Council Cuts Bradley’s Transit Program Out of Budget

In a setback for Mayor Tom Bradley, the City Council on Tuesday eliminated from the 1989-1990 budget a $7-million transit program the mayor had proposed in the waning days of his recent election campaign.

On a recommendation by Finance and Revenue Committee Chairman Zev Yaroslavsky, who called the proposal an “outrageous” use of scarce transit funds, the council voted 8 to 7 to eliminate the “L.A. Pride Lines” program.

The program would have used half of its budgeted $7 million to put 25 aging Rapid Transit District buses back into commission on eight of the more heavily traveled lines. The program would have used the remaining $3.5 million to hire 250 area high school students to clean these and other buses. All of the funds would have been supplied under Proposition A--the voter-approved half-cent sales tax that is earmarked for public transportation projects.

One of Final Items

The issue arose late in the council’s second day of deliberations on the $3.25-billion budget. It was one of the final items up for consideration before the council completed adoption of the Finance and Revenue Committee’s report on the budget, a key step in the complicated and lengthy budget process.

After setting priorities among the hundreds of programs up for budget increases, the council ended up cutting about $25 million of Bradley’s proposals.

The transit proposal had been supported by several council members from inner-city districts, such as Gloria Molina, who urged fellow members to finance the program. She said it is important for the working poor, who make the greatest use of bus service.

Yaroslavsky said that transit funds should not be wasted on what he said was essentially a youth jobs program.

But Councilman Marvin Braude said, “What’s wrong with using Prop. A funds to clean up buses? . . . What’s wrong with hiring young people? . . . What’s wrong with experimenting a little? This is innovative and it is imaginative.”

In defeating the program, council members agreed to use the funds at a later date for other transportation programs.

Meanwhile, in an unexpected victory for the mayor, the council voted overwhelmingly to restore the full $2.2 million in funding for the Clean and Green program, which employs inner-city youths in environmental summer jobs. The council’s Finance and Revenue Committee had recommended holding the program to its current year funding level of $1.2 million.

In another budget action, the council agreed to appropriate $500,000 to install four-way stop signs at all intersections around elementary schools.

‘Owe It to the Youngsters’

“Judging from the response I have personally got from the PTAs and the parents and the principals . . . I think all of us owe it to the youngsters,” said Yaroslavsky, who proposed the project.

Ed Rowe, general manager of the city’s Department of Transportation, said the agency gets calls and letters from about 17,000 people a year asking for new stop signs. Most of them, he said, are petitioning for signs near schools.

The council mandate applies to all 413 elementary schools in the Los Angeles Unified School District. It also includes an additional 216 schools--private elementary schools and a few junior high and high schools.

The council also approved $1 million for new library books and longer hours for city swimming pools and also formally voted to drop funding for the controversial Task Force for Africa/Los Angeles Relations.

Recent Disclosures

In recent years, the group received about $400,000 in grants from the city, largely at the urging of Bradley. The mayor dropped the funding request following disclosures that he maintained real estate investments with Juanita St. John, task force director, and that the group was behind in its financial reporting to the city.

“I don’t think we need to say much more about that subject,” said Yaroslavsky, a frequent Bradley foe, in recommending that the council eliminate funding for the group.

Councilman Robert Farrell, one of the mayor’s staunchest supporters, cast the only dissenting vote.