PULLING OUT ALL THE STOPS NEIGHBORHOOD GROUPS UNITE AGAINST BUSWAY.

Byline: Troy Anderson Staff Writer

Neighborhood groups all along the proposed rapid busway route across the San Fernando Valley have lined up for a showdown fight to stop the buses just a month before the MTA votes on whether to approve it.

Residents in Van Nuys, Reseda and Tarzana have joined with East Valley groups to oppose the east-west line project - the last remnants of what was once supposed to be a subway extension - at a public hearing tonight at Los Angeles Valley College.

The hearing, which will start at 5 p.m., will bring together outright opponents as well as residents along the Chandler Boulevard route in North Hollywood who want it to run down Oxnard Street and Oxnard area residents who want it on Chandler.

``It doesn't matter where they live,'' said Bart Reed, executive director of the Transit Coalition, a Sylmar transit consumer group that supports the busway.

``There are residents from across the Valley who are up in arms and extremely concerned about the busway. The sentiment is 'No way, no how.' ''

The busway, which already has enough state money to also fund a north-south rapid busway, has long had extensive support from Valley business and civic leaders who have pushed the Metropolitan Transportation Authority for a vote July 26.

Two proposed 14-mile east-west busways would stretch from the North Hollywood subway station to Warner Center and most of the controversy until now has focused on the 1.5-mile section west from the subway.

The Concerned Citizens Transit Coalition made up of mostly Orthodox Jews along the Burbank-Chandler route and residents of the Valley Glen Neighborhood Association along the Oxnard Street alternative have voted to call on the MTA board to reject both the Chandler and Oxnard routes.

Instead, they want the MTA board to adopt a third option called Transportation System Management that, in essence, would increase the level of service on existing bus routes throughout the Valley but without using busways.

Now, groups in Tarzana, Van Nuys and other areas are organizing to oppose the project, which would cost $245 million to $285 million to whisk riders across the Valley in 28.8 to 34.3 minutes, depending on the route. Much of the route includes a former Southern Pacific railroad right-of-way.

Assembly Speaker Bob Hertzberg, D-Van Nuys, wants transit officials to take ``very seriously the concerns and issues raised by folks in the Valley,'' his spokesman, Paul Hefner, said.

Last fiscal year, state lawmakers set aside $100 million to $145 million for the project. The remainder of the money would come from federal and local funds.

``The speaker will wait for a determination and recommendation from the MTA and examine that before making up his own mind in terms of what his reaction will be,'' Hefner said. ``I think what you are seeing happening is a very valuable process where we hear from a wide variety of people with different concerns.''

David Fleming, chairman of the Economic Alliance of the San Fernando Valley and co-chairman of the Valley Transportation Strike Force, which helps secure funds for Valley transportation improvements, said there is a need for the busway in the Valley.

``We have gone through every possibility from a subway that is just not feasible economically, to light rail and the busway, which is probably the least invasive,'' he said. ``And, obviously, there are people who don't like change and don't want anything near their homes.

``I can't blame them for that. But I think the MTA has come up with an aesthetically pleasing plan that shouldn't be disturbing to anyone. Under those circumstances, I think the MTA will look at the big picture and say we'll balance the benefits versus the detriments and will probably say yes to the benefits.''

Over the past two decades, several transit alternatives have been proposed for the route, including elevated rail, light rail and a subway.

The 13-member MTA board will decide at its July 26 meeting whether to approve the exclusive bus lane along the former railroad right-of-way.

A public hearing will be held from 5 to 8 tonight at Valley College in Monarch Hall, Associated Student Union Conference Room, 5800 Fulton Ave., in Valley Glen.

Van Nuys resident Elle Saling said she has gathered 200 to 300 signatures from people near her Blucher Street home who oppose the busway because it will require a large parking lot and pass over a major gas pipeline.

``There are small groups across the Valley who are trying to rally their neighborhood to stand up against the MTA,'' Saling said. ``Everybody agrees there needs to be some sort of transportation system. But this is a slap-dash Band-Aid. Eventually, they'll probably just end up with a subway there. In the meantime, they'll waste all this money.''

Tarzana resident Jill Haber said about 10 families with horses, pigs, goats and sheep who live near her Melvin Avenue home are opposed to the busway because people won't be able to ride their horses on the right- of-way anymore.

``People ride horses around the neighborhood,'' said Haber, who has lived there 30 years. ``We won't be able to do that anymore. It would go right behind the Little League baseball field where all the kids play. Our streets are old streets built in the 1930s. All the traffic from the bus station will come up here and ruin them.

``We were promised horse paths and bike paths years ago. Trains used to run by here twice a day. It was cute. When you had your horse, you used to get off and wave to the engineer.''

Sherman Oaks resident Amnon Charash, a member of the steering committee of the Concerned Citizens Transit Coalition, said a lot of groups believe the proposed busway is more of a negative than a positive.

``There has been a rising trend among many groups, including the groups of the Valley Glen area, that oppose the busway all together and support either a subway or TSM,'' Charash said.

Valley Glen resident Diana Lipari, chairman of the newly-formed Citizens Organized for Smart Transit and a member of the board of directors of the 1,400-member Valley Glen Neighborhood Association, said most members of VGNA who attended a recent meeting voted to oppose both the Lankershim-Oxnard alternative and the Burbank-Chandler route.

The group favors an enhanced version of the TSM alternative that would add buses and rapid buses throughout the Valley, replicating the successful rapid bus line on Ventura Boulevard.

``If we take that program and expand it to all east-west and north-south routes, we would have a system that truly serves the entire San Fernando Valley,'' Lipari said.

Meanwhile, residents along Oxnard Street in North Hollywood and Valley Glen have organized to fight efforts to put the busway through their neighborhoods, gathering more than 1,300 signatures in favor of the Burbank-Chandler route.

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Bus Rapid Transit Alignment

Lankershim/Oxnard On-street Alignment