Residents Back Monorail, Antonovich Says : Transportation: County supervisor cites more than 4,300 replies to a mailer. Transit panel is about to review an environmental study on the project.

Working to promote the construction of a monorail line over the Ventura Freeway, Supervisor Mike Antonovich said Monday that more than 4,300 residents along the proposed freeway route have endorsed the project by responding positively to a recent mailer.

Antonovich, an avid monorail supporter and chairman of the Los Angeles County Transportation Commission, announced the mailer results as the commission prepares to meet Wednesday to consider approving an environmental study on the monorail project.

The mailer was sent out two weeks ago to about 25,000 residents from Universal City to Woodland Hills. It was paid for by a group called Citizens Committee for Monorail, which is headed by a former Antonovich appointee to the transportation commission. As of Friday, 4,501 residents had responded to the mailer, with 4,369 in support and 132 opposed, Antonovich said.

At a press conference at a park-and-ride lot next to the Ventura Freeway in Universal City, Antonovich said the response to the mailer indicates overwhelming support for the $2.6-billion monorail line.

“I stand firmly in my belief that a monorail is the most cost-effective, safest and quietest approach to unlocking traffic gridlock along the east-west San Fernando Valley corridor,” he said.

But Richard Close, president of the Sherman Oaks Homeowners Assn., said response to the mailer actually “shows dismal interest” because only 17% of those who got the mailer responded positively.

“This information today indicates that the monorail is the wrong rapid transit” project for the Valley, he said.

Close’s homeowners association is one of several groups along the freeway route that oppose monorail and support a rival plan: a $3-billion rail line that runs mostly below ground from North Hollywood to Woodland Hills. The line is known as the Burbank-Chandler line because it would run parallel to Burbank and Chandler boulevards.

The pro-monorail mailer was the latest salvo in a long-fought battle of words over which of the two rail lines has the support of the majority of Valley residents.

Antonovich and other monorail supporters point out that a 1990 advisory referendum found that 48% of San Fernando Valley residents support monorail, compared to only 21% for a light-rail line in a shallow ditch and 10% for a subway.

The monorail plan is supported by the Van Nuys Homeowners Assn. and the Western Sector Transit Coalition, a coalition of homeowner groups that live along the proposed route of the Burbank-Chandler line. Members of both groups attended the Antonovich press conference, some waving placards that read “Monorail Now” and “Stop the Train.”

Antonovich and others say they support monorail because it would cost about $400 million less than the Burbank-Chandler line and would take less time to build. But opponents say the monorail would create a visual blight that would lower property values and would attract traffic around station stops.

Don Schultz, president of the Van Nuys Homeowners Assn., said the advisory vote and the mailer clearly show community support for monorail. He urged the county transportation commission to proceed with construction of the project.

“It’s time to get on with it,” he said.

But monorail opponents say the 1990 advisory vote does not count because residents did not have enough information to make an informed decision.

Close also points out that the mailer, which includes a pro-monorail message from Antonovich, provides residents with a self-addressed form letter that they simply sign if they want to endorse monorail. The mailer does not give monorail opponents the same option. Those opposed to monorail had to write their opinion on the margins of the mailer.

Close said he assumes that the 20,500 or so residents who did not respond to the mailer either oppose monorail or have no opinion on the matter.

“The results he released today indicate that very few people support” monorail, he said.

A vote Wednesday by the county transportation commission to approve the monorail environmental report would set the stage for a commission meeting sometime before the end of the year to decide which of the two alternatives the county should build.