Don’t Dither on This One, MTA

Boards of directors seldom have easy choices; the overseers of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority ought to leap at this one. Today, Los Angeles Mayor and MTA Board Chairman Richard Riordan will formally propose that the panel install interim administrator Julian Burke as the MTA’s chief executive officer. The mayor has been working the back rooms on the matter for a while.

It’s not exactly high praise to say that Burke has already established himself as the most focused, determined and successful MTA chief, but it’s true. Past leaders were either unwilling or unable to rein in pie-in-the-sky subway plans and construction snafus that amounted to a nationwide embarrassment.

It was Burke who helped persuade the board to temporarily set aside subway construction plans, save for one, until the MTA’s financial house was finally ready for visitors. And it was Burke who helped smooth over acidic relations between Los Angeles and the federal Department of Transportation, which had repeatedly demanded a realistic long-range plan from the MTA.

Here’s another good reason for choosing Burke and negotiating a salary agreement: For reasons that will be inexplicable to many, he actually wants the job. “It’s very challenging,” he says.

Sign Burke up, please, before the man changes his mind.