This month’s report is pretty much an extension of the June Board meeting,
with the exception of the incoming chair – Supervisor Michael Antonovich –
trying to throw non-existent influence around in his continued hatred of Measure
R revenue funding the Purple Line extension to the Westside.
Measure R Extension Debate, Extended: Antonovich’s opening
gambit at the Executive Management Committee was to try to defer the decision
on the Measure R decision to September, which was quickly shot down when
interim Chief Communications Officer Linda Bybee pointed out the severe time
constraint that would create. (Personally, I think Antonovich knew perfectly
well that such a delay would have the effect of scuttling the entire matter,
and vainly hoped that no one would notice.) He then tried to derail (pun
intended) the ballot measure by claiming that County Counsel had not properly
vetted it. That tactic, to no one’s surprise, failed as well, as did the
laundry list of objections provided by the Gold Line Construction Authority,
who primarily object to there being no funding guarantees past the currently
planned Azusa terminus. Guess whose Supervisorial district that extension is
in?
The matter then went to the Board “without recommendation” a week later,
where the discussion centered not on what was contained in the mockup of the
proposed information brochure, but on the blank pages to include figures that staff
was still compiling; after considerable grilling – mainly by Antonovich – the matter
was then shoved to an adjourned “special Board meeting” on August 6.
And that’s where the real fireworks show was.
Amazingly, the public comment portion of the proceedings took less than 20
minutes, but included a few choice remarks from the usual suspects:
- Gadfly Dr. Tom Williams called the proposed
extension “subversive” because he didn’t think there would be sufficient “controls
and public information” then said he would support the extension only if the
transfer of funds from highway projects to transit were allowed (but not vice
versa);
- The aforementioned Gold Line Construction
Authority, who now claim the extension violates Metro’s Long Range
Transportation Plan (LRTP) and the original programming of Measure R revenues;
- Spokespersons for something called the “Crenshaw Subway Coalition”
don’t trust Metro with the revenues and suspect that politics would get in
the way;
- Damien Goodmon – whose 15 minutes of fame is
somewhere around 14 minutes, 30 seconds by now – followed up the Coalition’s
suspicions by damning the extension proposal with faint praise (“the principle
is good but Metro’s past behavior shows nothing that indicates trust”);
- The ubiquitous Bus Riders Union, who think the
extension will bring nothing beyond new highway construction, and used their
favorite tactic of muddying the waters between capital funding and operations
funding (their now-ever present Eric Romann used the BRU stock phrase “bus
service cuts in order to fund rail”);
- Various construction union representatives, who
while managing to tone down their past overwhelming dominance of public comment
by using only a few key union leaders still focused on jobs that would be
created, even though the Metro Board is legally prohibited from considering
same when taking votes on project-related matters;
- Several people opposed to the State Route 710
extension, who somehow have the impression that extending Measure R will divert
funds from transit to that hated project; and
- One fool who thought the Metro Board is directly
elected by the public and wanted them to cancel all the Measure R projects in
favor of creating more HOV lanes on freeways.
And then came the discussion amongst the Directors, led by Chairman
Antonovich, who tried a new tactic of discrediting the extension by claiming it
had no guarantees of subregional funding or protection of funds, making it
appear that funds that he thinks should have been earmarked for the Gold Line
extension to Claremont will be spent on highways instead. Those accusations
were immediately rebutted by Richard Katz, who reminded the 5
th District
Supervisor that changes to Measure R allocations would still require a
two-thirds vote of the Metro Board and that no 710 extension money has been
allocated other than that earmarked in the last LRTP. Supervisor Zev
Yaroslavsky chimed in with a reminder that all of the Measure R projects have
funding gaps, particularly the Westside Subway Extension and the Regional
Connector, which are presently in negotiations for federal funding. John Fasana
tried to smooth over the problem by suggesting that the extension ordinance
specifically list the unfunded amounts for each project, but his motion to do
so failed after Yaroslavsky pointed out that there is already a list of each
project’s total projected costs and the amount funded by Measure R in the voter
information brochure.
Yaroslavsky also managed to get some edits for punctuation and clarity of
language approved, but not after his colleague on the Board of Supervisors,
Gloria Molina, questioned his waiting until the last minute … to which
Yaroslavsky pointed out that “when I proposed it before, you shot me down.”
