A Red Face for the Red Line : Problems aside, the subway’s value remains

Los Angeles’ Red Line subway was controversial even before the first spade of earth was turned to begin tunneling from Downtown to the San Fernando Valley. Everyone knew it would be costly--the estimate is now $5.8 billion--and some wondered whether other forms of mass transit might not be better.

Now, nine years later, the final goal is in sight. The first 4.4 miles of subway, from Union Station to MacArthur Park, are in use, and tunnels are being excavated in North Hollywood to eventually link up with others now being finished under Hollywood.

With so much work done, no one could responsibly call for not completing at least this first segment. Lucky for the subway builder, the Metropolitan Transportation Authority. Because a few days ago, the MTA suffered its worst--and worst-timed--public relations fiasco since the project began. We refer to the giant sinkhole that opened on Hollywood Boulevard, halting work on the subway and inconveniencing thousands.

Granted, it is still not proven that the tunneling caused the street to collapse. A water main, leaking perhaps since the Northridge earthquake, may be involved. But when a huge hole shows up on a world-famous street, angry folks are going to be looking for someone to blame. And the hole is only the latest in a line of problems, which include other streets sinking and tunnels that turned out to not meet contract specifications.

It surely did not help that the hole showed up just a few days before today’s key vote in the House Appropriations Committee to keep the Red Line’s federal funds flowing. Thanks to yeoman efforts by Mayor Richard Riordan and some local members of Congress, that $125 million in mass transit appropriations for the MTA may be saved. However, the money still must be approved by the entire Congress, which is not exactly in a free-spending mood.

That is why it’s important that even those who have serious doubts about the Red Line make sure their criticism of the project, however valid, is proportional to the offense. To suggest, as County Supervisor Mike Antonovich did in a letter to Congress, that the whole thing be shut down, leaving the tunnels unfinished and the money to be redirected to other projects, is simply not responsible.

By the same token, the MTA must not take the continued support it has received from most other local political leaders as a sign of everything being just fine. The only thing that will cure the big headache that the MTA has is complete candor about the Red Line and any future problems that show up. And, let’s face it, problems are going to keep showing up on a project this size.