MTA Chief Disappoints Businesses Damaged by Tunneling

Owners of damaged businesses along the Metro Rail subway route in North Hollywood and Hollywood expressed disappointment Thursday that the chief executive of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority failed to explain his plan to assist them when he spoke at a board meeting.

Joseph A. Drew, who took command of the beleaguered transit agency two months ago, told directors in impromptu remarks that he wants to “improve responsiveness demonstrably” in the future when business owners complain of harm to their properties from subway construction.

He said he wants to offer rent subsidies, advertising subsidies, low-interest loans, temporary relocation and rapid-response teams as features of a program that he plans to discuss in detail next month.

But business people who expected him to reveal a concrete plan Thursday left the meeting unhappy--some of them in tears--contending that they might not be able to hold on that long.

“I had high hopes, but I am not pleased,” said Doreet Hakman, owner of the Snow White Coffee Shop on Hollywood Boulevard, breaking into sobs. “They don’t understand the gravity of our problem. We cannot wait until May.”

Hakman said her 20-year-old business has suffered a 70% decline in revenue since the start of subway tunneling in 1994. She will face a bankruptcy judge at the end of this month to deal with her $20,000 debt to her landlord.

At the same meeting, board members approved the expenditure of $3.7 million for more chemical grout to harden the soil under Lankershim Boulevard in North Hollywood in advance of subway tunneling equipment. MTA staff had prepared a memo only last week seeking $2.2 million for the epoxy-like substance that helps prevent ground subsidence, but it discovered that it had underestimated the amount needed for the job.

That increases the amount that the transit agency has spent on grout to $23.1 million and sends the North Hollywood subway project’s bill soaring 44.1% over budget with less than one-third of the job completed.

Meanwhile, Los Angeles County Supervisor Mike Antonovich called Thursday for a county grand jury investigation of the MTA, citing a report of potential damage to subway walls by ground water.

An Army Corps of Engineers report warned earlier this month that a plastic tunnel liner on the first Metro Red Line segment--the 4.4-mile-long line from Union Station to MacArthur Park--was torn and could allow highly acidic ground water to eat at subway walls.

Antonovich, an ardent subway foe, said the deficiencies could mean millions of dollars in maintenance costs. But Drew said questions stemming from the report were “already raised and answered to the satisfaction of a congressional transportation committee.”