Council Delays Decision on Site for New Police Academy

After sometimes heated testimony, the Los Angeles City Council has delayed until Friday a decision on whether to locate the future Police Academy at a former electronics firm in Westchester instead of a planned site in Sylmar.

Proponents of the purchase of the 13.8-acre Westchester site--formerly owned by the Hewlett-Packard Co.--hail it as an opportunity to save up to $50 million and speed up plans to expand the Los Angeles Police Department. But some council members said they need more time to study the proposal.

The Police Commission has been tentatively scheduled to vote this month or next month on whether to support the Sylmar project, which had been selected as the best location after a lengthy environmental review.

A request by Councilwoman Ruth Galanter to make a $14-million bid on the Westchester property was brought before the council Tuesday on an emergency basis without the usual staff report or prior study by a council committee.

“I always get anxious when a $13-million or $14-million deal is brought up on a special” basis, said Councilman Zev Yaroslavsky, who heads the council’s Finance Committee.

Councilman Richard Alarcon echoed Yaroslavsky’s sentiments and said he was concerned that Galanter’s request for a $14-million bid was publicized in a newspaper article. He said he feared the advance publicity could hurt the city’s negotiating strength.

“I’m really concerned about what we have done to our leveraging position,” he said.

The Westchester site, near the San Diego Freeway and Manchester Boulevard, includes a building formerly occupied by the Hewlett-Packard electronics firm that is big enough to house a new LAPD communications facility on its second floor. That would cut five years off the development of that facility, police officials said. Because the building can be used by the academy with few modifications, its purchase would cut 2 1/2 years off the time needed to open a new academy, they said.