MTA Picks Acting Chief, OKs Code of Conduct

Racing to meet a federal deadline to restore confidence in its management of the subway project, the MTA on Friday promoted its deputy chief executive to temporarily lead the agency and, after a shouting match, adopted a strict code of conduct.

The Metropolitan Transportation Authority board also voted to shift $300 million to subway construction, despite warnings from bus riders that the action could leave the agency short of money to comply with a court order to expand bus service.

And even with the additional funds, subway extensions to the Eastside and Mid-City will be delayed, officials said.

Federal Transit Administrator Gordon Linton issued a statement in Washington saying that the MTA’s “reaffirmation of the Red Line as the region’s top rail priority represents movement in the right direction.”

It was not immediately clear whether federal officials will accept MTA’s revised construction schedule for the subway. The new timetable calls for completing the subway to North Hollywood in 2000, but delaying completion of the Eastside extension by another year to 2004 and the Mid-City extension by 2 1/2 years to 2009.

Federal officials said they must review Friday’s actions before saying whether they would resolve the federal government’s concerns.

Federal officials demanded that the MTA draft plans by Jan. 15 for completing the subway project in the face of a projected $1-billion gap in the county’s long-range plan and for ending political meddling in the agency’s day-to-day operations.

The Clinton administration has warned that unless the agency improves its operations, Los Angeles risks losing millions of dollars in federal aid for the $5.9-billion subway.

The appointment of Linda Bohlinger, who has more than 20 years of experience in transportation planning and administration in Los Angeles and Sacramento, was not controversial and seemed to cheer the board after two candidates had withdrawn their names from consideration.

The debate over ethics deteriorated into a shouting match--conduct that might not be allowed under the code--over the dual roles of a woman who is both a lobbyist and an advisor to one board member.

John Fasana, a Duarte councilman, asked board members to delete and amend provisions that he believed would restrict his ability to be advised by Sharon Neely, a former county transit agency executive. Neely is paid $60,000 annually by the San Gabriel Valley Council of Governments to advise Fasana, but also has $39,750 in contracts from Foothill Transit, a bus line that seeks money from the agency, according to records.

County Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky decried Neely’s “multiple and conflicting allegiances,” suggesting that it was improper for Fasana to take her advice. Fellow County Supervisor and MTA board member Yvonne Brathwaite Burke said: “She has to choose. It’s just like a lawyer, you can’t represent both sides.”

The dispute then broke down into a snippish debate joined by board members Richard Alatorre, a Los Angeles councilman, and Jenny Oropeza, a Long Beach councilwoman, who backed Fasana. Alatorre ridiculed the proposed rules as half-baked, declaring that as many as five provisions were “problematic” and could cause the agency to be sued.

In frustration, MTA Board Chairman Larry Zarian finally threw up his hands and called to Oropeza: “Jenny, why don’t I give you this gavel and you can run the meeting.”

In the end, the code was adopted on a 12-0 vote without Fasana’s amendments, but was referred to county lawyers to ensure that its language was as tight as intended. County Supervisor Mike Antonovich was the lone abstention in the vote on the code, which demands courtesy among board members and bars them from meddling in contract awards, declaring that he thought it embodied a “rush to judgment.”

Lobbyists expressed frustration that rules barring them from discussing contracts with board members would essentially put them out of business at the MTA. “How am I going to get my message to them?” asked Tony Gonzalez, who owns a business that contracts with the MTA for construction management services.

Ryan Nakagawa, the MTA’s ethics chief, agreed that the new rules would “severely curtail lobbying at the MTA.”

The vote to shift $300 million in freeway carpool money to the subway project touched off another debate.

An attorney who represented bus riders in a successful civil rights lawsuit against the MTA said she left the meeting “concerned and disappointed.”

Constance L. Rice, western regional counsel for the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, said the transfer endangers the MTA’s ability to comply with a court order requiring expansion of the bus system. Rice said she would wait until the MTA staff returns in a month with a financial plan for implementing the required bus improvements before deciding on a course of action.

Bus rider advocates contend that MTA officials have underestimated the cost of complying with the court order and that they may need the $300 million to put at least 152 more buses on the streets in the next few years and replace hundreds of aging buses.

But Zarian assured after the meeting that the MTA is committed to complying with the court order. “Our No. 1 priority is to the consent decree,” he said.

Yaroslavsky questioned how the agency can allocate $300 million to the subway project while expanding the bus system.

“This is a package of smoke and mirrors,” he said.

Several other board members objected to the transfer, approved by an 8-5 vote, because it could delay carpool lane construction on about 30 miles.

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Profile: Linda Bohlinger

Bohlinger, who has more than 20 years of experience in transportation planning and administration, was appointed Friday as interim chief executive officer of the MTA.

* Age: 47

* Residence: Altadena

* Education: Master’s degree from USC in public administration, bachelor’s degree from UC Santa Barbara in Spanish, a secondary teaching credential in Spanish.

* Career highlights: Taught English as a second language in Salt Lake City. Coordinator of student services at USC’s School of Public Administration. Transportation planner for the Southern California Assn. of Governments. Deputy director for transit development at the California Transportation Commission. Various jobs with the MTA, including executive officer for planning and development and deputy chief executive officer.

* Interests Sailing and snow skiing

* Family Married to John Sohn

* Quote: “There is no other public transit agency in the nation where construction, bus and rail operations, planning and programming are combined in one organization.”