Ethnic Alliance Digs In on Claim to MTA Funding

Winning a bare-knuckle political fight with Mayor Richard Riordan on Monday night, Latino and African American members of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority board preserved $220 million for mass transit improvements on the Eastside and Mid-City.

The uncharacteristically brutal display of ethnic and geographic conflict came less than a week after Los Angeles County voters overwhelmingly approved a ballot measure cutting off local sales tax funding for new subway construction once Metro Rail reaches the San Fernando Valley.

Determined to prevent that vote from eliminating prospects of a future rail line to the Eastside and Mid-City, county Supervisors Gloria Molina and Yvonne Brathwaite Burke and Los Angeles City Councilman Richard Alatorre beat back the efforts of Riordan and his MTA chief, Julian Burke, to create a “gold standard” of faster bus service throughout the sprawling county.

The Latino and black coalition objected to funding the creation of the so-called rapid bus system with money that would have gone to their areas, where long-promised subway extensions were halted. The MTA is exploring uses for the money, including possible rail lines or busways.

“The priority is you’re going to give it back to the people you’re taking it from,” Burke said.

The unusual night meeting was called because of a state demand that the agency find some other use for $151 million allocated for the now-suspended Eastside and Mid-City subway projects or lose control of the money to the state.

Tempers flared early in the meeting when Riordan, the chairman of the MTA board, proposed that the San Fernando Valley also receive a share of the transit funds.

When the Eastside and Mid-City coalition objected, Riordan exploded: “I’m upset. Are you going to say, ‘We are going to ignore the Valley? It’s not part of the city.’ No wonder they want to secede.”

Supervisor Burke shot back: “Let them secede.”

Molina and Riordan exchanged sharp words, even over how long he would permit her to speak.

“I was told to sit back and wait my turn, and I have been a good soldier on this board,” Molina said. “What this board needs to do now is honor its commitment.’

Eventually, Riordan voted to set aside the funding for the Eastside and Mid-City, but said the agency must improve bus service. “We have cheated the transit-dependent,” he said.

County Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky, who wrote the ballot measure, said the board was ignoring legal and political realities.

The board ultimately committed the $151 million for bus purchases. It also gave MTA chief Burke the power to transfer “a reasonable amount of money” to start up a transit agency created by the Legislature to design and build a light-rail line to Pasadena.