A Parting Shot That Rings True

I received a note from an unhappy reader: “I am obliged to write this letter because you haven’t shown much inclination to return my calls.”

Yes, I’m bad about not returning my calls. It makes me feel bad. And I felt particularly bad about this complainant because he was a man who had been most helpful. His name is Robert S. Nielsen, and he retired last year as executive director of the California Transportation Commission.

The commission is an important body that helps set transportation policy for the state, allocating money for freeway projects and the like. The commissioners also are the state officials who are supposed to be doing something about gridlock.

I met Nielsen in a dark period, when I was bogged down in an endless task of trying to make sense of the fight between the Southern California Rapid Transit District and the Los Angeles County Transportation Commission. Somebody in Sacramento had told me he was the only person involved in California transportation policy who made any sense. He’s a tall man who served as a combat navigator in the Royal Australian Air Force during World War II. He has a blunt way of talking, which made him a blessed exception to the bureaucratic rule.

Turf warfare, Nielsen explained then. Selfishness. Stupidity. That’s what’s to blame for the Los Angeles County transportation mess.

I had interviewed many other people about this tangled issue, and none had been as forthright as that.

In his letter, Nielsen told the story that he would have shared over the telephone with me--if I had not lost the services of an assistant who always reminded me when to return calls.

It was the story of a frustrated bureaucrat who wanted to exit with a bang. His bombshell came in the form of a thick report intended to shake the world--if only someone would publish it.

Nielsen had retired as executive director of the transportation commission last Oct. 31, Halloween.

“My last major job was to produce a 250-page report on California’s transportation future,” he explained. “I presented this report to the commission on Oct. 19, but so far they have not released it.”

Nielsen had a theory about why his beautiful report had been cast into darkness. The theory stems from his disdain for state transportation officials.

“They,” he said, “have a tendency to shoot the messenger in Sacramento.”

Nielsen didn’t send me all 250 pages of his report. He did, however, provide me with a summary, and it seemed to make sense. Since I still feel guilty about not returning phone calls from a trusted old source, I now offer (in highly condensed form) the first public viewing of Robert Nielsen’s final assessment:

1. Gov. George Deukmejian is supposed to be “the ultimate leader for transportation” in the state, but he has never paid enough attention.

2. The Legislature has been afraid to ask tough questions and make strong suggestions. “This esteemed body must accept its share of blame for lack of effective leadership,” he wrote. I could almost hear the sarcasm dripping over the word “esteemed.”

3. The state Transportation Commission had “opportunities to provide leadership, but failed. . . .”

4. Private enterprise has met with only limited success in its efforts “to stimulate the political leaders . . . into some form of action.”

5. “Regional agencies and local governments,” he stated, “have shown the most aggressive leadership in recent years.”

While Nielsen’s canons may sound banal for anyone reading them in stalled traffic on the Hollywood Freeway, they clarify the main obstacle to a decent transportation system: Leadership.

Nielsen’s criticisms are also timely. They come at the beginning of the campaign for two measures on the June ballot aimed at raising $18.5 billion for highway construction and transit.

The money’s needed, Nielsen said. But the voters should ask for some guarantees. For example, they should demand to know specifically what the candidates for governor propose to do with all the money--more details than are available in a television commercial.

“Unless the governor does provide leadership,” he concluded, “any sustained effort to improve transportation is unlikely to succeed.”

That sounds like pretty good advice to me. But the report still hasn’t been printed. I contacted Bob Remen, Nielsen’s successor. He said the staff is putting some final touches on Nielsen’s work, and it will be presented to the commission soon.

I can understand the delay. When people retire, they’re supposed to mumble thanks for the fishing gear and pension, and then disappear. They’re not supposed to blast their benefactors.

Nielsen went out another way, leveling an unvarnished assessment of the state’s troubled transportation systems.

Maybe I ought to give the man a call.