Voters to Be Asked What Rail Option They Want, If Any

Los Angeles County Supervisors decided Tuesday to ask San Fernando Valley voters in June what kind of rail line, if any, they want, despite warnings that the referendum could have the unintended effect of leaving the Valley without any rail line.

In the June 5 balloting, which will be advisory only, voters will be invited to choose one of four alternatives:

* An elevated monorail along the Ventura Freeway from Universal City to Canoga Park.

* An underground extension of the downtown-to-North Hollywood Metro Rail subway from North Hollywood to the Sepulveda Basin along the Southern Pacific railroad’s right of way.

* A light-rail line in a shallow trench with bermed sides in the same Southern Pacific right of way from North Hollywood to Canoga Park.

* No rail line at all.

The supervisors’ action comes at a time when the three-year debate over Valley rail options is fast coming to a conclusion.

The Los Angeles County Transportation Commission, which is building a countywide network of rail lines, is scheduled to make a decision as early as March on the next line to be built.

In competition with the Valley for funding for the next system--the last to be built in this century--are proposed light-rail lines from El Segundo to Marina del Rey and from downtown Los Angeles through northeast Los Angeles to Pasadena.

The advisory vote, proposed by Supervisor Mike Antonovich, a longtime monorail advocate, will be conducted in an area bounded by the Ventura County border on the west, the southern border of the San Gabriel Mountains on the north, Mulholland Drive on the south and the Glendale-Pasadena border on the east.

Thus, a far greater segment of the population could enter into what has been a debate largely between two Valley groups--business and civic leaders who say that rail is essential to relieve congestion and, in opposition to rail, a band of homeowners along the Ventura Freeway and the Southern Pacific right of way, which crosses the Valley roughly parallel to Chandler and Victory boulevards.

Homeowner opponents argue that a ground-level or elevated system would ruin their neighborhoods with noise and ground vibrations.

The board vote was 4 to 1, with dissenting Supervisor Ed Edelman, who represents a large portion of the East Valley, warning that delaying a decision until June could leave the Valley without any rail line.

Edelman said that the commission, which has been holding up completion of environmental impact reports on the two rival lines until the Valley environmental report is completed this month, might proceed with one of the lines in another section of the county rather than wait until June.

In addition to the five supervisors, the 11-member commission consists of elected officials from the city of Los Angeles and smaller cities in the county.

Supervisor Deane Dana, whose district includes the proposed El Segundo-Marina del Rey line, said after the board vote that he is “not in favor of holding up other projects because of this referendum. So the commission may well go ahead next month with another line.”

But Antonovich, who represents the bulk of the Valley, indicated he wasn’t worried that the commission would refuse to wait for the referendum results.

And he said that even if commissioners decide next month to go ahead with a rival project or with a Valley option different from the one that gets the most votes, the commission can undo its action.

Antonovich said he viewed the referendum as an opportunity to determine if public-opinion polls are correct in showing widespread support for a Valley line or if vocal groups organized to fight individual proposals have a broad following.

“Many times,” he said, “you have a group of naysayers who are best described as like a Kansas storm; that is, a lot of wind but no rain. Many times a small group of windy people will prevent a community from receiving a transportation system which is supported overwhelmingly by the community.”

Others, however, speculated that Antonovich’s support for a monorail, a system all but dismissed by the commission, is behind his move for a referendum.

Roger Stanard, a Warner Center attorney and Valley rail advocate, said that Antonovich is “apparently so tunnel-visioned on his monorail plan that he is going to pursue it to the Valley’s detriment.”

Stanard, chairman of the Campaign for Valley Rail Transit, a large business and homeowner coalition that supports extension of Metro Rail from North Hollywood to the Sepulveda Basin--the second of four options that will be on the ballot--said he feared that the Valley could not muster the required majority on the commission to delay a decision next month.

He also predicted that the vote will be “split three ways in the balloting, leading to varying interpretations, and of course a few people will be against any system.”

Stanard expressed concern that a monorail would “get more than a few votes because the arguments against it are technical and difficult to communicate.”

For more than a year, Antonovich has almost single-handedly kept alive the study of monorail technology.

He argues that it is cheaper and quieter than light rail and that its futuristic appearance would lure motorists from their cars far better than conventional rail cars.

Transportation experts say that cost savings are small and that modern technology has dramatically lowered the noise from today’s light- and heavy-rail trains.

They also maintain it would be a public-relations mistake to introduce another technology when the commission is already building three lines using three different technologies--the heavy-rail Metro Rail system; an automated, driverless light-rail system along the Century Freeway and a conventional light-rail line from Long Beach to downtown Los Angeles.