RIORDAN TELLS MTA BOARD GADFLIES TO MAKE IT FAST.

Byline: Eric Moses Daily News Staff Writer

If you want to tell the MTA board of directors something, you'd better speak fast.

Under the chairmanship of Los Angeles Mayor Richard Riordan, speakers often are given just 60 seconds during the public comment session. Sometimes, it's a speed-talking 30 seconds. Sometimes, it's a downright loquacious two minutes.

``It's whatever the mayor chooses,'' said John Walsh, a self-described citizen advocate who speaks at nearly every meeting of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority - or at least tries to. ``It's at the mayor's whim.''

And there appears to be nothing wrong with that.

No time requirement for public comment at meetings is spelled out in the Ralph M. Brown Act, the state law that guards the public's rights at meetings of municipal agencies.

At meetings of the Los Angeles City Council, Board of Supervisors and school board, people get three minutes apiece to speak.

As long as all speakers are afforded the same amount of time, then the board can impose any time limit it wants, said Elizabeth Pritzker, staff attorney for the First Amendment Project in Oakland.

``They are afforded pretty broad discretion to set a reasonable limit that would permit all members of the body in attendance to address the body even if for a limited time,'' Pritzker said.

However, she said whether short speaking times are practical or fair is another question.

``It's rare that you get a minute or 30 seconds. It's barely enough time to say your name,'' she said.

Riordan defends his policy, which seems to be based on the old saw that parents recite to the children about curfews: What can you do after midnight that you can't do before?

``I have found that even limiting them, they get their point across,'' the mayor said. ``It's not a matter of limiting them in getting their point across. But do you want them to filibuster?''

Critics and frequent MTA board meeting attendees say a minute is way too short, though no one in recent memory has challenged the practice in court.

``Sixty seconds is enough time for what? To say your name,'' said Dana Gabbard, who has just a few seconds to get his point across after telling the board his name and that he is president of the Southern California Transit Advocates. ``If the mayor thinks 60 seconds is enough time, why doesn't he impose that on himself or on the board members who ramble on for five minutes?''

Before Riordan took over a year ago and Glendale Mayor Larry Zarian ran the meetings, public comment was usually two minutes long. For part of Zarian's tenure, it was at the beginning of meetings, when most of the 13 members were present.

Now, there are usually just enough members in the board room for a quorum.

Walsh, a substitute teacher for the Los Angeles Unified School District, is a gadfly who despises the term. But his histrionics - like wearing a rubber ball to illustrate what he deems is Riordan's squelching of public comment - and bombastic, albeit impassioned, remarks overshadow what he has to say.

Riordan calls it showtime.

``I mean, I'm the only one on the board that enjoys John Walsh,'' the mayor said, adding in a whisper, ``Don't tell John Walsh I said that.''

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PHOTO (color) John Walsh expresses displeasure at being muffled during MTA board meetings.

John McCoy/Daily News