The
big news this month was the tentative approval of both the Westside Subway
Extension environmental impact report and an order for enough new light rail
cars to see Metro through the opening of the second phase of the Expo Line, the
Gold Line extension to Azusa, and the Crenshaw/LAX line, with enough left over
to retire the oldest of the Blue Line cars.
Did Everyone In Beverly Hills Sign Up To
Speak?: After a whopping two hours and twenty minutes of public
comment, the Board finally approved the EIR for the Purple Line extension to
Westwood, as well as starting the process to construct the line underneath
Wilshire Blvd. as far as La Cienega Blvd. Of course, that massive amount of
public input followed yet another presentation of the geological study
conducted on the now-famous fault under Santa Monica Blvd., which is the basis
for putting the Century City Station under Constellation Blvd. instead. And of
course, the Beverly Hills City Council still doesn’t believe any of it, turning
out en masse to again voice their
opposition (prompting Chair Antonio Villaraigosa to comment that there appeared
to be a quorum of the Council present, which sounds like a Brown Act violation
to me!) even though the study was headed by no less an expert than Lucy Jones
of the U.S. Geological Survey … if you’ve ever watched television news coverage
of a local earthquake, you’ve seen her.
Without
going into too many of the details – suffice it to say that if you live anywhere
but Beverly Hills you probably were in support of the project, and if you did
live there, you were probably opposed (there were 90 commenters, according to
the Board Secretary’s office, 50 in favor of the project and 40 against) – the
matter will continue to be discussed at a special public hearing on May 17
requested by the City of Beverly Hills under an obscure statute written back in
1964 originally applying to the RTD. Not that anyone expects that to solve
anything.
Of
all the Board members, it was Zev Yaroslavsky who unearthed (so to speak) what
I think is the most compelling piece of information that has the effect of
destroying Beverly Hills’ argument: The Purple Line tunnel will not, based on
the Beverly Hills High School master plan’s charts, go underneath any of the
historic buildings, but will instead go underneath a newer single-story annex
to one of those buildings. Oh, wait … no it won’t, because the master plan
calls for that annex to be demolished when they build their underground parking
garage, long before Metro’s tunnel boring machines arrive. (After pointing out
that there are tunnels underneath schools, hospitals, and government buildings
throughout the county, he pointed out that “if it’s safe in one part of L.A.
County, it’s safe everywhere in L.A. County.”)
Of
course, that came after the clueless remarks at the Planning & Programming
Committee by Beverly Hills’ city attorney, who – apparently not understanding
how committees work in government – tried to interpret the wording of the item
on the committee agenda as being a Brown Act violation, only to be challenged
by Zev and his 35 years of experience with government bodies’ committees and a
tongue-in-cheek request of County Counsel Charles Safer to confirm that the committee
had authority to make a recommendation to the full Board. There must be
something about all that money floating around in Beverly Hills that makes its
government somewhat less than candidates for Mensa …
One
humorous moment came when my favorite Los Angeles City Councilman, Tom LaBonge,
quoted the lyrics of Fleetwood Mac’s song “Don’t Stop” … but then Tom is famous
for his enthusiasm when public transit is the matter at hand.
In the end, the vote was nearly unanimous, with only Michael Antonovich dissenting in his usual symbolic stand against the Westside getting Measure R money, and Mark Ridley-Thomas abstaining, thus avoiding a vote on a matter which would undoubtedly give him grief with his Crenshaw constituents.
The Blue Line May Get To Pasadena After
All: After all the wasted public comment at the February Board meeting
about the Regional Connector environmental impact report, it was refreshing to
have only a half-hour of comments before the Board approved the EIR this month.
Naturally, there is still contentiousness over the 5th/Flower
station which was removed from the project, which has now grown out of
proportion into a concern by the Bonaventure Hotel about cut-and-cover
construction on Flower triggering some obscure clause in their event
agreements. (I detect a straw man.) The Board appears ready to call their
bluff, though, by separating the final design decision into a separate vote
which includes a determination if any additional mitigation is possible on
Flower. With the exception of Villaraigosa being conflicted on that part of the
matter, the vote to approve was unanimous except for Ridley-Thomas’ abstaining
(again).
Gee,
You Mean Measure R Funds Are Still Dependent On The Economy?: With economic
recovery taking longer than anyone would like, the Board was asked to make
changes in the Measure R contingency policy to more accurately reflect interest
earning and interest costs for the federal Build America bonds, and stipulate
the reimbursement policy for funds advanced on Measure R projects from other
sources. Sounds simple enough, until Ridley-Thomas woke up from his nap of
abstentions just in time to berate Metro’s David Yale about deferred
maintenance, then calling Yale’s answer “non-responsive” (Yale said he would
need to refer to Metro’s short-term transportation plan to give a complete
answer) before finally admitting that Yale is not an expert on all the specific
areas.
