MTA Officials Denounce Firm for Subway Tunnel Brochure : Transit: Pamphlet is called a ‘propaganda piece.’ Parsons Corp. says its use of agency logo is not misleading.

Two top officials of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority on Friday sharply criticized the firm that is managing construction of the Los Angeles subway, saying a recent company brochure regarding problems in the tunnels is misleading.

The brochure, with a cover photograph of the MTA’s logo, was published by the Parsons Corp. and distributed last week to government officials throughout the region. The 19-page pamphlet discusses tunnel construction defects that have prompted investigations.

“This document leads the reader to believe that it is an official MTA brochure,” MTA Chief Executive Officer Franklin E. White said in a letter to the chairman of the Parsons Corp. “This illusion is created by the cover, as well as the fact that it (is) not until the back cover” that Parsons’ authorship is disclosed.

“It is my opinion that your firm crossed the line of good public relations judgment,” White concluded.

A spokeswoman for Parsons said late Friday that the company disagreed and does not believe the brochure is in any way misleading.

Los Angeles City Councilman Zev Yaroslavsky, a member of the MTA, questioned the appropriateness of the brochure, which addressed the thickness of tunnel concrete and water leaks. “It’s a propaganda piece produced by people who have a motive to minimize the importance of the issue,” he said.

Pictures for the brochure were supplied by the MTA’s rail construction staff, without consulting White, according to an agency spokesman.

The criticisms of the brochure came on the same day that White and MTA Chairman Richard Alatorre announced that they had hired specialists to review the competence of certain tunnel inspections and related construction supervision performed by the joint venture of Parsons-Dillingham.

At issue is the supervision of construction of 1.1 miles of tunnels Downtown between Union Station and Pershing Square. The Times reported in August that numerous sections of the tunnels were built with concrete thinner than the design-specified 12 inches.

On Sept. 2, a construction executive at Parsons-Dillingham was fired from the subway project after White learned that the firm had incorrectly told design engineers that 90 feet of tunnels had been buttressed with steel plating to compensate for thin concrete. Officials later found that only 40 feet were reinforced.

The MTA three weeks later appointed a panel of three experts to independently assess the durability and structural safety of the tunnels. And the FBI also began investigating.

The new review, announced on Friday by White and Alatorre, calls for a detailed examination of the construction supervision provided by Parsons-Dillingham, which has been paid about $150 million for overseeing subway construction on the Red Line.

Parsons representatives have said recently that some concrete was poured before “possible corrective action” could be taken. But Parsons, the subway builder and MTA design engineers have said the structures are sound.

A spokesman for Parsons said Friday afternoon that the Pasadena-based company welcomes the new review but asked that the inquiry include all of the construction management provided for the subway--not just the 1.1 miles of trouble-plagued tunnels.

“We strongly urge that this review encompass our management of the total Red Line . . . since the responsibilities and authorities delegated to Parsons-Dillingham have evolved and increased over the life of this project,” Ray W. Judson, a past president of Parsons, said in a statement to The Times.

The company chosen to review the performance of Parsons-Dillingham is Barba-Arkhon International Inc. of New Jersey.