State Panel Delays Action on Pasadena Line

Wary of the legal struggle over court-ordered improvements to the Metropolitan Transportation Authority’s bus system, the California Transportation Commission on Monday postponed until at least May any decision on building a light-rail line between Union Station and Pasadena.

The commission, meeting at the state Capitol, voted unanimously to delay final approval of an agreement with the MTA and the newly created Pasadena Metro Blue Line Construction Authority that is crucial to unlocking the funding needed to finish the trolley line.

Before backers of the long-sought rail project even had an opportunity to plead their case to the commission, the legal tug of war between bus rider advocates and the MTA took center stage.

Civil rights attorney Constance Rice told the panel that the recent order of a court-appointed special master directing the MTA to buy and operate 532 new buses will have a major impact on the transit agency. “The magnitude of the consent decree order . . . is huge. MTA is not going to be able to contribute the money for the Pasadena Blue Line.”

Allan Lipsky, the MTA’s chief operating officer, said that if the order is not modified as the MTA board requested late last week, the transit agency will be forced to shift funds from other transportation projects to buy and operate the additional buses.

But Lipsky said the MTA is required by state law to transfer $89 million in county sales tax money to the Pasadena rail authority. “We intend to comply with the state legislation,” he said.

He also acknowledged, however, that there is a danger such a move will be challenged by the bus rider advocates. “We don’t want to be caught between two courts,” he said.

Commissioner Dana Reed seized on that thought and amplified it. “We don’t want to get caught between two courts either,” he said.

Commissioner Robert Wolf told the MTA officials that the state panel is looking for a contingency plan so that “we don’t find ourselves in the middle.” Wolf expressed doubt that the MTA can find it financially possible to comply with the order.

And Lipsky expressed concern that the uncertainty over the ultimate outcome of the bus fight may prevent the MTA board from acting to sign the Pasadena light-rail agreement until its April or May meeting.

All five directors of the Pasadena rail authority came to Sacramento in a united display of support for the project. Despite the delay, authority Chairman Paul Little said he remains confident that the newly created agency will “accomplish the line on time and on budget. I think they will join us in that commitment,” he said.

Supporters of the winding rail line from Union Station through Chinatown, Lincoln Heights, Highland Park, South Pasadena and Pasadena argue that it will serve the poor and transit-dependent and provide an alternative to get Pasadena Freeway commuters out of their cars.

“This is a minority-serving line,” said Los Angeles City Councilman Mike Hernandez. He called on the commission to consider broad community support for the rail project. “We are looking at this project with fresh eyes, not MTA’s eyes,” he said.

The delay will also allow the commission additional time to perform a complete analysis of the project’s precariously balanced financial blueprint and other planning documents.

The commission wants to know if the recently adopted $683.7-million budget is, in fact, balanced. And the state agency wants to make sure the MTA, which Sacramento lawmakers stripped of responsibility for constructing the Pasadena project, has the ability to operate the rail line once it is completed.

The financial plan relies on the new authority achieving major reductions in MTA’s construction costs and an array of new revenues from parking fees, running fiber-optic cable lines along the right of way and real estate development at some station sites.

The authority is counting on $369 million in state and local funds. Even with its reduced budget, the Pasadena line will be the most expensive light-rail line in the United States per mile because of costs incurred during its years as an MTA project.

Overshadowing the proceedings are uncertainties about the future makeup of the Transportation Commission. After Monday’s meeting, four seats on the nine-member commission, which oversees highway and transit spending statewide, will be vacant until Gov. Gray Davis fills them.

Before the commission meeting, the five directors of the Pasadena authority toured Sacramento’s light-rail system for a first-hand look at one of the state’s least expensive trolley projects.

“We’re frugal because we have to be,” said Cameron Beach, chief operating officer of the Sacramento Regional Transit District.

The Sacramento system runs for 20.3 miles using an old railroad right of way, an abandoned freeway route and city streets. The stations are extremely basic--more akin to bus stops, and without the elevated boarding platforms, artwork and design features found on the two light-rail lines already in operation in Los Angeles. And portions of the route are still a single track, meaning trains traveling in opposite directions have to stick to schedules in order to pass each other in double-track sections.

“Keeping it as simple as possible” is the key to keeping costs down, Beach said. That required tough decisions about what “we need to have” versus those extras that would be nice to have but were not affordable.

Beach urged the Pasadena group to carefully select key officials for the new transit authority. “Hire people with a philosophy of only building what is necessary,” he said. To avoid cost overruns, he advised selecting a project manager and top officials with a proven record of being able to say “no” to contractors.