Bradley Picks Saugus Site for Prison

Los Angeles Mayor Tom Bradley today proposed that a 500-acre site in Saugus be used for a new state prison.

Bradley suggested that the state buy the property, which is owned by the City of Los Angeles, for its fair market value. He put that at about $7 million.

Gov. George Deukmejian has repeatedly criticized the mayor--his likely Democratic opponent in next year’s governor’s race--for not doing enough to find a Los Angeles County prison site.

Republican Deukmejian has proposed spending $31.4 million to acquire a 30-acre site for a prison in an industrial area about two miles southeast of the Los Angeles Civic Center. However, that proposal has been held up in the Legislature.

The site the mayor has proposed is about 30 miles northwest of the Civic Center. Near the intersection of Valencia Boulevard and Bouquet Canyon Road, the site is about two miles from the Six Flags Magic Mountain amusement park.

Suggestion Criticized

Bradley’s suggestion drew immediate criticism from Assemblywoman Cathie Wright (R-Simi Valley), who represents the area.

“Bradley has selected a site that is totally unfeasible,” she declared. “It’s a residential area right across from Saugus High School.

“The only reason he chose Saugus is because it is a very conservative area and he can name this site and not lose any votes,” she continued.

She called the mayor’s proposal “strictly . . . political.”

Los Angeles has no state prison despite the fact that 38% of the state’s male convicts come from the area. Resentment over that among some lawmakers led to a 1982 legislative mandate requiring that a prison be built somewhere in Los Angeles County.

State officials at one time considered a prison site in Lancaster, an area that, like Saugus, is represented Supervisor Mike Antonovich.

However, Antonovich, who is also the chairman of the state Republican Party, objected to that site and became a backer of the site near the Civic Center, which is in the district of Supervisor Ed Edelman, a Democrat.

A bill to purchase the land in Edelman’s district passed the state Senate, but was defeated by the lower house.