Funds OKd : Council Acts to Extend Subway to N. Hollywood

Efforts to extend the Metro Rail subway to North Hollywood and possibly push it even farther into the San Fernando Valley in lieu of a controversial light-rail line gained steam at Los Angeles City Hall Wednesday.

The City Council, by a 13-1 vote, tentatively approved an $89-million increase in the city’s share of the $2.2 billion needed to extend the subway from MacArthur Park to North Hollywood.

Councilman Michael Woo said that with a financing plan for completing the project now in place, transit planners can turn their attention toward possible Metro Rail extensions into the West Valley and the city’s Eastside and Westside.

“The council has now approved a financing plan that makes it clear that we’re going to back up our words with money in terms of going out to North Hollywood,” Woo said after the meeting.

“Now what we need to do is consider what can be done next in terms of a further extension westward,” he said.

However, much still needs to be done before extension of the subway to the Valley is assured.

$518 Million Needed

The federal government must provide an additional $518 million on top of the $667 million already pledged. The Legislature must repeal a state law prohibiting the sale of more than $100 million in bonds to build Metro Rail.

Also, a contract increasing the city’s share for the second phase of the project from $35 million to $124 million must come back to the council and Mayor Tom Bradley for approval.

“I think it’s too early to tell what the impact on the Valley will be,” Councilman Zev Yaroslavsky said, referring to Wednesday’s action.

“Failure to have approved this would have set back the prospects for the Valley getting Metro Rail,” Yaroslavsky said. “But whether they will ever meet their objective of having this original line reach the Valley in our lifetime, I think that is an open question still.”

The council on Friday is scheduled to take up the controversy over a Valley light-rail line. Woo and Yaroslavsky said they favor substituting a subway for a cross-Valley trolley line. Both council members are under intense pressure from their Valley constituents who are fighting a proposed above-ground trolley line from North Hollywood to Warner Center via Chandler and Victory boulevards.

Councilman Joel Wachs, who also represents part of East Valley, said he will urge his colleagues to recommend that the County Transportation Commission consider a subway across the Valley as well as three light-rail routes: the Ventura Freeway, Chandler and Victory boulevards and a north-south line from Union Station to Sylmar. The commission will have the final say on a route.

During Wednesday’s debate, Yaroslavsky questioned whether the city will have enough transportation funds--generated by a 1980 voter-approved half-cent increase in the sales tax--to pay for Metro Rail without jeopardizing other transit projects.

Councilman Ernani Bernardi, a longtime Metro Rail opponent, cast the only vote against increasing the city’s commitment to the subway project, claiming the money could be better spent on reducing bus fares.

Councilman Hal Bernson complained about the city providing additional money to Metro Rail without knowing whether it will link up with a cross-Valley line, but he voted for the increase.

The first 4.4 miles of the subway, which will travel from Union Station in downtown Los Angeles to Wilshire Boulevard and Alvarado Street, is budgeted at $1.2 billion. Construction started in September, 1987, and officials say it will begin operating in early 1993.

Construction is scheduled to start on the second phase in the fall of 1989 and officials say it will be completed in 1997.

Also on Wednesday, the County Transportation Commission voted to oppose legislation that would lift the $100 million limit on borrowing for Metro Rail.

Commissioners said they favor lifting the borrowing cap but oppose another provision of the bill, introduced by state Sen. Alan Robbins (D-Van Nuys) to require the commission to set aside 15% of the funds it spends each year.

The funds set aside could be spent only on a future Valley rail project, either a Metro Rail extension west from North Hollywood or a light-rail project.

Several commissioners said that allowing communities to reserve a chunk of rail construction funds would set an unwanted precedent that could complicate completion of a regional rail network.

The bill was approved Tuesday by the Assembly Transportation Committee and is pending in the Assembly Ways and Means Committee.