Hollywood business people wary of losing their influence at MTA.

Hollywood business people are concerned that, now that L.A. City Councilwoman Jackie Goldberg has dismantled their Metro Rail mitigation advisory committee, their voice at the Metropolitan Transportation Authority will be further diminished.

Goldberg last month asked the 15 members of the Citizens' Committee on Metro Construction -- who had been appointed by the MTA with advice from former Councilman Mike Woo -- to resign, so that she could replace the advisory committee with an "informal" one of her own that wouldn't have to comply with the state's open meetings law, the Brown Act.

Then on June 3, Goldberg sent out letters inviting people to the first in a series of "monthly community meetings" on the Metro Rail mitigation program June 15.

Goldberg aide Veronica Gutierrez said there will be a new, informal advisory committee to Goldberg, but it will not preside at the community meetings. Rather, the committee will meet privately, and MTA staff will preside over the community meetings, she said.

"If they're informal, they won't have the clout that we as a committee had," said Doreet Hakman, owner of the Snow White Coffee Shop in Hollywood and a member of the CCMC. She is one of the few CCMC members who did not submit her resignation upon request.

"I feel it's a disaster for the business owners," said Hakman. "I'm very disappointed in (Goldberg) because I thought she was a grassroots person. It's embarrassing."

Real estate developer Jerry Schneiderman of Colony Bancorp said while the CCMC's advice was often followed on the spending of $27 million set aside to mitigate subway construction impacts, the money decisions likely will now be made solely by the MTA.

"At least (at CCMC) they had a chance to shout and scream with some authority. Now they're told to whisper in Jackie's ear, and maybe she'll listen," said Schneiderman.

Enrique Valenzuela, MTA assistant deputy director of multimodal local government, said the decision to end the committee was "mutually arrived at" by MTA staff and Goldberg's staff. Gutierrez said that the idea was Goldberg's and that she didn't know "if they (MTA staff) were fully informed."

The Rail Construction Corp. last week approved breaking up the committee, Valenzuela added, and the RCC recommendation will be forwarded to the MTA board of directors for final action.

Valenzuela said that because of the Brown Act, "it was a cumbersome process (for the CCMC) to get any work done."

The Brown Act includes requirements on allowing public attendance when decisions are made, in addition to rules on such things as posting agendas and meeting times.

While the CCMC voted on recommendations for the spending of mitigation funds, Valenzuela said now those recommendations will come from MTA staff, using information collected at Goldberg's community meetings and from Goldberg herself.

Michael Kellerman, owner of Hollywood Fantasy Tours, said the situation reminds him of when Woo disbanded an elected Hollywood advisory committee to the Community Redevelopment Agency and replaced it with a committee he appointed.

"We need people like Doreet. We need that voice. They try to silence those people," said Kellerman. "It sounds like Mike Woo all over again. I'm really upset about it."

David Morgan, owner of Morgan Camera, said his concern is that the MTA won't have to listen to the concerns of the public because there no longer will be meetings governed by the Brown Act.

"At least (the CCMC) had to listen to some of our complaints. The Brown Act was definitely helping us," said Morgan.

Attorney Marshall Caskey, who was chairman of the CCMC, last week was hoping Goldberg's new committee would have as much influence over MTA decisions as his committee had.

But Terry Francke, executive director of the California First Amendment Coalition and an expert on the Brown Act, said if a new committee were given the same advisory "credibility" as the old committee, then Goldberg's actions could be viewed as a "sham" to evade public scrutiny.

"Someone could sue" if the change in committee structure were only a "paper matter, an attempt to resign from whatever oversight," especially if the MTA colluded with Goldberg on the change, said Francke.

Barbara Blinderman, a Beverly Hills attorney who specializes in First Amendment law, sent a letter to Goldberg criticizing the move to avoid the Brown Act.

"Gee, I'm sorry you can't get any work done because those pesky people you used to call citizens want to watch," Blinderman wrote.

Caskey said he supports Goldberg's decision because the CCMC was "not completely representative" of the community, since it was dominated by business people, and had estranged some residents of Hollywood.

"I was put in this big chair," said Caskey. "I'd just as soon stand shoulder-to-shoulder with the residents before the MTA."

Valenzuela agreed that some homeowners in Hollywood felt the CCMC was "too business oriented."

"The committee was not functioning as devised," Valenzuela said.

Caskey also said communication between the CCMC and the MTA was "imperfect."

"Yes, I was frustrated," said Caskey. "Just trying to figure out how to talk to the MTA was a problem."