Transit Panel Member Leaves Amid Shake-Up : Government: Ryan Snyder is the first Riordan appointee to publicly say he was asked him to step down because he differed with mayor’s agenda.

One of Los Angeles Mayor Richard Riordan’s commission appointees resigned Thursday, saying he was asked to step down because he was not supportive enough of Riordan’s plan for turning some city services over to private firms.

The resignation of Ryan Snyder from the city’s Transportation Commission is the latest in a reorganization by the Riordan Administration designed to refocus the mayor’s agenda as he enters his second year in office.

Snyder is the first appointee to publicly say that he was asked to leave because of philosophical differences with the mayor.

A Riordan spokesperson conceded that there had been differences with Snyder, a Westwood urban planner, but denied that he left solely because of privatization.

Snyder said trouble for him began last month when the Transportation Commission recommended a pilot project that would put parking enforcement on the Westside in the hands of a private firm.

Snyder said he supported the concept in order to allow a comparison of the efficiency of public and private workers. But he asked for an amendment to the proposal guaranteeing that the private firms would pay their employees wages and benefits competitive with those offered by the city.

“Efficiency is deploying your forces better, using better equipment and finding legitimate ways of saving money,” Snyder said Thursday. “Efficiency is not simply paying people lower wages and benefits.”

The commission adopted some of Synder’s suggestions, but he cast the lone vote against the plan.

Riordan has said that he believes private firms should be allowed to compete, but not by paying lower wages. One member of Riordan’s staff said Thursday that is still the mayor’s point of view.

The official, who did not want to be identified, said Snyder’s departure had more to do with his inability to work with other commission and staff members. “He was just not a team player,” the official said.

But a union representative said Snyder’s ouster indicates that Riordan is not prepared to make private companies compete “on a level playing field,” with equivalent wages.

“If the mayor really wants just his way, why don’t we have just one member on the commission, who agrees with him?” said Julie Butcher, spokeswoman for the Service Employees International Union Local 347.

Snyder said he was asked by Deputy Mayor Rae James to resign. “She said I wasn’t in sync. I asked what they meant by that and she mentioned the parking issue.”

During his tenure, Snyder led efforts to simplify the permit process for the taxi industry and helped make more wheelchair-accessible cabs available.