PERSPECTIVE ON THE MTA : Stop the Train Before We Crash : The trouble-plagued Red Line will cost $4.3 billion more to complete. Spend the money on expanding dependable mass transit.

Here’s a way out of our sinking subway problem: Stop tunneling and declare victory.

Think about it. The Downtown elite will have a four-mile subway to themselves. They can depart from the Metropolitan Transportation Agency’s 26-story, $200-million headquarters with its Italian granite and Venetian gold, tour the Hollywood historic district and return to Langers for lunch. Mayor Richard Riordan, the MTA’s biggest shareholder, can wear a conductor’s hat and hand out train whistles and free passes to his friends. Civic promoters can cut a TV spot extolling the Little Engine That Could.

Whatever it takes to stop this cursed project.

The Los Angeles Red Line is the most expensive subway line in the nation’s history. By MTA’s own figures, $3 billion is being spent on the first two segments, or between $288 million and $306 million per mile.

If stopped today, riders at least could circulate from Downtown to Hollywood and back. Ahead lies another $1.4-billion segment, 5.9 miles of treacherous tunneling through Runyon Canyon, Cahuenga Pass then north to Universal City before stopping at Lankershim in North Hollywood.

Yet anyone who favors stopping the MTA subway is dismissed as irresponsible by a city Establishment that claims always to see light at the end of the tunnel.

The $4.3 billion to build 11 miles of subway is money that could otherwise be spent on beleaguered buses or other rail systems. More than 1.2 million MTA riders are stuck on the nation’s most overcrowded buses.

A cost-benefit analysis shows that the subway is a bonanza for boosters and contractors but a boondoggle for the rest of the city. The boosters often cite the Bay Area Rapid Transit system--a daft comparison. BART, built between 1966 and 1973, cost only $1.6 billion for 71 miles.

The MTA is a fiscal sinkhole. Its 30-year budget of $183 billion has been slashed by two-thirds to $70 billion over 20 years. Originally the Red Line was to extend from North Hollywood across the San Fernando Valley. That promise is a hoax; the Valley plan is tabled.

Only 16,000 commuters ride the current subway daily. The MTA projects that in 20 years there will be 38,000 daily riders on the North Hollywood segment. This is based on the if-you-build-it-they-will-come theory. But many of these riders will be former bus commuters, not drivers abandoning their cars. What dent in our transit crisis will be achieved?

Current subway ridership is 0.2% of the 25 million to 30 million daily trips by all means of transportation in Los Angeles County. Adding the North Hollywood leg, subway ridership in the year 2015 will still be less than 0.1% relative to all trips made. Rounded off, that’s about zero.

In addition, the subway is likely to suffer more catastrophes like sinkholes. Two weeks ago, John Martin, safety engineer from Shea-Kiewit-Kenny, quit the subway project, saying “In my 25 years of mining, I’m going to say this is the worst safety situation I’ve come upon.”

The MTA’s first response was: “Assessing blame will serve no purpose.” But in response to a disastrous public relations problem the MTA on Wednesday severed its contract with SKK.

Shea has already been fined $1.2 million for safety violations, more than any firm in the state. Chances are it will pay far less in fines. The firm is appealing to the Cal OSHA Appeals Board, which, according to a state employees’ group, has reduced fines for willful and serious violations by an average of 84%.

Work on the subway has been criminal folly, ranging from punctured plastic tunnel linings to misaligned tunnels and walls that were too thin, all before Hollywood Boulevard began sinking last August when wood wedges were substituted for metal struts to cut costs.

Even greater than worker injury has been damage to property on Hollywood Boulevard. MTA planning documents in 1991 predicted “significant damage” to the boulevard, but the project went ahead anyway. A 1995 MTA impact study acknowledged “It is expected that Red Line construction may be disastrous for some businesses . . . .” It “happens in the name of progress,” said MTA spokesperson Andrea Greene.

Hollywood merchants and property owners have filed over 2,700 claims of losses thus far. An MTA insider says that a settlement of $1 billion in claims is “entirely possible, and we have nowhere near the money to pay”.

Why does the subway roll on? Because it is a gravy train. A study by my office of 10 major firms doing business with the MTA found that they paid a total of $579,000 in campaign contributions and lobbying expenses during an 18-month period in 1993 to 1994, and received more than $1 billion in contracts between them.

As of January, 1995, John Shea had contributed $19,520 in campaign funds to MTA board members, and his firm had received $130 million in contracts. The Parsons Co., parent of the key subway oversight firm, contributed $25,000 and received $260 million in contracts. Tutor-Saliba, creator of those thin walls, gave $62,000 and received $500 million in contracts.

The big winner was Mayor Riordan, who controls four MTA votes. His old law firm, Riordan & McKinzie, is legal counsel for the subway project. Through 1994, Riordan & McKinzie was the biggest contributor to MTA officials among subway-interested parties. And the top receipt of the firm’s $133,280 in contributions was Richard Riordan himself. Toot, toot, Mr. Mayor!

Will anyone blow the whistle on his runaway train? If the current crew won’t do it, the state and federal governments have to start asking tougher questions than ever before.