MTA Chief Recommends a Breather

Los Angeles County’s ailing rail transit system was in intensive care Thursday.

Whether it survives could depend on the bitter pill administered by its doctor, MTA chief executive Julian Burke.

Burke prescribed his treatment to the Metropolitan Transportation Authority’s board on Thursday, and a majority of its members, including Mayor Richard Riordan, the chairman, appeared supportive of the transit chief’s proposal to put the planned rail lines to the Eastside, Mid-City and Pasadena on hold indefinitely.

But Burke, an experienced corporate turnaround specialist, still has a way to go before winning assurance of board support and approval from the agency’s real paymasters in Washington and Sacramento.

Burke proposed finishing subway construction to North Hollywood and suspending work on the other rail projects until the transit authority cleans up its financial mess, improves its bus system and restores its sullied reputation in Sacramento and Washington.

The board is scheduled to act on his plan in mid-January.

“We need a breather,” Burke told the board.

Riordan agreed. “We’ve been trying to do too many things at once,” he said.

The MTA faces a $727-million shortfall in its $2.4-billion, six-year rail construction program, one of the biggest public works projects in the United States.

But even as the lobbying to keep the projects going began Thursday, county Supervisor and MTA board member Don Knabe said, “You ain’t seen nothing yet.”

Supporters of the downtown Los Angeles-to-Pasadena Blue Line showed up to urge the board to proceed with the project. Some wore stickers reading “Finish What You Started. Keep the Blue Line on Track.”

David C. Green, a developer who built a $50-million residential and commercial complex around the shell of a planned train station for the Pasadena line, told the board, “If you want credibility with the feds, complete the Blue Line.”

Some board members predicted that they also would be heavily lobbied by contractors seeking to preserve the opportunity to bid on lucrative rail contracts, but Los Angeles City Councilman Hal Bernson urged the board to stand firm. “We’re going to have to be like people who go to AA [Alcoholics Anonymous] meetings and say, ‘Stay on the path.’ ”

Burke’s proposal marked the beginning of a sober new era at the MTA. In fact, despite its wrenching implications, Thursday’s meeting was unusually civil after Riordan issued a stern warning that anyone disrupting the session would be ejected.

Nikolas Patsaouras was among the board members who praised Burke for “telling us the truth finally.”

The agency has long suffered under overly optimistic assumptions of how much money it would receive from Washington and from a penny tax on every dollar spent on taxable goods in Los Angeles County. Shortfalls already have resulted in long delays in the rail projects.

Reaction from key members of Congress was more mixed.

Rep. Julian C. Dixon (D-Los Angeles), who has pushed for construction of the Mid-City subway extension through his district, expressed support for Burke’s plan.

“It is the only way to breathe life into a dying program,” Dixon said.

But Rep. Lucille Roybal-Allard (D-Los Angeles), who has pushed for the Eastside subway extension, warned that suspending work could jeopardize federal funding and even spell the end of the line for the entire rail construction program.

“We’re going to spend millions of dollars on a transportation system to nowhere if it’s not completed,” she said. She said the MTA should proceed with the Eastside project, but at a slower pace if necessary.

Critics of Burke’s proposal say the MTA risks losing millions of dollars in hard-won state and federal funds already committed to the lines.

“We have people in Congress who are going to say, ‘If L.A. can’t get its act together and move with its rail program, let the money loose and we’ll do what we need to do in Seattle or Houston,” said Rep. Esteban Edward Torres (D-Pico Rivera), a member of the important House transportation appropriations subcommittee.

Burke said that he has been in contact with state and federal officials about preserving the MTA’s funds, but has yet to receive a commitment.

Riordan said that if the MTA can win back the confidence of state and federal officials, the agency can obtain more money from Sacramento and Washington.

“It’s fair to say, ‘Let’s catch our breath,’ ” said Rep. Xavier Becerra (D-Los Angeles). “But how long do you hold your breath? You shouldn’t do it until you run out of breath and die.” That, he said, is what could happen to the Eastside project if it is put on hold too long.

A spokesman for the Federal Transit Administration in Washington, which has demanded that the MTA get its act together, offered an encouraging word. “We’re glad that the MTA is coming to grips with its fiscal situation,” he said.