Then,
citing a need to tie back the policy to specific projects and to define same,
John Fasana put forward a motion to defer the matter, prompting Yaroslavsky to
have one of his well-timed explosions by pointing out that the matter had
already been deferred twice in order to be on the same agenda as the Regional
Connector. That was enough to kill the Fasana motion 8-4 (by this time,
Villaraigosa had apparently had enough and left) and approve the changes 7-5
(with Fasana joined by all the Supervisors other than Zev in voting against).
As Long As It Isn’t AnsaldoBreda:
It took a special meeting of the Board on April 30 to decide the matter, but a
contract for 235 light rail vehicles was tentatively issued on a 8-2 vote –
Villaraigosa conflicted, Richard Katz abstaining, and Gloria Molina conspicuously
absent – to the Japanese firm Kinkisharyo, pending resolution of protests from
the losing bidders, Siemens Corporation and CAF USA. Key to the discussion and
public comment was the fact that the winning bid was 12% higher than that of
second-place Siemens, the result of using “best value” criteria to decide the
winner … said process having been put in place after the disastrous
negotiations three years ago with AnsaldoBreda to have the new cars built under
an existing 1998 contract with Metro fell apart (and we’re still waiting for
the last cars from that order), putting Metro, as CEO Art Leahy put it, “out of
slack” in terms of waiting to issue a contract. That much would have been
obvious even if references weren’t made to AB during the meeting; Kinkisharyo’s
reputation for being the only company which has never failed to deliver on time
was repeatedly cited as the reason they were the preferred bidder.
On
Siemens’ side was the County Federation of Labor, which appears to have finally
worn out their welcome in the Metro boardroom with their usual focus on local
jobs, which I (and others) have taken them to task for because the Federal
Transit Administration does not allow local jobs creation to be considered in
awarding these types of contracts. This time, the Federation shot itself in the
foot by continuing to claim that the construction would take place in Japan
rather than California … and continued to claim that after it was revealed that
Kinkisharyo would indeed conduct final assembly in the Golden State, creating 348
jobs in the process (only 43 fewer than would have Siemens).
Perhaps
the Bus Riders Union has been giving the County Federation of Labor lessons on
making misstatements.
A Special Comment: I would be
remiss if I did not weigh in on the unfortunate comment by Antonovich at the
Executive Management Committee meeting. In case you missed all of the media
coverage, during a discussion of AB 1446, pending legislation that would
authorize Metro to put an extension of Measure R (including removing the sunset
date) on the ballot, the esteemed Supervisor from the 5th District said
he believed more public input was needed "unlike last time, which was a
gang rape." He was referring to his view of the original Measure R, but
that comment was enough to make Villaraigosa absent himself for several
minutes, returning when the matter came to a vote in favor of supporting the
bill.
First,
I think the Mayor’s response was wonderfully restrained. Even his choice of
words in responding to the Supervisor (“That kind of terminology is
unacceptable from a board member, sir.”) concealed what must have been a
seething furor within. But I have to ask why Antonovich would make a remark
which the vast majority of people find offensive. Does he not realize that the
subject of rape – especially gang rape – is one that virtually everyone other
than the rapists finds repulsive? Does he also fail to realize that his
comparison disrespects his own constituents, who voted overwhelmingly in favor
of Measure R?
Is
it because he is past the usual age of retirement (72) and therefore believes
he can get away with saying anything he wants because he’s an “old man”? Or
does he not care because he terms out in another four years?
Whatever
the reason, he owes the residents of Los Angeles County an apology. Not that I
think we’re going to get one.
Quote
Of The Month: Zev Yaroslavsky, on the continuing protests of the Beverly
Hills Board of Education: “I sense crocodile tears.”
Next
Metro Board Committee Meetings: Wednesday and Thursday, May 16 & 17*
Next Metro Board Meeting: Thursday, May 24
Next Metro Board Meeting: Thursday, May 24
*
- The May 17 committee meetings will be followed at 1:30pm by the special
public hearing on the Westside Subway Extension.
(My thanks to Jerard Wright of Move LA for his assistance in taking notes for this month's column during periods when I was unable to do so.)
(My thanks to Jerard Wright of Move LA for his assistance in taking notes for this month's column during periods when I was unable to do so.)
