Tunneling to Continue Under Santa Monicas

After two hours of debate and heckling, the Metropolitan Transportation Authority voted Wednesday to press on with plans to dig a subway tunnel under the Santa Monica Mountains to the San Fernando Valley, over the fierce opposition of the residents above.

Proponents said the subway project is too far along to stop now.

By a 13-1 vote, the MTA’s board of directors acted to seize the underground property rights in the path of the tunnel from Hollywood to Studio City. The process--seizure of underground easements using the city’s power of eminent domain--allows the MTA to continue construction of the twin 2.6-mile tunnels to connect a Metro Red Line station in Hollywood with a station across the street from Universal Studios in Studio City.

The action uses the city’s power to take the right to tunnel through the zone hundreds of feet under residents’ homes, but does not apply to the homes themselves.

Traylor Bros., an Indiana-based tunneling contractor, has already completed an 80-foot-deep shaft in the Valley and plans to lower two tunnel-boring machines into it in April. The boring machines would excavate the tunnel over the next two years.

Supporters of the decision, including Mayor Richard Riordan and Los Angeles County Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky, said too much time and money has been spent on the subway already to allow the tunnel protests to block it, despite the many problems the construction project has encountered to date.

“I believe our tunneling, as implemented, has been a disaster and money best spent on an efficient busing system has been ignored,” Riordan conceded.

“However, I believe it would be irresponsible not to continue,” Riordan said. “It would deny the San Fernando Valley access to downtown, and to change direction would cost over $250 million.”

L.A. County Supervisor Mike Antonovich, who cast the sole vote against the land-rights seizure, unsuccessfully proposed delaying the tunneling pending further environmental and safety studies.

The MTA board instead went with Yaroslavsky’s plan to eliminate use of explosives under expensive Hollywood Hills homes and reduce the amount of blasting near Solar Drive and the southern end of the tunnel near Runyon Canyon.

Yaroslavsky, an MTA board member whose legislative district includes the hillside communities of the Cahuenga Pass, suggested replacing the explosives with tunneling machines. He also called for using more grouting during the tunneling to avoid leaks and to monitor the tunneling’s effects on vegetation.

“The goal here is to mitigate the intrusiveness of the project as much as possible,” Yaroslavsky said.

But angry residents of the area greeted the board’s decision with shouts and threats.

“We’ll go straight to court and you guys will go straight out of office,” yelled Blue Andre, whose Palo Vista Drive home sits above the tunnel route. “This is not just over with this vote. We’re not dead yet.”

Andre’s outburst marked the end of a raucous two-hour debate punctuated by insults and accusations hurled at MTA board Chairman Larry Zarian and other board members and emotional appeals by homeowners and others. At one point, MTA police removed a Hollywood Hills resident from the meeting after she accused Zarian of lying and cheating the residents by not allowing them the chance to speak.

Earlier, on Wednesday afternoon, more than 50 people opposed to the tunneling, including state Sen. Tom Hayden (D-Santa Monica) and actresses Marilu Henner and Donna Dixon, rallied in front of the MTA building.

Several representatives of business groups, chambers of commerce for Universal City and North Hollywood, and homeowner associations in Studio City and Encino voiced their support for the subway project.

Kevin McCarney, a member of the Universal City-North Hollywood chamber, said the Valley has been “waiting for mass transit. We’d like to see the line continue and reach the Valley rather than be stuck in this quagmire. . . . If we can go to the moon, and have a tunnel under the ocean, we can certainly find a way to safely go through Runyon Canyon.”

Opponents of the tunneling, however, were the dominant voices Wednesday.

They brought maps displaying the widespread damage done by subway excavation on Hollywood Boulevard, where the surface dropped and a large sinkhole opened in the street. They argued that the subway line would not only ruin their property values, but also threaten their water quality and destroy the serenity and beauty of the area. And they pleaded for the board to delay or dismantle the entire thing.

“The people came together and made it clear that this is not what they want,” said resident Maryland Farris, whose house on Mulholland Drive lies directly above the tunnel. “You’re just pushing the subway down our throats.”

Farris, like several other homeowners who spoke before the board, had refused to sell subsurface rights to the MTA. Only 24 of 92 homeowners accepted the MTA’s offer of $1,000 to $2,000 for easements 200 to 900 feet below their properties.

Those who didn’t sell their rights, like Andre and resident Allen Rose, said they will start looking for lawyers specializing in eminent domain to fight the condemnation in court.

“The point is not that they’re taking our homes,” Rose said. “The point is that the whole project is bad. But now that they’ve made their decision, we’ll have to band together and continue our fight as well.”

* MORE FURY: MTA board gets earful from celebrities and lawmakers. A12