BUSINESSES PROTEST MTA OVER DAMAGE.Byline: Patrick McGreevy Daily News Staff Writer Hollywood business owners staged a protest outside Mayor Richard Riordan's office Monday and charged that the Metropolitan Transportation Authority has not provided them with emergency aid to cover damage caused by subway subway: see rapid transit. subway Underground railway system used to transport passengers within urban and suburban areas. The first subway line, 3. construction. Eight people, including Chris Shabel of the Hollywood Stakeholders Stakeholders All parties that have an interest, financial or otherwise, in a firm-stockholders, creditors, bondholders, employees, customers, management, the community, and the government. Alliance, waited outside Riordan's office for two hours until a mayoral aide took their information and promised to get MTA (1) (Message Transfer Agent or Mail Transfer Agent) The store and forward part of a messaging system. See messaging system. (2) See M Technology Association. 1. (messaging) MTA - Message Transfer Agent. to respond to their demands. Shabel said about 36 business owners in Hollywood have not received promised financial assistance from the MTA despite four months of requesting help and are therefore in danger of losing homes and businesses for lack of money. ``We were promised a 72-hour response three weeks ago and we still haven't heard anything,'' Shabel said. ``We need some help.'' Shabel said the MTA has misused emergency relief funds budgeted for the Hollywood area, spending the money on a Christmas display and Christmas wreaths while not helping merchants whose businesses have suffered damage because of the subway project. Some of the business owners, including talent agent Tim Shumaker, have filed a lawsuit claiming the MTA has dragged its feet in compensating them for damage caused by the subway project. Shumaker, who is blind, said he needs money to relocate and continue his business. The building he has used was damaged during the sinkage sink·age n. 1. The process, amount, or degree of sinking. 2. A sunken area; a depression. of Hollywood Boulevard For uses other than the original street, see Hollywood Boulevard (disambiguation). Hollywood Boulevard is a boulevard in Hollywood, Los Angeles, California, United States, beginning at Sunset Boulevard in the east and running northwest to Vermont Avenue, where it straightens out , he said. The talent agent said he planned to stage a hunger strike hunger strike, refusal to eat as a protest against existing conditions. Although most often used by prisoners, others have also employed it. For example, Mohandas Gandhi in India and Cesar Chavez in California fasted as religious penance during otherwise political or until he receives assistance. Mayoral spokeswoman Noelia Rodriguez said the mayor's staff has been communicating with the stakeholders' group but has urged claimants to go through the process set up by MTA to handle damages. ``The MTA is responsible for responding to their packages,'' Rodriguez said. MTA spokesman Ed Scannell said the agency has so far issued 28 checks totaling $375,000 to assist property owners who have suffered problems because of the subway construction. He said all claims filed with the agency will be reviewed, with some settled in weeks, but some that are questioned may be resolved through litigation An action brought in court to enforce a particular right. The act or process of bringing a lawsuit in and of itself; a judicial contest; any dispute. When a person begins a civil lawsuit, the person enters into a process called litigation. , which takes longer. ``All claims will be looked at and if they are deemed legitimate the MTA will see that those claims are paid off,'' Scannell said. |
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