Carson Diverted Funds Intended for Sound Wall

It’s enough to make the residents of 221st Place scream--although they aren’t sure they could be heard. Just stand on this residential street or neighboring streets in Carson that line the San Diego Freeway and listen:

The drone from automobiles and trucks is never-ending, often drowning out television sets in living rooms. In the early morning, an 18-wheeler hits its brakes and literally shakes some residents out of bed.

And then there are the accidents.

Judy and Gordon Swearingen recall the time a car careened off the freeway and landed upside down on their children’s tetherball court in the back yard.

What finally has residents ready to stretch their vocal cords is news that the city, which in 1988 approved $915,000 for a sound wall along the freeway between Alameda and Santa Fe streets, no longer has the money for it.

In fact, city officials said last week that the money was never transferred into a special account set up for the sound wall and other projects. Instead, the money was spent over the last several years on the city’s general operating expenses--a result of City Council decisions to make up year-end deficits by dipping into reserves.

The effect of those budget decisions, combined with the transfer mix-up, has left about half a dozen capital improvement projects--such as the sound wall--in limbo, city officials said.

“I feel strongly that I have been deceived by the city,” said Warren (Ben) Kimball, a resident of 221st Place who spearheaded a drive that resulted in the council’s approval of allocations for the sound wall project.

Caltrans was not scheduled to build the wall until the year 2000. But under pressure from Kimball and other residents, the city in 1988 approved immediate funding for it. Carson then began negotiating with Caltrans for reimbursement, estimated at $3 million, which would not be repaid until the year 2000.

The city’s actions in raiding its reserve funds only recently came to light in a report by Finance Director Lorraine Oten.

Oten said in an interview last week that about $2 million in allocations for capital improvement projects no longer exists.

Oten and other city officials were at a loss to explain why the project funds were never transferred into the special account. The transfer, which was the responsibility of previous finance directors, would have prevented the money from being spent with the other reserve funds, Oten said.

The council, she said, was unaware that the allocations were never transferred.

Oten said surplus money in the city’s Parking Citation Fund, about $1.9 million, could be used to replace the allocation for the sound wall project.

But George Schultz, Carson’s acting director of public works, said the sound wall mix-up may be a moot issue. Caltrans has approved widening the San Diego Freeway to add commuter lanes that would also require erecting a sound wall, at no cost to the city. The construction on the Carson portion of the San Diego Freeway could begin as soon as 1993, he said.

“The fact that we lost the money is very embarrassing to me personally,” said Schultz, who was among those representing the city in negotiations with Caltrans.

William Minter, a Caltrans sound wall project engineer, said such capital projects as freeway widening allow Caltrans to move up the construction time of sound walls. But Minter said the freeway widening in Carson has yet to be approved by the California Transportation Commission.

“The assumption is that it won’t be too far down the pike,” Minter said.

Councilwoman Vera Robles DeWitt said the council should have known that it was “robbing Peter to pay Paul” in using its reserves. She said she continually raised concerns about whether such practices were affecting capital improvement projects and received assurances from the Finance Department that the funds were there.

“The big picture was missed somewhere,” DeWitt said. “We may not have known what was missing, but no one else asked where the monies are.”

Meanwhile, Kimball, standing in a neighbor’s back yard next to the freeway, said he is organizing his neighbors to appear at Wednesday’s budget workshop to discuss the issue.

“We thought we finally had it beat,” Kimball said over the roar of passing trucks. “Now, we find out otherwise.”