Four Legislators Demand Radical Reform of MTA

Four key state lawmakers declared Tuesday that the MTA must be radically reformed because it has become an embarrassment to its legislative creators in Sacramento, has wasted millions of taxpayer dollars and probably can’t pay its bills.

In a tense hearing at MTA headquarters in Los Angeles, members of the state Senate’s Transportation Committee called for either a temporary state takeover of the agency, splitting it into separate planning, rail and bus components, or creating a 14-member elected board.

“There will absolutely be change this year. The only question is how the cake will look when it comes out of the oven,” said Sen. Richard G. Polanco (D-Los Angeles).

Sen. Quentin Kopp (I-San Francisco), chairman of the committee, said he regretted voting to consolidate two predecessor agencies into the MTA five years ago because “problems with tunnel construction, awarding of contracts, [subway] extension planning, misdeeds and indictments of staff” have led him to conclude that the organization suffers from “fundamental defects.”

The Metropolitan Transportation Authority is in “dreadful financial condition,” Kopp said, and should immediately stop planning to build subway extensions to the Eastside, Mid-City and across the San Fernando Valley if it wishes to comply with a federal court order that more buses be put on the road.

“I am mystified by the obliviousness of the board of directors and their apparent inaction,” he said. “The prospects for them both building their rail system and complying with the consent decree to improve bus service are horrendous.”

The state has spent or committed about $1.1 billion to build rail lines in the county.

Kopp, who has long sat on the board of the Bay Area Rapid Transit District, condemned the MTA for its spendthrift ways, commenting sarcastically to agency board Chairman Larry Zarian on the “splendor” of its new $149-million headquarters.

The hearing was intended as a fact-finding effort by legislators who are drafting a variety of bills to transform what County Supervisor Mike Antonovich called “the Rosemary’s Baby of public transportation.”

The board is composed of the five county supervisors, Los Angeles’ mayor and three of his appointees, and four representatives of other cities in the county. Each member picks an alternate who can vote in his or her place on most matters.

In a prepared statement, Los Angeles Mayor Richard Riordan blasted the current structure as a “multi-headed hydra with each head advancing its own agenda.”

He said he wants to see the board shrunk to nine appointed members with no alternates or elected officials: three nominated by the Los Angeles mayor and approved by the City Council, three appointed by the County Board of Supervisors and three appointed by the League of Cities.

Kopp dismissed the proposal as no more than “rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic,” noting that it gives Los Angeles proportionally more power than it has now.

In an interview, Riordan said his proposal was backed by two recent sets of consultants that recommended taking politics out of transportation planning, and had the informal backing of the Federal Transit Administration.

“My proposal would stop a lot of the bickering and put people in charge who can take a broad, regional view of Los Angeles and invest tax dollars wisely,” Riordan said.

Polanco said he has introduced legislation under which the Board of Supervisors would divide the county into seven districts. Residents of each district would elect two representatives to a new transit agency board.

If it takes too long for changes to be adopted, Polanco said he might propose asking the governor to appoint five trustees to run the MTA while a new board is formed. State Sen. Tom Hayden (D-Los Angeles), a candidate for mayor, agreed: “It’s extreme, but this agency may have to be taken into receivership.”