Council Urges Tunnel Panel to Seek Out Whistle-Blowers : Subway: L.A. officials recommend that experts talk to a former project engineer. MTA staff is criticized for not revealing that a test showed thinner concrete than designed.

The Los Angeles City Council on Friday urged experts who will examine the soundness of the Downtown subway to seek information from whistle-blowers and other sources outside the Metro Rail project.

The council specifically recommended by a unanimous vote that the review panel enlist the assistance of an engineer who formerly worked on the project. It was an apparent reference to a former inspector who has alleged that there are defects in the subway construction.

Councilman Nate Holden said he made the recommendation because he questioned the independence of the panel named this week to examine the soundness of the tunnels. Two of the three members, he noted, have performed limited consulting work connected to the project.

Metropolitan Transportation Authority officials have said the tunnels are safe and the review panel is independent and highly qualified.

Before the vote, Holden and Councilman Hal Bernson criticized MTA staff for not acknowledging that a coring of one area of tunnel revealed concrete 4.87 inches thick--well below the 12 inches specified by design.

“I just wonder why we weren’t given that information earlier,” said Bernson, who heard presentations Sept. 8 from the same MTA officials. “I hope that wasn’t an attempt to hide the facts from us.”

Charles W. Stark, the MTA’s subway project manager, told the council that he had made a mistake in not mentioning the 4.87-inch location. He said the location was buttressed with exterior steel plating in December before the Red Line opened.

The location was referred to in a Times article last month reporting that many areas of the subway between Union Station and Pershing Square were built with concrete less than 12 inches thick.

Asked by Councilwoman Jackie Goldberg whether tunnels under construction may have thin locations, project construction manager George B. Morschauser said monitoring has been strengthened.

“We have an increased inspection level,” Morschauser said. “We have an inspector in the tunnels all the time when the contractor is excavating the tunnels, preparing to place concrete and also placing concrete.”