Light-Rail Proposal Stirs Doubts

As attractive as it sounds, a new proposal for a light-rail system down the Ventura Freeway, funded entirely by private money, was greeted with skepticism and even exasperation Thursday by officials who doubt that the political or financial support could actually be mustered for yet another mass-transit alternative across the San Fernando Valley.

“It doesn’t ring true,” county Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky said. “If it sounds too good to be true, it is too good to be true.”

Similar doubts were voiced Thursday by transit officials and others about the latest wrinkle in the unending dispute over where and what kind of east-west rail line to build across the Valley floor.

The longtime champion of a freeway-based system, Supervisor Mike Antonovich is encouraging study of the proposed deal for a privately financed and operated trolley line from the West Valley to the Burbank Media Center. Antonovich contends that the financial backing is there for such a system to be up and running by 2003, at a cost of $1.5 billion. That could be as much as 20 years before the MTA’s planned east-west subway.

“The private sector will put up the money, and the taxpayers will not be hit between the eyes with a subway that has been the subject of multimillion-dollar litigation,” Antonovich said.

But his opponents are skeptical, saying the private consortium behind the proposal, led by the New York-based engineering firm Frederic R. Harris Inc., has not named its key funding sources--raising their suspicions of political gamesmanship or potential conflicts of interest.

And whether Antonovich can persuade other board members of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority to reverse their support of plans for a rail line along Burbank and Chandler boulevards is doubtful, observers say.

There is a “long-term coalition and consensus” among homeowners, elected officials and groups such as the Valley Industry and Commerce Assn. in favor of the Burbank-Chandler route, Los Angeles City Councilwoman Laura Chick said.

“And then there’s Supervisor Antonovich,” she said. “He clearly thinks he’s in the right. But he’s one, and we’re many.”

The many also include Mayor Richard Riordan, who controls four votes on the MTA board and who remains committed to the Burbank-Chandler alignment, an aide to Riordan said.

Two years ago, in a showdown between Antonovich and his opponents, Riordan’s support for the Chandler-Burbank route cleared the way for the MTA to begin studying whether a subway or an above-ground system would best serve Valley transit needs.

But Antonovich has persisted in trying to overturn that decision, efforts that Chick called harmful to attempts by the MTA and Valley lawmakers to secure federal funding for a rail line that is still in the discussion stage after years of talks.

“Every time we seem to get a firm footing, Supervisor Antonovich perseveres in coming back with his freeway route, which continues to propagate the myth that we’re not together,” she said.

Yaroslavsky noted that haggling over the east-west Valley line, which would not be located in Antonovich’s supervisorial district, has delayed the start of work on the line, even as funding and plans go forward for a Pasadena light-rail line that does lie in Antonovich’s district.

“Mike Antonovich is a very intelligent guy, and I think he knows what he’s doing,” Yaroslavsky said.

For his part, Antonovich contends the new proposal would bring mass transit to the Valley far faster and with less technological risk than the subway the MTA is planning, which would not go into service until well into the 21st century.

Antonovich said the privately built freeway trolley line, with 11 stations between Valley Circle Boulevard and Buena Vista Street, would serve more residents, particularly those who work in Burbank’s media district.

That system would require widening the freeway by 15 feet on each side. Sound walls and new vegetation would mitigate the noise and environmental impact, backers said.

The private consortium backing the project has already entered preliminary discussions with Caltrans over use of the freeway median, over which Caltrans has jurisdiction.

Joe LoBuono, vice president of Frederic R. Harris Inc., said his company, which has worked with the MTA on a possible Ventura Freeway rail system in the past, would conduct a privately funded study of the light-rail line, but would steer clear of the political maneuvering sure to surround it.

“We’re going to present it [the study], and let the politicians have at it,” he said.

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A private consortium has offered to finance and build a $1.5-billion light-rail system across the southern San Fernando Valley. The line would straddle the Ventura Freeway and stretch from Buena Vista Street to Valley Circle Boulevard with 11 stops.