Legislator to Help Restart MTA Talks

As clinics treating patients dependent on mass transit put out public health warnings and negotiations bogged down, the Metropolitan Transportation Authority and its striking bus and rail operators agreed Friday to meet with a state lawmaker acting as an impartial fact-finder in an effort get the talks back on track.

Assembly Speaker Bob Hertzberg (D-Sherman Oaks), who was called into the talks Friday, appointed Assemblyman Herb Wesson (D-Culver City) to direct the fact-finding.

“This is very helpful,” said Julian Burke, the MTA’s chief executive officer. “It’s a good next step in negotiations.”

The deal was worked out during a conference call between Hertzberg, Burke, County Labor Federation chief Miguel Contreras, county Supervisor Yvonne Brathwaite Burke and Los Angeles Mayor Richard Riordan, who is in France on a cycling holiday.

Contreras said he too hoped for progress, saying that Wesson “has more power and a little more authority” than state mediators who have been meeting with the warring sides all week.

The development came as negotiators spent all day at the Pasadena Hilton but managed only one hourlong face-to-face meeting.

As the strike dragged through its seventh day, the rippling effect of the shutdown of MTA bus and Metro Rail operations was hitting community clinics, where doctors and nurses said many patients were unable to keep medical appointments.

At the Los Angeles Free Clinic, demand for services is so great that on most normal weekdays health workers must turn away patients. But because of the transit strike, the clinic for the first time ever has not been able to fill all its appointment slots. Cancellations are running at 35%, creating alarm among clinic workers.

“We are figuring people just can’t get here,” said Mary Rainwater, executive director of the facility on Beverly Boulevard near La Cienega Boulevard. It is the nation’s oldest continuously operating free clinic.

Last Thursday, before the strike, 37 people were lined up outside the clinic’s door when it opened at 9 a.m., hoping to get in without an appointment. A week later, only 11 were there.

Rainwater said the clinic deals with a large number of cases of sore throats, headaches and nausea. Patients are also treated for chronic health conditions such as diabetes and hypertension.

Rainwater said the strike represents a double whammy for the working poor because most are already outside the conventional medical system, lacking either health insurance or the money to pay for drugs and treatment. The shutdown of the transit system represents just one more barrier between such patients and the health care system, the clinic administrator said.

Elsewhere, clinics were reporting similarly sharp drop-offs.

The Harbor Free Clinic in San Pedro reported that 56% of its patients canceled visits.

The Pediatric and Family Medical Center in downtown Los Angeles has had a 100% increase in cancellations.

As patients in need of treatment, medications and other services do without health care, administrators said, the problem could resonate outside the working poor population.

The problem is that children may be going to school sick and parents may be showing up for work ill, said Mandy Johnson, executive director of the Community Clinic Assn. of Los Angeles County.

Johnson also said that ill patients, if their conditions worsen, could begin putting pressure on emergency rooms.

“Usually, people make appointments because they are sick or injured, or need their medications refilled,” Johnson said. “You run the risk that kids stay in school with untreated diseases. People who need to be treated for communicable diseases and cannot get in to be seen potentially cause a public health risk for everyone.”

The county’s network of free clinics caters to a clientele that fits the profile of the typical MTA passenger: people living 100% to 200% below federal poverty guidelines. Clinics often set up near heavily traveled bus routes because many of their clients depend on public transportation.

In other strike-related developments, Los Angeles City Council members were told that what started out as a safety net for stranded bus riders--bandit cabs--has turned into an enforcement problem, and Pasadena and Los Angeles business leaders urged negotiators to solve their contract dispute, saying another week of the strike could be disastrous.

Tom Drischler, Los Angeles’ taxi administrator, told City Council members that bandit cabdrivers are picking up stranded bus and rail passengers in vehicles without insurance, seat belts or even seats, in some cases.

Drischler told lawmakers that the city has attempted to crack down on the gypsy cabs, but it has only four full-time workers available to conduct inspections. He added that some MTA patrons--desperate for rides--have reacted with anger to the inspectors’ efforts.

“The public has no alternative at this time and that’s an extremely difficult situation,” Drischler said. “We’re just saying, ‘Rider beware. Basically, if you get into one of these illegal jitneys, you might as well be hitchhiking. You don’t know what you are getting.’ ”

In response, the council unanimously adopted a motion calling for the city’s transportation staff to begin working on a contingency plan--which would be activated the next time there is an MTA strike--to allow for the deployment of a city-run transportation system.

“Almost a half-million Angelenos have been forced to scramble to find a safe and reliable way to get to work and other critical destinations since the strike began last weekend,” said Councilwoman Cindy Miscikowski, who introduced the motion.

“Though the city can’t resolve the strike, we must do what we can to minimize strike-related problems and start planning for the next time a transit strike occurs,” she said.

