RTD Blasted for Making TV Series : Transit: Assemblyman Katz is critical of agency for spending $150,000 at a time of budget problems.

An influential state legislator Thursday criticized the Southern California Rapid Transit District for wasting money by producing an informational television series at a time of service cuts and budget shortfalls.

Richard Katz (D-Sylmar), chairman of the Assembly Transportation Committee and a potential Los Angeles mayoral candidate, said he was outraged when an RTD staff member asked him to participate in a $150,000 series of television programs aimed at educating the public about mass transit.

“I think it’s a waste of taxpayer money and not what the RTD is in the business for,” he said of the series of half-hour programs, titled “Transit 2000.”

“They ought to be spending their money running buses on time, not producing television shows.”

On Wednesday, Katz rebuked RTD board President Marvin Holen in a letter that the legislator made public. He called the program a “taxpayer nightmare” that is “symptomatic of a public relations department run amok.”

“Maybe I’m just missing the point, Marv, but isn’t there a severe financial crunch at the (RTD)?” Katz asked.

Holen, in a public letter of his own Thursday, said Katz did miss the point, saying he had judged the proposed show on “fragmentary information.”

Holen said the programs, approved last year as part of the district’s $650-million annual operating budget, are part of the RTD’s normal promotional effort and are designed to be underwritten by corporate sponsors to recoup as much of the cost as possible.

“Please note that we have expended to date less than $30,000, while we have received, to date, $54,000 in private-sector commitments,” Holen wrote in his letter to Katz.

What is unclear is where the series will be seen. The RTD told Katz that the first program was scheduled to be broadcast in March on KNBC Channel 4. But station spokeswoman Regina Miyamoto said: “We never, ever said we would air that show.”