Molina shot back “and I’m going to shoot you down again” but her bluster didn’t
sway the Board from approving Zev’s motion.
In the end, the vote was overwhelming, with only Antonovich and Supervisor
Mark Ridley-Thomas voting against putting the extension on the November ballot
(Ridley-Thomas also abstained on the Fasana amendment to allow the transferring
of funds between highway and transit projects*), and Los Angeles Mayor Antonio
Villaraigosa conspicuously absent.
Oh, and as for the enabling state legislation (
AB 1446) … as of our publishing, it remains in the Senate pending
a vote after being amended on August 7 to require Metro to provide a new
expenditure plan in the ordinance that would extend Measure R and tying any
revenue after the original projects are completed to those in Metro’s LRTP.
(Update: AB 1446 was passed by the Senate on August 20; the Assembly concurred with the amendments two days later and sent it to the Governor, who signed it into law September 30.)
*-This was proposed by Fasana last month,
although I did not include details in my report; if approved by the voters as
part of the Measure R extension, the moratorium prohibiting such transfers
within a subregion, presently in place until 2019, would be removed, and the
limit of only one such transfer per ten-year period would also be removed.
And would you believe there were other matters commanding the Board’s
attention?
This Isn’t The Kind Of Frog That
Goes “Ribbit”: Unless you pay no attention whatsoever to media coverage
of Metro, you know that the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) has
called into question the performance of the “frog” at the junction of the Blue
and Expo Line tracks at Washington Blvd. and Flower St.; it has been explained
that the frog is a heavy-duty spring configuration which allows the switching
of tracks at that junction to accommodate whichever line’s train is passing
through and route it appropriately. Naturally, the slightest hint of problems
on any rail line that isn’t in his district sets Chairman Antonovich off, who
failed to understand – after several explanations by both Metro staff and Expo
Line Construction Authority CEO Rick Thorpe – that the CPUC (which Antonovich
kept calling the “CUP”) does not “sign off” on these issues during
construction, simply because it is not their policy to do so. (He also, in a
burst of “blame everyone but us” enthusiasm, wanted the engineer who designed
the frog to be held 100% liable for the problem.) Supervisor Ridley-Thomas, who
also sits on the Expo Authority’s board of directors, still thinks these
problems are “systemic” even though the CPUC has only brought this single
matter to everyone’s attention, and in the end it was agreed to bring in
outside experts to advise how to best remedy the matter. In the words of Diane
DuBois’: “Let’s fix it first and
then find out why it happened!”
Everyone Wants The Regional
Connector, But Only On Their Terms: The continued controversy over the
construction of the Regional Connector, which I have reported on in previous
months’ columns, spilled over into both the Construction Committee meeting and
both the regular and special Board meetings.
Now
that Metro has received a Record of Decision from the Federal Transit
Administration, staff would like to proceed with the project design and
construction method described in the environmental impact report, but both the
Bonaventure Hotel and Thomas Properties have now sued Metro over the “cut and
cover” method proposed for the tunnel segment between 4th Street and
the existing tunnel that ends just north of 7th St/Metro Center.
Enter José Huizar, whose City Council district just happens to include
downtown, who put forward a motion to have bids for the project include both
the approved method and extending the tunnel boring machine segment to 5th
Street, accepting the latter if the bid was within the project budget;
Bonaventure management and their supporters then spent their public comment
time praising Huizar for his motion … after which the Councilmember disappeared
for the rest of the Construction Committee meeting.
When
his motion got to the full Board a week later, Zev Yaroslavsky took the lead on
discussions (Huizar being absent and temporarily replaced by Councilmember Tom
LaBonge, who seems to be the designated hitter whenever the regular Council
appointee from the City Council can’t attend Board meetings), first suggesting
that the Board approve the item without the Huizar amendment, continue
discussions with the attorneys for Bonaventure and Thomas, and take additional
action at the special Board meeting, then expressing his skepticism that much
could be resolved in the intervening week and a half. Bonaventure’s attorneys
publicly offered to withdraw their lawsuit if the Board guaranteed no cut and
cover construction, which drew Richard Katz into a discussion of the lawsuits.
