New Mayor to Lead MTA Board

Antonio Villaraigosa said Wednesday he will exercise his right to become board chairman of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority when he is sworn in as mayor of Los Angeles on July 1, and will use the post to tackle transit issues throughout Southern California.

The mayor-elect discussed his leadership plan for the MTA on a busy day when he also called for a report on restricting noisy jets at Van Nuys Airport and held his first one-on-one, post-election meeting with Mayor James K. Hahn to discuss the transition.

“I intend to fulfill the role of the chair, which is not just to be a city leader but a regional leader on transportation,” Villaraigosa said in an interview with The Times. “It’s part of the job of the mayor.”

After assuming the chairmanship, the mayor-elect said he will ask the MTA staff to report on how to implement transit projects he proposed during his campaign, including expansion of the Red Line subway system to the northeast San Fernando Valley, extension of the Gold Line east into the San Gabriel Valley and extension of the Green Line light-rail system to Los Angeles International Airport.

The MTA chairmanship rotates among board members and is scheduled to go to the Los Angeles mayor on July 1, although Villaraigosa can pass it to another member, as Hahn did in 2002.

In ceding the chair, Hahn said he needed to spend his time fighting ballot measures that would have allowed the San Fernando Valley and Hollywood to split from the city.

Becoming MTA board chairman will give Villaraigosa a strong say in setting the agenda for the agency, which has a budget of nearly $3 billion.

The mayor appoints three other members to the 13-person board.

As chairman, Villaraigosa also can appoint board members to committees that decide how to award contracts and which projects to pursue.

Los Angeles County Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky, who was MTA chairman last year, said he did not fault Hahn for passing up what is in essence a second full-time job.

But he welcomed Villaraigosa’s decision.

“It’s smart. He’s not a novice,” Yaroslavsky said. “I think he will do fine with it.”

Manuel Criollo of the Bus Riders Union also praised the decision, saying it will allow Villaraigosa to look out for the interest of city residents, who some feel have been shortchanged to suburban transit spending.

“It’s going to be good for the city,” Criollo said, noting Villaraigosa will vote in July on funding for new buses as required by a federal consent decree in a lawsuit brought by bus riders.

Yaroslavsky said Villaraigosa will face some disappointment.

“He’s not going to get his line to the ocean, but he can at least get an extension along” Wilshire Boulevard west of Western Avenue, Yaroslavsky said of the Red Line subway.

Another challenge facing Villaraigosa will be negotiating new labor contracts with bus drivers, mechanics and others whose contracts expire in a year. In the previous contract talks, Villaraigosa played a key role as an MTA board member in negotiating an end to a months-long strike.

One immediate decision for Villaraigosa will be whether to appoint elected officials to his three MTA board posts, as Hahn has done, or non-elected community leaders.

The mayor-elect’s transition team has received more than 1,800 applications for about 500 staff and commission appointments Villaraigosa must fill, said a spokeswoman Elena Stern.

On Wednesday, Villaraigosa had a private lunch with Hahn to talk about the transition and the agenda for the next administration.

“We had a good conversation about the city government and what we can do to make this transition easier,” Hahn, who ate a pastrami on rye sandwich, said as the men posed for pictures in the mayor’s conference room afterward.

Bitter rivals during the election campaign, the two stood stiffly side by side Wednesday, shaking hands only when asked to by photographers and not speaking directly to each other. But Hahn characterized their conversation as “friendly.”

Villaraigosa, who had a chicken salad sandwich on rye, said the two also talked about how to balance work and family.

“We talked about the trials and tribulations of a job like this,” Villaraigosa said. “He shared his insights about the challenges of balancing all of the many responsibilities of being mayor.”

Asked what advice he gave the next mayor, Hahn said, “I told him to ‘trust your instinct.’ ”

Also on Wednesday, Villaraigosa wrote to City Atty. Rocky Delgadillo asking him to determine whether a court decision that allowed Naples, Fla., to ban noisy, Stage 2 jet aircraft without facing financial sanctions by the Federal Aviation Administration could apply to Los Angeles.

“The impact of Stage 2 jets has been an issue at both LAX and Van Nuys Airport in recent years and it is essential that the city have a full understanding of any increased latitude this court action may provide us,” Villaraigosa wrote.

The request for a legal opinion buoyed Gerald Silver, president of Homeowners of Encino and the group Stop the Noise!

“What it says to us is Villaraigosa is hitting the ground running and making an immediate effort to fulfill his campaign promises,” Silver said.

Later in the day, Villaraigosa held a private meeting at City Hall with Iowa Gov. Tom Vilsack, a friend and colleague from national Democratic politics.