Candidates Urge MTA to Stop Fighting Bus Purchase

Two Los Angeles mayoral candidates--Rep. Xavier Becerra and City Atty. James K. Hahn--joined the militant Bus Riders Union on Wednesday in urging the MTA to drop its appeal of a court order requiring that it buy at least 248 new buses.

“Ya basta! Ya basta! (Enough already! Enough already!),” Becerra proclaimed at a news conference with Hahn and bus riders at the union’s Wilshire Boulevard headquarters. “The MTA belongs on the streets, not in the courts.”

Adding a few sound bites of his own, Hahn said, “We have to stop spending our transit dollars to fight the people who are using our system.”

The Metropolitan Transportation Authority, with outgoing Mayor Richard Riordan leading the way, has been aggressively fighting a court order that requires the MTA to buy the new buses. The order was issued more than a year ago by U.S. District Judge Terry J. Hatter Jr.

In fighting Hatter’s ruling, based on a 1996 consent decree, the MTA contends it is meeting conditions of the consent decree by improving service and relieving overcrowding. The MTA also says it doesn’t have the $200 million it would need to put so many more buses on the road.

MTA spokesman Marc Littman criticized Hahn and Becerra “for injecting politics into the equation.”

The news conference with Hahn and Becerra represented something of a new role for the Bus Riders Union, which more often rankles elected officials with demonstrations and outbursts of civil disobedience.

“This is almost for us embarrassing because we are so used to picketing elected officials,” joked Eric Mann, who founded the group.

The union, which says it represents the needs of 400,000 bus riders, is not endorsing a candidate for mayor. Mann said each of the six major candidates for mayor was offered the same opportunity to join with the bus riders on the consent decree issue.

The event underscored the importance the Los Angeles mayor plays as the single most influential member of the MTA, controlling four of 13 seats on the governing board and influencing the expenditure of billions of dollars on rail, bus, road and highway projects.

On another MTA issue, Hahn, and to a lesser degree Becerra, expressed concerns about the steps being taken by the MTA to find a replacement for MTA Chief Executive Julian Burke, who is stepping down.

Hahn said he would like the MTA board to delay its decision until after the new mayor takes office July 1.

“Obviously, we don’t want the MTA to have a vacuum in leadership,” Hahn said. “If Mr. Burke could stay on for a few more months, I think it would be good to have the new board be involved in selecting the new director.”

Becerra said, “Certainly, you want to give the new mayor a chance to bring in a new team,” but added that he would work with whoever is running the agency.

The situation has parallels to 1993, the last time the mayor’s office was up for grabs. That year, outgoing Mayor Tom Bradley played an influential role in selecting Franklin White for the MTA’s top job, just months before Riordan was elected.

Riordan became White’s strongest critic and helped oust him as head of the agency.

Riordan’s chief transportation advisor, Jaime de la Vega, recently surrendered his seat on the MTA board to compete for the MTA’s top job.

In a recent interview, Riordan said his aide was just one of several candidates for the top job and he was keeping an open mind.

Riordan spokesman Peter Hidalgo said Wednesday that the mayor did not believe appointment of a new chief executive should be delayed until after the election.