Valley Commentary : MTA Deal With MCA Sells Out the Public : Transit agency’s concessions to the entertainment giant over subway station sets a dangerous precedent that will prove costly to the taxpayers.

Last month’s agreement between the Metropolitan Transportation Authority and the Music Corp. of America ending the controversy over the subway station in Universal City has been applauded in just about all quarters.

I, for one, am not applauding. The agreement sells out the public and the MTA and sets precedents that will only mean more costs to the taxpayer.

The company had been lobbying to force the MTA to make a costly change in plans and build the Metro Red Line station half a mile nearer to its hilltop entertainment complex. This complex includes Universal Studios and the CityWalk shopping center and will clearly benefit from easy access from a subway station.

The dispute ended with an agreement reached Feb. 23 that will leave the station on Lankershim Boulevard at the Hollywood Freeway. In return for MCA’s withdrawal of its objections, the transportation agency agreed to:

* Build two additional station entrances on the east side (the MCA side) of Lankershim and a tunnel under the street connecting them to the station, for an estimated $2 million. From there, MCA can build its own “people mover” to haul its customers up the hill to its parks, movie houses and CityWalk.

* Spend about $4 million to widen Lankershim and add new ramps to and from the Hollywood Freeway to make it easier to get to the station--and incidentally to MCA’s entertainment businesses.

* Buy the adjacent MCA-owned property it needs for the new entrances, parking and other amenities surrounding the station, for $8.3 million if the appraised value is confirmed. The transportation agency was planning to condemn and purchase this property anyway.

* Most significantly, not collect the assessment fees that property owners near enough to benefit from the station would otherwise be expected to pay. In the case of MCA, this amounts to about $6 million; of other property owners, about $2 million more.

It is true that MCA apparently had planned to exercise its legal right to demand an election and vote down the fees, which it could have done since it owns three-fourths of the property immediately surrounding the station. But I believe it was a serious mistake for the MTA to make this part of the agreement. We ended up getting nothing at the negotiating table. Given the outcome, what was the point of negotiating?

Note that the giant entertainment company pays nothing. We taxpayers pay for everything.

We in public transportation worked hard to establish the principle that improvements in transportation enhance the value of private commercial property. We spent time, effort and money defending this program all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court. The MCA deal thus negates a decade of hard work and public policy development. Extended to other businesses in the future, the assessment giveaway could cost public transportation tens of millions of dollars.

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Other property owners, meanwhile, will pay for proximity to subway stations already built or under construction. North Hollywood will pay the assessment for its station, because property owners agreed that they will benefit from it and the majority did not demand an election. It is too late for them to vote it down.

How can we ask them, along with property owners along Wilshire Boulevard, Hollywood Boulevard, Vermont Avenue and downtown Los Angeles, to pay for the Metro Rail subway while MCA is exempted?

Some will claim that the agreement imposes a $20-million cost contribution for the people-mover to be paid by MCA. Hogwash! The agreement specifically leaves the decision on whether to build the people-mover up to MCA “in its sole discretion.”

Notwithstanding MTA’s payment for traffic improvements, it agreed to restrict its station parking to 575 spaces instead of the 2,500 we planned originally. The agreement leaves MCA well-positioned to provide parking for subway riders and generate substantial income.

Let’s look at the $8.3-million land deal. The agreement gives MCA all air rights and easements to develop its people-mover. But we have also granted the company the right of first offer should we seek to develop the land, for example with housing or shops. This will prevent us from soliciting competitive offers to help develop our landholdings.

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The entertainment company used all its local and federal political clout and a bevy of lobbyists to make this deal happen. Local politicians accepted the deal because it relieved them of the responsibility to fund some of the new improvements by transferring the cost to the MTA and to the taxpayer.

This was a political settlement that gave away hard-won rights of a public agency for nothing in return.