Agency Linked to Farrell Returns $8,400 to City

A nonprofit social service agency with extensive ties to Los Angeles City Councilman Robert Farrell has returned to the city $8,400 in rent money it was collecting on property the agency no longer owns.

The property, now the the site of an apartment building, had served as a parking lot for Farrell’s 8th District field office. Farrell refused to comment as backers of a recall movement against him called for an investigation into “the diversion of public funds.”

The Improvement Assn. of the 8th District--founded by Farrell, run by his ex-wife and which is the owner of the field office building--had continued collecting rent for the nearby parking lot for 21 months after it sold the property.

After a press report of the matter, a check for $8,400 from the law firm of Pierpont Laidley was delivered to the city Friday to refund the money, said Brookes Treidler, assistant general manager of the General Services Administration.

Literacy Programs

Laidley worked with Farrell in establishing the agency in 1980 and is president of its board of directors. The councilman’s former wife, Essiebea Farrell, is executive director of the agency, which has operated food and literacy programs for South-Central residents. They were married when the agency was founded.

“The agency obviously should have told us they were receiving rent after they sold the property,” Treidler said.

He said there would be an audit to determine if the agency owes the city interest, in addition to the $8,400 that was returned.

It was also unclear why Farrell or his staff had not alerted authorities that their parking lot had been transformed into a four-unit apartment building more than a year ago.

Repeated efforts to contact Laidley and Essiebea Farrell were unsuccessful. As for Councilman Farrell, “the official comment is no comment,” said Vickie Pitkin, his press aide.

Investigation Sought

The 8th District Citizens for Recall called for an investigation by City Atty. James K. Hahn and City Controller Rick Tuttle.

The 7,845-square-foot building housing Farrell’s field office and the former parking lot, located at the corner of Vermont Avenue and 85th Street, had been leased to the city starting Jan. 1, 1986. The year-to-year agreement set the building rental at $2,000 a month and the lot rental at $400--amounts established by “fair-market appraisals,” Treidler said. The city sent one monthly $2,400 check to cover both properties, Treidler said.

But three months later, the improvement association sold the lot to Bell House Movers. The new owners “immediately” began construction of the four-unit apartment building that has occupied the site for more than a year. Despite the sale, the city continued to send a $2,400 monthly check to the improvement association.

David Kay, executive vice president of Bell House Movers, said that until recent weeks, his firm had allowed Farrell’s office to use another nearby lot that Bell owns as a temporary parking lot. However, the company recently removed the paving and plans to develop that property too.