Engineer Retires, Canceling City Inquiry on Role in Hotel Project

A Los Angeles traffic engineer facing a hearing on a possible conflict of interest in connection with a Warner Center hotel development took an early retirement from his city job Thursday.

As a result, said Donald Howery, general manager of the city Department of Transportation, he has called off a hearing at which he had ordered William Beckham, 61, of Reseda, to explain why he should not be fired.

Beckham, a 17-year city employee, acknowledged in an interview Thursday that he had conducted the city’s analysis of the traffic impact of the proposed 14-story Hilton Hotel, and then, on his own time, helped prepare a traffic management plan for the project’s developer. The plan proposed ways to reduce the effect of the project on traffic, such as hiring a “ride-sharing coordinator” to encourage car-pooling.

“I didn’t see any conflict of interest whatsoever,” Beckham said. He said the traffic management plan had “nothing to do with my work. It was a totally separate issue.”

“I have not asked for a fee or received any money,” he said. But he said he hoped, after retiring from the city later this year, to win the job of “ride-sharing coordinator” for the hotel, if it wins city approval. The project’s developer is Norman Kravetz.

The City Council’s Planning and Environment Committee has delayed a vote on whether to grant a permit for construction of the proposed 14-story, 340-room hotel to allow the Department of Transportation to review Beckham’s work on the project. The committee will take up the issue again at its meeting Oct. 15.

Beckham, who has taken an unpaid leave of absence from city employment until his retirement becomes effective Nov. 1, said he was planning to retire at the end of the year anyway in order to start his own transportation consulting firm. He said he still plans to start the business. He will receive a city pension, which he estimated will be about $1,200 a month.