DON'T CHEAT VALLEY AGAIN.

Byline: - Greig Smith, Alex Padilla, Dennis Zine, Tony Cardenas, Wendy Greuel Valley members of the Los Angeles City Council 

THE July 7 Daily News headline ``MTA money grab? Valley cash may be sent downtown for bailout'' was a wake-up call for all Valley council members and residents.

The very savings we were assured could be realized from the creation of separate bus management teams - with greater local control and input from the community - is in danger of being sabotaged in its infancy.

According to the Daily News, all or part of the $3 million savings for the past year might never benefit those who created the savings in the first place.

On July 1, 2002, the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority changed the way they deliver bus service in the county by separating the delivery of local bus service into five sectors and eliminating the ``top down'' centralized approach that had failed the Valley for decades.

The impetus for this sector concept was the push by the city of Los Angeles to form a separate transit zone which would truly serve the needs of transit users in the Valley. The San Fernando Valley Transit Zone was created to improve service. The decentralized structure of the proposed bus service was intended to do this by putting the management where the riders were.

The zone board, which was made up of representatives from the city of Los Angeles, Los Angeles County and the east and west San Fernando Valley corridor cities, agreed to drop their demand for a separate zone with the understanding that their goals would be accomplished by the creation of a service sector which would leave decision making for operation of local service routes to a local board and management team.

The San Fernando Valley Service Sector was the first to begin.

We cannot judge the cost-effectiveness of the other sectors, some of which have only just begun, by the current numbers.

Nevertheless, we must be diligent and monitor what belongs to the Valley Sector in savings and what is appropriate and fair to give back to the MTA.

Valley leaders and the city agreed to the sector with the clear understanding that cost efficiencies would improve and therefore service would improve as the savings were put back into the Valley for additional bus routes, increased hours of operation and greater frequency.

The MTA Board committed to pump the savings back into the system in the geographic area where they were generated.

It would be self-serving, to say the least, for these savings to be funneled back to the MTA to cover their growing debt.

The MTA Board and staff made a promise. We call on the members of the board and the staff of the MTA to stand by their word.

Earmark those savings back to the sector where they were generated. Don't shortchange the Valley yet again!