High-Ranking MTA Official Resigns

Signaling an expected high-level shake-up at the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, the agency’s No. 2 executive on Tuesday announced her resignation.

Linda Bohlinger, who also served as MTA’s acting chief for seven months, denied that she was forced out. “I’ve decided I need to do something different,” she said in an interview.

However, Bohlinger had fallen out of favor with a number of MTA board members, including Mayor Richard Riordan, who serves as the agency’s chairman. Riordan brought in corporate turnaround specialist Julian Burke in August to replace Bohlinger as interim chief executive officer.

“The MTA has needed a housecleaning for some time, and I guess the housecleaning has begun,” said MTA board member and County Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky.

Riordan has expressed frustration with the agency’s byzantine finances, complaining that incomplete information provided by the staff has made it difficult for the MTA board to make informed decisions about transit projects.

MTA board members also were displeased at repeated failures under Bohlinger’s reign to satisfy federal concerns about the MTA’s ability to pay for its promised bus improvements and rail projects.

Burke, in a statement, expressed appreciation for Bohlinger’s “many years of service to public transit in Los Angeles and for guiding MTA during a difficult transition period.”

Bohlinger’s resignation from her $145,828-a-year job is effective Friday, but she offered to remain on the job until the end of the year.