DEADLINE GIVEN ON RAIL FUNDS; MTA GETS 9 MONTHS FOR FINANCING PLAN.

Byline: Paul Hefner Daily News Sacramento Bureau

State transportation officials Wednesday gave the MTA until Dec. 2 to come up with plans to finance its rail projects or risk losing $388 million in state funding to other local transit efforts.

The decision by the California Transportation Commission gives the MTA a nine-month breather to get the Pasadena, Eastside and Mid-City projects on track and puts the Metropolitan Transportation Authority on notice that the state expects results.

``We can no longer allow the MTA to hold on to millions and millions of dollars people paid at the (gasoline) pump on projects that are never going to happen,'' said David Fleming, a commission member who played a key role in negotiating the pact.

MTA chief Julian Burke welcomed the reprieve.

``Now we have a breather, and that's what I was supposed to get done,'' Burke said outside the commission meeting. He must give the commission a progress report in June and try to have a full-scale plan finished later in the year.

The decision comes at a time when local officials from Lancaster to Long Beach are demanding a fairer share of state transit dollars, money that could be used for everything from reducing traffic congestion to improving bus service.

The Valley would see none of the $388 million if it is ultimately spent on rail projects. MTA officials concluded months ago that the East-West Valley rail line is a lower priority than the three other rail lines and unlikely to be built.

Commission Chairman Robert Wolf warned the MTA that local officials are ready to divvy up the $388 million if the agency fails to produce a plan to complete the rail projects.

``If this thing blows up . . . the money is not just going to sit,'' Wolf said. ``The barbarians are at the gate in parts of L.A. County.''

At issue was whether to allow the MTA to keep money that it set aside earlier for the three rail projects - the Blue Line to Pasadena and the Eastside and Mid-City extensions of the Red Line subway - although the MTA temporarily suspended work on all three efforts.

MTA officials wanted the money reserved for the rail projects in hopes of obtaining funds from the federal government or other sources to resume construction later.

But because the MTA doesn't have a complete plan for paying for the three projects, the commission, which oversees spending of state transportation funds, could have barred the MTA from continuing to designate the money for them.

Instead, state officials chose a middle ground, leaving the rail funding in place temporarily, but reserving power to shift the money to other projects if the MTA can't find enough money to build what's on the drawing board.

Assemblyman Jack Scott, D-Pasadena, who helped broker the deal and whose district stands to gain the most from construction of the Pasadena Blue Line, said the delay makes sense.

It gives the MTA the time it needs to shore up its finances, and it prevents a free-for-all battle among local officials over how to divvy up the rail money on other projects.

``If they had taken another step, it would have been chaotic,'' Scott said.

But state Sen. Tom Hayden, D-Los Angeles, called the commission's move a ``nine-month reprieve from reality'' for the troubled MTA.

``The reality the MTA refuses to embrace is this: Until it realizes that its obsession with rail comes at the expense of other projects to better reduce traffic and pollution - like an improved bus fleet and dedicated busways, car-pool lanes, sound walls, synchronized signals - the agency is doomed to fail its mission to provide rational transportation services for Los Angeles County.''

The largest share of the money, $299 million, is earmarked for the Pasadena Blue Line, while the rest is divided roughly evenly between the Eastside and Mid-City projects, officials said.

Fleming said he doubts the agency can provide a realistic plan for paying for the Eastside and Mid-City projects within the time available.

``In my view, subways are dead, and rail is on life support,'' he said. ``The days of spending a third of $1 billion a mile for holes in the ground are over.''

But Burke appeared candid in outlining the MTA's many problems, including a $1.3 billion capital shortfall and maintaining its aging fleet of buses.

He said he would seek to renegotiate a contract for expensive light-rail cars and would try to reduce the agency's costly reliance on outside construction management consultants.

``I think the crisis is here, and now is the time for changes to be made,'' Burke told the commission. ``We're getting into the real problems now, is what I'm telling you.''