When
the Bonaventure’s attorney interrupted Katz, his frustrated response was “do
you want to let me finish before you correct me?” which prompted Zev to quip “this
is becoming like the AnsaldoBreda matter … continued, continued, and continued.”*
In
the end, the matter ended up going to the special Board meeting’s closed
session (with Antonovich objecting and Ridley-Thomas abstaining) and no
decision being made.
*-For which you’ll have to find my columns on the
subject in the Southern California Transit Advocates newsletters.
Board On-Time Performance
Scorecard: Remember last month, when I reported that debate on the
Measure R extension carried on in the Executive Management Committee for so
long that the Systems Safety and Operations Committee had defer all of the
routine staff reports to the following month? Well, those staff reports have
now been deferred to September … for much the same reason; the start times for
the Executive Management and Construction Committees were flipped, and the
former, now scheduled for 10:30am, started 23 minutes late and ran more than an
hour past the noon scheduled start for Systems Safety and Operation, which then
was cancelled because not enough Directors remained to form a quorum. As a
result, the five items that needed a committee vote got rushed through with a
single motion at the regular Board meeting. (Is this any way to run a transit
agency?)
Other committees that got flipped, with varying effects on the actual start
time, were:
- Finance, Budget and Audit, moved to Wednesday at
1:00pm (started at 1:07)
- Planning and Programming, moved to Wednesday at
2:30pm (started at 2:44)
- Construction, moved to Thursday at 9:00am
(started at 9:23)
The July 26 Board meeting started about as late as usual, at 9:23am instead
of 9:00, as did the adjourned meeting of August 6, at 10:28am instead of 10:00.
The latter was called to order by Vice-Chair DuBois; Chairman Antonovich didn’t
show up until 10:57 … almost an hour past the scheduled start time. (Sigh.)
But all the above pales in comparison to the chaos created when the Grand
Park dedication ceremony was also scheduled for July 26, for which the five
Supervisors had to leave at 11:30. That forced the “closed session” items to be
taken a mere hour after the meeting was called to order, then a reconvening at
12:34 to take up four items that could be voted upon by the remaining
Directors, followed one hour later by another 45 minute recess so the Supes
could return to the Metro headquarters building. (Is this any way to … oh, I
asked that already, didn’t I?)
I have opinions on how this could be fixed, which I’ll share in a rant on the
main
Transit Insider site in the near future.
Surprise, Surprise! Look Who’s
Back!: The August 6 meeting marked the return of David Fleming to the
Metro Board, replacing the perpetually embarrassing Mel Wilson as one of Mayor Villaraigosa’s
appointees. As regular readers of this column know, I have long criticized
Wilson’s cluelessness during meetings and his inept behavior when participating
remotely by telephone (in fact, we had more of the latter at the Finance,
Budget and Audit Committee meeting when Mel attempted to participate from his
hotel room in Gatlinburg, Tennessee, complete with background noise from his
kids). There was no announcement made of his being a temporary replacement,
so I have to presume that AV finally came to realize that Wilson was becoming
something of an embarrassment to City Hall and put the infinitely more
knowledgeable Fleming in his place. Welcome back, Dave.
Quote Of The Month: Ara
Najarian, during discussion of the Measure R extension: “I went over this
thoroughly, looking for nefarious intent. Much to my surprise, I couldn’t find
any.” I think that was Najarian’s attempt at humor to lighten up the mood of
the discussion. At least, I hope it was.
As is the custom every summer, the Metro Board will “go dark” during the
month of August.
Next Metro Board Committee Meetings: Wednesday and Thursday, September
19 and 20
Next Metro Board Meeting: Thursday, September 27
A note about identification of Directors in
the report: Diane DuBois, Ara Najarian, and John Fasana are City Councilmembers
from the cities of Lakewood, Glendale, and Duarte, respectively, and are
elected to the Metro Board by the Los Angeles County City Selection Committee,
per state law. Richard Katz, David Fleming and Mel Wilson are appointees of Los
Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, as is José Huizar (one of the Mayor's appointments must be a member of the Los Angeles City Council). Only the five County Supervisors and the
Mayor of the City of Los Angeles hold ex officio positions on the Board.
