MAYOR APPLAUDS FUNDING IDEA FOR INFRASTRUCTURE VILLARAIGOSA PLEDGES FIGHT TO FINANCE TRANSIT PLANS.

Byline: Lisa Mascaro Staff Writer

Saying the gridlock capital of the United States can't be fixed ``on the cheap,'' Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa on Monday welcomed plans for a massive statewide infrastructure bond and pledged to fight to get L.A.'s share of any new funds.

With Sacramento considering a proposed $10.3 billion transportation- housing bond - and a bigger, $50 billion bond possibly sought by the governor - the mayor wants new funds to help pay for the Wilshire subway extension's first phase, busways in the San Fernando Valley and other infrastructure projects.

``We've got to get serious about traffic and congestion and mobility in the Los Angeles region,'' he said during a press conference at the annual Mobility 21 regional transportation summit.

``You can't get the investment we need on the cheap. We're going to have to make those investments. I think this is a good conversation we need to have, and I want to make sure this region's going to gets its fair share.''

The mayor spoke at the fourth annual transportation summit, which drew more than 500 elected officials, policy makers, firms and others to Long Beach for the day-long conference.

The countywide summit is an effort to draw the region's 88 cities together to lobby Sacramento and Washington on transportation issues. The group hopes to expand to a multicounty coalition next year.

``That's going to be the big effort,'' said Roger Snoble, CEO of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, who co-founded Mobility 21 with the Los Angeles Area Chamber of Commerce. ``You have a lot of people talking more and more about the kinds of things we should be talking about.''

Leon Panetta, former Chief of Staff under President Bill Clinton, urged the region to work as one voice when seeking support in Washington. ``You absolutely have to unify. ... You can't just do it hit or miss.''

The mayor, who is chairman of the MTA board and who made transportation a key to his agenda after having campaigned on building a subway to the sea, said the time had come for major infrastructure investment.

He said Californians remember the former Gov. Edmund G. ``Pat'' Brown's dramatic investments in highways and education, and he believes there's support for similar efforts today.

In Sacramento, Democratic Senate majority leader Don Perata has spearheaded efforts to put a $10.3 billion statewide transportation- housing- infrastructure bond on the June 2006 ballot, while officials Monday speculated that Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger wants an even bigger bond - up to $50 billion - for infrastructure.

``My hat's off to the governor for thinking big,'' said Villaraigosa. ``To the extent he does it in collaboration with the Legislature, the business community and all the stakeholders of the state, I do think it's something we have to look at.

``This is a state that has laid fallow for decades. We really haven't invested in the infrastructure the way we used to.''

Perata's spokeswoman said the proposed bond - either version - was the Senate leader's ``top priority'' once the Legislature resumes session in January, and that all options are on the table.

A report last month by a national engineering association gave Los Angeles County dismal grades for failing to upkeep its roads.

There was little discussion of how the bonds would be financed, but Brendan Huffman of the Los Angeles Area Chamber of Commerce said user fees could help to pay for them.

``These proposals seems to change by the minute,'' he said. ``Whatever we get on the ballot we need to build consensus before hand so this isn't an exercise in futility.''

Lisa Mascaro, [phone]

lisa.mascaro(at)dailynews.com