Quick Lesson in MTA-Speak

You have to learn the language to know what direction the Metropolitan Transportation Authority will take. “MTA-speak” involves off-the-cuff remarks that, in reality, can be a kiss of death. Most fluent has been Los Angeles Mayor and MTA board member Richard Riordan.

One such moment came early in 1995, when the MTA board adopted a scaled-back (but still unrealistic) 20-year rail and transit plan. A proposed Red Line subway extension west from North Hollywood to the San Diego Freeway in the San Fernando Valley was involved. Very casually, Riordan remarked that the plan would never be realized.

By December 1995 the MTA had shoved the east-west Valley subway far down its list of funding priorities. Riordan said he could not imagine a Red Line subway extending west of North Hollywood. Translation: Consider the Valley subway plan dead.

A subway across the Valley floor would make sense, but only under far better financial circumstances. Presently, the MTA has a $1-billion deficit under even a more modest long-range plan for Red Line extensions to the Eastside, Mid-City and North Hollywood.

So, when an MTA board committee headed by Riordan recommended on Friday that plans for a subway across the Valley be dropped, it merely made an unavoidable decision official. The shame of it is that the decision figures to add fuel to the contention that the Valley is being shortchanged in comparison to the rest of the city.

The matter now goes to the full MTA board. Regardless of how the decision was reached, it is the right one and should be approved. The MTA will have its hands full with the Eastside, North Hollywood and Mid-City plans in the foreseeable future.

Here’s what the Red Line tea leaves say now: The Red Line subway extension that goes to North Hollywood and at least establishes a foothold in the Valley is most likely to be the MTA’s top priority. The Eastside extension comes in second, since it supposedly can be completed within two years of its original deadline. Most likely to be last, if it is built at all, is a Mid-City extension past the Wilshire-Western stop. Its projected completion has been delayed by seven years.

At some point, the MTA will get around to making it all official. Stay tuned.