L.A. Officials Fear Rent Is Going to MTA

Los Angeles officials say it appears to be a good real estate deal--but not for them. For some time, the officials say, tenants have been using four parcels of city-owned property in the west San Fernando Valley without paying rent, at least not to the city.

And now Los Angeles officials want to investigate whether the rent has actually been going to the Metropolitan Transportation Authority.

Although the city may be out only a few thousand dollars a year in rent on the four parcels, some officials worry that with 7,000 or so city-owned parcels sprinkled around Los Angeles, the dispute may only be the tip of the iceberg.

In response, City Councilwoman Laura Chick, who represents parts of the West Valley, plans to introduce a motion today instructing city officials to prepare an up-to-date inventory of all city property and to investigate the ownership of four parcels adjacent to an MTA railroad right-of-way.

“It’s worrisome to me,” she said Monday. “Think about it. We have city-owned property where MTA is collecting rent.”

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MTA officials, however, say it is not clear yet that the MTA is collecting rent on city land. But they say it is up to city officials to produce the records proving the MTA is raking in money it isn’t due.

“We are continuing to work with the city to clarify this,” said Velma Marshall, director of real estate for the MTA. “But we believe we have our records straight.”

Ironically, the dispute began many years ago when the MTA and the city started squabbling over who was responsible for clearing out trash, abandoned cars and homeless encampments along the railroad tracks. Back then, neither side appeared willing to take responsibility for the land.

But when Chick’s office began to suspect that the MTA was collecting rent on city land, she called on the city to investigate.

The four vacant parcels, each no bigger than 50,000 square feet, are adjacent to the railroad right-of-way that cuts through the Valley. During the past five years, the MTA has purchased the tracks and about 50 feet of land stretching along each side of the tracks from Southern Pacific Railroad.

The city parcels were once used for street access to train depots that have since been abandoned.

In Tarzana, near the intersection of Reseda Boulevard and Oxnard Street, the city owns two such parcels next to the right-of-way where the MTA is leasing land to a pet food store and a lumberyard.

In Canoga Park, near the intersection of Canoga Avenue and Wyandotte Street, the city owns two other parcels adjacent to the railroad tracks where the MTA is leasing land to a dirt and gravel firm and an auto repair shop.

In each of these locations, representatives of the city say the adjacent businesses appear to be using the city land and not paying rent. The city’s Assets Management Division plans to meet with landowners today to determine if the rent owed to the city has been going instead to the MTA.

Representatives from Chick’s office say the lumberyard in Tarzana operates a storage area and an access road that extends onto one of these parcels. They also believe the MTA is collecting rent from a billboard that has been erected on another city parcel nearby.

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Mark Ernsberger, manager of Terry Lumber, said his business is caught in the middle of a dispute between the two municipal agencies.

He said that if the storage area and access road are on city land, it is only a tiny parcel that his business innocently built on, thinking that it was part of the land it leases from the MTA.

“The city and the MTA need to fight it out, and if in the future they come out to some accord, we will pay some rent to the city and some to the MTA,” Ernsberger said. “That would be all right by me.”

Chick and other city officials fear that the situation may be symptomatic of a citywide problem. With the city facing a fiscal crunch this year, they say it should keep track of all its 7,000 parcels of land to determine if the properties can be leased or sold to raise revenue.