradley in the 1989 mayoral race, contended that the proposed referendum would be meaningless because it would not decide the controversial issue of a route for the trolley.

“What this really is about is some public officials not wanting to make a decision,” said Yaroslavsky, whose district includes Sherman Oaks.

Council members joining Yaroslavsky in opposing the proposed referendum were Ernani Bernardi, Hal Bernson, Joan Milke Flores and Gloria Molina. Councilmen John Ferraro and Robert Farrell were absent.

‘Wimpy Way to Go’

Molina called the referendum the “wimpy way to go” and implored her colleagues to “make the kind of decision they were elected to make.”

Bernson, who represents the northwest Valley, said: “I’m willing to present it to the voters. But I don’t see any advantage to presenting it to the voters in June without a specific route.”

Bradley originally proposed that the referendum also ask voters which of the five proposed light-rail routes they favor.

Woo, whose district includes Studio City, defended the referendum, saying he is not convinced that Valley voters want a light-rail line.

“It’s not just an apple-pie issue,” he said in an interview after the meeting.

Besides surveying voters on whether they support construction of a Valley light-rail line, the referendum would ask if voters favor creating a 32-member “Citizens’ Panel on Transportation Solutions” to recommend routes for the trolley line and other transportation improvements in the Valley.

But, if the full council voted to create the advisory panel before any referendum were held, the panel would consist of Valley business and homeowner representatives appointed by Bradley and the eight Valley council members. It would study the five routes proposed by the commission, as well as new ones, and would have until Aug. 1 to make recommendations to the council. The council then would forward its recommendations to the Transportation Commission by Sept. 1.

The final decision on construction of any Valley light-rail line would be made by the Transportation Commission.

Funds for Planning

The five routes proposed by the commission are: along the Ventura Freeway; along the Los Angeles River; following Chandler Boulevard and Oxnard Street east of the San Diego Freeway and then largely following Victory Boulevard to Warner Center; largely following Victory Boulevard the length of the Valley, and along the Southern Pacific main line, which runs diagonally across the Valley connecting North Hollywood and Chatsworth.

In a related development, the council’s Transportation and Traffic Committee recommended that the city provide $427,750 to begin planning for construction of the Valley end of the Metro Rail subway.

A 1984 state law authored by Sen. Alan Robbins (D-Van Nuys) required the Southern California Rapid Transit District to start construction of the Valley end of the downtown Los Angeles-to-North Hollywood subway last Sept. 29. A Robbins-sponsored bill that would delay the start-up date for Valley subway construction until Sept. 29, 1989, is expected to go to the Legislature next week, Robbins said Wednesday.

Robbins agreed to sponsor the bill, which requires placing money for Valley Metro Rail construction in a trust fund, because of uncertainty over whether there will be enough money to link the Valley end of Metro Rail with the segment now under construction between downtown Los Angeles and the Wilshire district. Meanwhile, Robbins said, the city, county and state have agreed to begin engineering work for the Valley segment.