No Lack of MTA Ghosts

The Metropolitan Transportation Authority banished another of its ghosts last week, but these phantoms are not retired quickly or cheaply. This one dated back to the construction of the Red Line subway tunnel amid the horrors of the Hollywood sinkhole and questions about just how well the MTA tunnels were built.

On Thursday, the MTA agreed to settle lawsuits and pay $3.5 million to a contractor that it saw fit to fire during those unlamented days. The contractor, Shea-Kiewit-Kenny, also got something more important than the money. It got to rewrite the history of its break from the MTA and its business legally classified as a contract terminated for the parties’ “convenience.”

The settlement was billed as a boon to the public since it marked the end of the MTA’s costliest legal fight thus far. The authority will save up to $3 million in annual legal fees, thereby removing a sword of Damocles that has been dangling over the Los Angeles taxpayer for nearly four years, says MTA Chief Executive Officer Julian Burke. The folks at Shea-Kiewit-Kenny seemed pretty cheerful too--no surprise.

Unmentioned by either party, of course, was that the settlement will make unnecessary a trial with graphic depictions of just what was used to fill the expansion gaps for the outer of the double subway tunnel walls. The material, according to court records, photographs and a videotape, was a mixture of wood debris, cement bags and tunnel trash. Not the kind of thing that will give riders comfort as they trundle through what has been billed as a first-class subway. The MTA says that only the inner walls matter and that the tunnels are eminently safe.

The way is now clear for two important milestones: the opening of Metro Rail service to the Vermont corridor this year and the opening of service into the San Fernando Valley by mid-2000. But the MTA still faces remnants of an inglorious past that figure to make last week’s settlement look like chump change. Still to come is what a federal judge and a special master have to say about how much the MTA will have to shell out to dramatically improve bus service for those who depend on mass transit.

Make no mistake, everyone is ready to move on toward the future of transportation in Los Angeles and Southern California. It just takes more time when there is so much expensive debris in the way.