ACTIVISTS SURPRISED BY CALL FOR LOOK AT RAIL ALTERNATIVES.

Byline: Tony Knight Daily News Staff Writer

Community leaders were divided in their reaction Thursday to Mayor Richard Riordan's support for a study of alternatives to an east-west subway in the San Fernando Valley.

Some called the shift a betrayal by the mayor who they said had promised to support construction of a Red Line subway from North Hollywood to the West Valley.

Others said the Metropolitan Transportation Authority must look at cheaper alternatives, or the Valley may get nothing. However, they said they would withhold support for any new plan until they had seen the details.

"We're open to consider various alternatives along that alignment that would result in a cost savings," said Jerry Silver, co-chairman of the Valleywide Transportation Council, a coalition of homeowner and business interests who have pushed for the Burbank-Chandler boulevards alignment.

"The point is if we do nothing we're going to lose all mass transit benefits in the Valley," Silver said. "I'm not saying we're going to support an at-grade light-rail system, although it's possible. I'm not saying we're supporting a bus system, although it's possible."

Members of the Orthodox Jewish community along Chandler Boulevard in the East Valley said they were shocked by the possibility of losing the subway.

"I'm infuriated with such a proposal," said Rabbi Marvin Sugarman of the Sharry Zedek temple on Chandler Boulevard.

"The mayor has dealt with the Jewish community in the Valley, in particular the North Hollywood Jewish community, very deviously, and we are enraged," Sugarman said.

Riordan transportation aide Jaime de La Vega insisted Thursday that the mayor had not abandoned the subway but only wanted to study other options.

"The mayor said given our funding situation, we need to look at all alternatives, and the MTA staff is returning in May with a list of those options and dollar figures and such," de La Vega said. "And at that point, the mayor is going to look at all the options. He didn't endorse any plan or option."

Orthodox Jews in the Chandler area have been staunchly opposed to an at-grade rail line since it was first proposed in the mid-1980s because of safety and noise problems.

They were particularly concerned because Orthodox Jews, while observing the Sabbath, must walk between dusk Friday and dusk Saturday. On weekends, families with small children often are seen walking across the tracks.

"Our major membership is a pedestrian membership," Sugarman said. "They don't ride on Saturdays and holidays. A light rail will completely destroy this community. We were told every three minutes there would be trains running back and forth."

Richard Close, president of the Sherman Oaks Homeowners Association, and a strong voice in Valley politics, also said he felt betrayed by the mayor.

"This is a major change in the mayor's position," said Close, whose homeowner group is part of the Valleywide Transportation Council.

"I met with the mayor in the Valley last fall, and he committed to subway, Burbank-Chandler," Close said. "He came to a community breakfast in January, and I asked him specifically about this project, and he said the same thing. And now I'm shocked that he is backing off his commitment to the Valley."

Noelia Rodriguez, the mayor's spokeswoman, said Riordan has not gone back on his word.

"The mayor has not abandoned the subway idea," she said. "He has said that given the funding situation, we may have to look at other options."

Close said a light-rail system would provide inferior service to a heavy-rail subway and would result in the Valley getting less than what other parts of the city have gotten.

"We represent 40 percent of the population of Los Angeles, and it looks like we're going to get second-rate, inadequate transit," he said. "West L.A., Hollywood and other areas are going to get high-capacity, high-speed systems. We're going to get a slow and inadequate system."

Nate Brogin, chairman of the transportation committee of the Valley Industry and Commerce Association, reacted cautiously to the call for a new study.

"I can't comment on something until I've had a chance to review it," Brogin said, adding that VICA representatives had talked to the mayor about cheaper options, such as building a rail line in a covered trench.

"VICA is firmly on the record with respect to its unqualified endorsement of the Burbank alignment, and it has also offered methods of cost saving like cut and cover, open-air stations, and that's what we're on the record for."

Residents who live along the Burbank-Chandler alignment in both the East and West Valley areas vowed to fight anything but a subway.

"Running it at grade or in a deep trench would be devastating to the community," said North Hollywood resident Bob Silver, co-chairman of the Eastern Sector Transit Coalition.