The right track leads to ballot

What is the Orange County Transportation Authority afraid of?

A 9.3-mile light rail, which runs from Santa Ana to John Wayne

Airport -- through Costa Mesa -- should be left for the voters to

decide on.

Instead, the board voted 5 to 4 Friday to keep CenterLine -- the

$1-billion transportation proposal -- from being on the ballot in

November.

A plan to put the project on the ballot, had the board voted that

way, would have needed approval from the Board of Supervisors. The

Transportation Authority vote was only advisory. But it spoke volumes

about the apparent hesitance among the authority’s members -- a group

of mostly elected representatives from all over Orange County -- to

take a more populist stand on CenterLine.

Are transportation board members afraid of the scrutiny of the

projects’ critics during the campaign season? Killing a ballot push

makes it looks that way.

If the project is sound, let it stand on its merits. If not, then

go back to the drawing board and make it better. But if CenterLine is

public transportation, the public should be able to weigh in on it.

Santa Ana Mayor Miguel Pulido -- an authority board member --

aptly pointed out that just putting the measure out there to “see

what happens” puts the measure’s future in a precarious spot,

especially after almost half of the cost has been set aside in

Measure M funds.

Indeed it does. But even though Rep. Dana Rohrabacher, who

represents Costa Mesa, said he would not support federal funding for

CenterLine -- even with a majority vote from the public -- the

public’s backing of the light rail at the polls could resonate with

Orange County’s congressional delegation. That could mean federal

dollars and the project’s opening by 2009.

“If CenterLine is going to be the next decade-long commitment for

the federal government in Orange County, that will move aside any

other priorities, we need to have solid backing of public opinion in

order to sustain the course,” said Rep. Chris Cox, who represents

Newport Beach.

Hope still exists in a ballot measure.

Supervisor James Silva -- also an authority member -- has not

given up on putting the proposal on the ballot, and is considering

ways to do just that.

We urge him to persevere, and put the project on the right track.