In Pasadena, Ezunial Burts, president of the Greater Los Angeles Chamber of Commerce, said of the strike: “Enough is enough. We have to get these buses rolling again.”

Burts said “public transportation is essential. It is as essential as police service, electricity, water or any utility we have.”

“Negotiations must reach a resolution,” Burts said. “Another week would be devastating for L.A. area business.”

The strike, which has left 450,000 weekday rail and bus riders scrambling to find alternatives, has kept some students from school and forced service workers to give up jobs.

The two sides in the labor dispute are divided over demands by the MTA that union members surrender 15% of their overtime and go along with $23 million in payroll reductions over the next three years.

Drivers, supported on picket lines by mechanics, clerical workers and supervisors, say that they are living paycheck to paycheck and that the kind of earnings reduction sought by the MTA would jeopardize their ability to make house and car payments.

With the MTA’s 2,000 weekday buses idled, other transit agencies continue to report a surge in ridership.

Alva Carrasco, transit administration supervisor for the Santa Monica Big Blue Bus, said ridership more than doubled this week on its express bus service to downtown Los Angeles.

On Wednesday, 4,679 passengers rode Santa Monica’s freeway express, compared with 2,127 boardings a week earlier, before the MTA strike began. “We literally had people who didn’t fit in our buses. Starting Monday, we’ve just been flooded with phone calls by stranded people, people trying to find an alternate route,” Carrasco said.

In response to the phone calls, the bus system decided to put 10 more buses on the express route.

Metrolink, the commuter rail service, said it would extend a special shuttle bus line from Union Station to Hollywood, beginning Monday, to meet ridership demand. The line, called the “Red Line Special,” has been dropping passengers off along the subway route.

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Times staff writers Tina Daunt and Jeffrey L. Rabin contributed to this story.

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Transportation Options

The public should not count on the MTA to operate any of its own bus or rail service today, according to MTA officials. None of the Red Line subway trains will be operating from the San Fernando Valley and Mid-City to Union Station. No service is planned on the Blue Line between Long Beach and Los Angeles or the Green Line between Norwalk and El Segundo. Here are some options:

* MTA BUSES: The MTA operated 73 buses along 14 lines Friday. The lines in operation were: 96, 125, 128, 130, 167, 177, 205, 225, 226, 232, 254, 256, 266, 270. The MTA said its ability to maintain a limited schedule would depend on strike developments.

In addition to the regular customer service number, (800) COMMUTE, the MTA has added another, (213) 626-4455. Customers can also check the Web site at https://www.mta.net.

A consumer group set up an all- purpose information Web site to provide information on different bus lines. The Web site is https://www.socaltip.org.

* NON-MTA BUS LINES: Foothill, Long Beach, Torrance and Norwalk Transit, Metrolink, Santa Monica Big Blue Bus and the city of Los Angeles (DASH, Community Connections, Commuter Express and Smart Shuttles) will honor MTA bus passes.

The Los Angeles County Municipal Operators Coalition’s 16 bus agencies will provide additional service: Foothill Transit will add five morning trips to its service to downtown Los Angeles originating from the Pomona Fairplex and four evening trips originating from 9th and Figueroa streets in downtown. With pickets surrounding the entrance to the El Monte bus station, riders can catch a Foothill Transit bus to downtown Los Angeles two blocks east of Santa Anita on the north side of Ramona Boulevard. Call (800) RIDE INFO, or visit Foothill’s Web site at https://www.foothilltransit.org. Torrance Transit will add additional service to and from downtown Los Angeles; Gardena Municipal Bus Line will operate additional services on its Lines 1 and 2 and will accept MTA tokens; Montebello Bus Line will provide additional service to East Los Angeles on Line 10 and will add trips on Lines 40 and 50 to downtown Los Angeles.

* METROLINK: Metrolink, the com-muter rail service that runs trains to downtown Los Angeles from Ventura, San Bernardino, Riverside and Orange counties, will honor MTA monthly, semimonthly and weekly passes, as well as passes for seniors, disabled riders and students.

“Red Line Special” buses provided by the MTA and Metrolink will operate weekdays from the Metro Bus Plaza at Union Station. The bus stops will be at each Metro Red Line station from Union Station to Westlake/MacArthur Park, with two additional stops at 4th and Hill streets and at 9th and Hill streets, marked with special signs (see map). Starting Monday, shuttles will continue from Westlake/MacArthur Park to Wilshire/Vermont, Vermont/Beverly, Vermont/Santa Monica, Vermont/Sunset. The buses will continue up Vermont Avenue and turn right at Hollywood Boulevard, stopping at Hillhurst Avenue (not shown).

Signs and Metrolink personnel will direct passengers to the bus plaza area at Union Station to board the buses.

Metrolink commuters can call (800) COMMUTE for information on ride-sharing options. Commuters can obtain updates by calling (800) 371-LINK, or visit Metrolink’s Web site at https://www.metrolinktrains.com.