Senate OKs Proposal to Strip MTA of Rail Line to Pasadena

By an overwhelming margin, the state Senate gave final approval Thursday night to a major bill that would strip the MTA of responsibility for building a light-rail line from downtown Los Angeles to Pasadena and give it to a new transit agency.

The measure to establish a Pasadena Blue Line Construction Authority with the goal of getting the stalled rail project moving again was sent to Gov. Wilson on a 30-3 vote.

The bill’s author, Sen. Adam Schiff (D-Burbank), said that with the Metropolitan Transportation Authority in charge of the Pasadena line “you had a vital regional transportation project that seemed like it would never become reality. Now, it is very likely to become reality, and sooner rather than later.”

If the governor signs the bill, the new five-member agency dominated by representatives from the San Gabriel Valley will have to find creative ways to finance the 13.6-mile rail line.

The MTA has spent more than $220 million on design and preliminary construction of the trolley-like rail project before work was halted this year because of the agency’s financial problems.

Backers of the bill, led by city officials in Pasadena, believe that they can slash the estimated $804 million cost of the rail line by tight controls on construction and engineering costs.

Schiff acknowledged that the biggest challenge facing the new agency will be finding additional sources of revenue or financing to complete the project.

In an interview from Sacramento, Schiff said the passage of his bill is a result of MTA’s “abysmal track record of designing and constructing” rail projects. “They can’t get it done. They can’t do it right at a price anyone can afford to pay.”

While the measure does not dismember the MTA, Schiff said it does farm out the role of designing and building the rail line to a new agency that can complete the work done on time and on budget.

The bill preserves MTA’s role as the operator of the trains if the project is built. The line would run from Union Station through Chinatown, Lincoln Heights, Highland Park, South Pasadena, Old Pasadena and down the center of the Foothill Freeway to eastern Pasadena.

Sen. Tom Hayden (D-Los Angeles) abstained from voting after criticizing an aspect of the bill that sets less strict conflict-of-interest rules for the new authority.

The measure would prevent members of the Pasadena agency from voting on contracts involving companies that had contributed $250 over the previous two years to their campaigns. Hayden authored a law that imposed a strict $10 limit on campaign contributions over four years to MTA board members.

Hayden also said that although the Pasadena project has “some rationality in terms of light rail,” the use of state and local funds leaves the grievances of poor and immigrant bus riders unresolved.