Transportation in the Valley

* What the MTA Board of Directors, including Mayor Richard Riordan and CEO Julian Burke, do not seem to understand is that government has the duty and responsibility to provide adequate transportation for its citizenry, regardless of the cost. This is spelled out in the MTA charter. The system is supposed to grow with the population and follow the business community with at least bus lines to carry workers and even some customers.

Let us start our project in the San Fernando Valley. There is room for and need of many bus lines. I see the possibility of a bus line of some kind on every major thoroughfare in the Valley.

CHARLES J. THOMAS

North Hollywood

* Re “Clamor for a Valley Transit Agency May Be Misplaced,” Nov. 2.

The Valley needs a bus system patterned after the successful Foothill Transit Zone in the San Gabriel Valley. Foothill Transit offers lower operating costs, lower fares and higher rider approval than similar MTA routes. Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky and I have proposed such a public/private partnership for bus riders in the Valley and the MTA has voted to study its feasibility.

The San Fernando Valley transit zone would include San Fernando, Hidden Hills, Agoura Hills, Calabasas, Westlake Village, Burbank, Glendale and the portion of the Valley within the city of Los Angeles. Like Foothill Transit Zone, this bus system would have policy determined by those cities through a joint-powers agreement.

MICHAEL D. ANTONOVICH

Supervisor, 5th District

* I am quite pleased to note that Councilman [Richard] Alarcon’s commentary inadvertently makes it clear why a San Fernando Valley transit zone would not be like Foothill Transit. (“Time Has Come for Valley to Take Control of Its Transit Needs,” Nov. 16).

In numerous places, Alarcon refers to the city Department of Transportation (LADOT), which makes it clear that an independent transit zone in the Valley would be independent only of the MTA. It would not be independent of the city, because the vast majority of the Valley is within city limits. By contrast, Foothill Transit serves an area comprising many small municipalities, all of whom have a voice in its operation.

While LADOT has been very successful in operating its Commuter Express rush-hour freeway bus service and its DASH community minibus loops, it has very limited experience with running all-day local service and it has no experience in running evening and weekend local service. What assurances do we have that LADOT is up to the challenge of running the 28 MTA lines that serve the Valley?

The proposal for a transit zone will not allow the Valley to take control of its transit needs, it will allow the city of Los Angeles to take control of those needs, and I do not believe they will be able to handle the job.

KYMBERLEIGH RICHARDS

Southern California

Transit Advocates

Van Nuys

* Where does the MTA, which says it doesn’t have the money to build the rail system it promised to build in the Valley, get the millions required to rescue the defunct, bankrupt Grand Central Market (“Grand Central Bailout Planned,” Nov. 7)?

Where does the MTA get the authority to use transit, gas-tax money to contribute to a $150,000-a-year management fee? Where does the Community Redevelopment Agency, which has to borrow $12 million from the downtown sports arena owners to build streets to serve the arena, get the millions it is ready to pay to bail out Grand Central Market?

The CRA is continuing the policies that have resulted in a bleak historical record.

How many more ill-advised millions will they spend from money they say they don’t have? How much more fuel will this add to secession movements in the Valley, San Pedro, Venice and other Los Angeles city communities?

The best thing that could happen to Grand Central Market is to give it bankruptcy protection and advertise for bids based on its market value. Let a new, competent entity take it over and do what needs to be done, not only to keep the market afloat, but to make it profitable and enhance it as the historical and financial asset it can be for downtown Los Angeles.

ERNANI BERNARDI

Van Nuys