Proposed Airport Pact Favors Bradley Ally : Government: The lucrative contract to operate parking lots would cost substantially more than a competing bid. A commission is poised to approve the deal.

Three years after coming under fire for contracts that paid millions of dollars to City Hall insiders, the Los Angeles Airport Commission is poised to approve a coveted parking lots contract that would benefit a longtime ally of Mayor Tom Bradley and cost substantially more than a competing proposal.

The looming contract with AMPCO Parking would cost the city $2.4 million more over three years than an agreement with a company recommended by the airport’s staff. That price difference--coupled with a business link between AMPCO and Bradley ally and former City Council candidate Homer Broome--has raised eyebrows at the airport and at City Hall.

Awarding a contract to a substantially higher bidder “is always suspect,” said Councilwoman Ruth Galanter, a frequent Airport Commission critic whose district includes Los Angeles International Airport. “And it’s also suspect that (airport commissioners) tend to award contracts to people” who are--or are linked to--Bradley’s friends, Galanter said.

One top airport official, who asked not to be named, said: “We hate to see the influence in this award, but it is certainly not the first time something like this has happened and it sure won’t be the last.”

At stake at today’s commission meeting is a three-year agreement to operate parking lots at the city’s three primary airports--LAX, Van Nuys and Ontario. Collectively, the lots take in more than $50 million a year in parking receipts and are now managed by Five-Star Parking, one of five companies to submit proposals for a new contract.

After reviewing the proposals and interviewing officials of the companies, the airport staff and a seven-member advisory panel recommended that the contract go to Parking Concepts Inc., which offered to operate the lots at an annual cost of almost $12 million.

But when that recommendation came to a vote at the commission’s Jan. 11 meeting, the panel called for new presentations by the companies. At the urging of Commissioner Johnnie Cochran, the board tentatively voted to award the contract to AMPCO, a company that would charge nearly $12.8 million a year to operate the lots.

That price, based on a higher per-hour charge for parking services to the airport department, is about $825,000 a year more than Parking Concepts’ proposed price.

Commissioners Jack Tenner and Leland Wong joined Cochran in voting for the AMPCO bid. Commission President Robert Chick supported the staff’s recommendation, while Commissioner Maria Elena Durazo opted to back another company whose proposal also was costlier than the one by Parking Concepts.

In its proposal, AMPCO lists Broome’s firm, Business Systems of America, as a minority business subcontractor and a joint-venture partner. A Los Angeles business consultant, Broome is a former police commander who served with Bradley in the Los Angeles Police Department and was his handpicked candidate in 1987 for the 10th Council District seat. Broome lost that race to Nate Holden.

Tenner and Wong could not be reached for comment last week. Cochran said he voted for AMPCO because it offered the best proposal, not because of its joint venture with Broome’s company.

Cochran said AMPCO made the strongest and most detailed commitment to improve service and revenues at the city-owned lots. He noted that while AMPCO would charge more than the staff-recommended company, it pledged to spend $500,000 over three years for new public services such as trams at Ontario and Van Nuys airports.

“AMPCO was the only one that came up with a program and answered all the questions,” Cochran said.

AMPCO Executive Vice President Dennis Nasabel contends that because his company has pledged to improve the revenues generated by LAX parking lots, it is unfair to focus on the higher cost of its contract.

*

AMPCO’s proposal is not comparable to the contracts offered by other companies, he said. “Our proposal contained many enhancements and recommendations that, if implemented, would greatly increase revenues.”

But other airport officials and competitors, publicly and privately, maintain that there were clearly other factors in the decision.

Roy Yoneda, the airport’s parking manager, noted that the contract was the subject of intense competition among the companies--most of them using well-known City Hall lobbyists.

“If you just use your adding machine . . . and see that four of five commissioners voted for two companies that would cost the most money, obviously somebody has a powerful lobby,” he said. “It’s definitely a political football.”

One top airport manager said: “What is most frustrating to staff is the frequency of these issues coming up and the fact that, more and more, staff recommendations are ignored.”

Broome did not return calls for comment and Bradley’s office declined to discuss the matter.

Three years ago, the Airport Commission drew fire from the City Council when it was disclosed that a handful of prominent minority group members and women had received, as a group, $7.3 million for little or no work on airport concession contracts.

After that disclosure, the concession contracts were restructured to require “hands-on involvement” by the City Hall insiders, according to airport officials.