Dump Becomes City Political Issue : Bradley, Ferraro Point Fingers of Blame for Delay in Cleanup

The long-smoldering debate over why it took several years to clean up hazardous wastes at Capri Pumping Services boiled over into the Los Angeles mayoral race Monday as Councilman John Ferraro blamed Mayor Tom Bradley and the mayor blamed the state.

At a community meeting of the city’s Environmental Quality Board at a Boyle Heights church near the Capri site, Bradley described his proposal for cleaning up toxic dumps.

When asked by reporters about the Capri cleanup after the meeting, he said, “There were some (actions) . . . that a number of agencies failed to carry out.” He mentioned the state specifically as one government agency that “failed to move quickly enough.”

But Ferraro, who spoke to the group after Bradley, said the cleanup of Capri was delayed for two years because of foot-dragging in 1978 by the Board of Public Works, whose members are appointed by the mayor. “The single largest problem in the cleanup of Capri was the refusal of the mayor and his appointed commissioners to close down the Capri Dump in a timely manner.”

The facility was shut down in 1980 by a court order after the state Department of Health Services charged that hazardous wastes were stored and disposed of without a permit. A short time later, the Board of Public Works revoked Capri’s industrial waste permit that allowed the company to use the city sewers. County officials declared the site a public health hazard after inspectors found concentrations of known cancer-causing agents far higher than allowed. The cleanup work at the site was completed last November.

Ferraro, seeking to unseat Bradley in the April 9 election, revived on Monday one of the biggest controversies to face the Bradley Administration in its previous term.

Surfaced in 1978

The Capri case came to the Board of Public Works’ attention in 1978. In spite of constant complaints and documentation of dumping violations provided by the city’s Bureau of Sanitation, the Board of Public Works allowed businessman Refugio Carrasco to continue using city sewers. In 1980 the city attorney’s office joined the state attorney general’s office in seeking an injunction to shut down Capri, and the injunction was granted.

Bradley said later that year that the case dragged on too long. “All the agencies involved could have and should have acted more diligently,” he said. But he added that the state Department of Health Services could have moved faster than it did to close Capri, based on health considerations.

Ferraro charged that Bradley allowed former Board of Public Works President Warren A. Hollier to stand in the way of a speedy cleanup of the dump. Bradley fired Hollier in 1980 after allegations that Hollier had misused public funds.

Bradley, who left the meeting before Ferraro spoke, declined comment. But Deputy Mayor Tom Houston, who listened to Ferraro, said the councilman was merely trying to “politicize” the issue of toxic dump cleanup.

Houston said that in 1978 the law was “unclear” whether the city or the state had jurisdiction over toxic dumps. It was determined that the state had the authority to close and condemn the site, he said. The state then appropriated about $1.3 million, and the city contracted to clean the site.

Because Bradley “kept the pressure on” the state, the cleanup was completed, Houston said. “We’re damn proud of our record on Capri, and we’ll stand behind it.”

Ferraro and Houston exchanged words after Ferraro’s press conference Monday. In some off-the-cuff remarks, Ferraro directed comments across the yard to Houston, saying, “I hope you knew about all this background, Tom,” to which Houston shouted back, with the press corps in the middle, “I’m glad to have you join us, councilman, now that you’re showing some interest in toxic waste.”