Government: When It Works Well, and When It Doesn’t : Quake aftermath reveals breathtaking efforts--and inadequacies

News flash: Earthquakes don’t delay while politicians and bureaucrats dither. They happen unpredictably, as we know so well, often with deadly and devastating results. That’s why upgrading the seismic safety of older buildings and other facilities is not to be regarded as a matter of bureaucratic routine or political convenience. It is, literally, a life-or-death issue. Where seismic safety is involved the watchword must be urgency.

Nearly four years ago Los Angeles voters approved a $376-million bond issue to make city buildings and bridges safer. The inspiration for that measure was Northern California’s 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake, which properly was seen as a warning to bring older structures up to modern safety standards. And just what has been done with that $376 million? Inexcusably little. Less than $30 million has been spent so far on needed improvement. Work has been completed on only 40 of the 160 bridges marked for upgrading. Of the 34 city buildings targeted, only eight have been improved. So much for a sense of urgency.

Across Los Angeles, 22 libraries remain closed because of earthquake damage, and a number of police stations, especially in the San Fernando Valley, were hit severely. Yet voters years ago approved other bond issues specifically intended to finance remodeling of libraries and police stations. Those bond issues totaled $229 million. Most of that money--$176 million--remains unspent.

City Engineer Robert Horii says the slowness in putting all of this money to work can be blamed on a shortage of city workers to issue and oversee contracts, write bid specifications and the like. He said he tried years ago to get the City Council to hire more employees for these tasks but was rebuffed. City Council members Zev Yaroslavsky and Joel Wachs counter that the fault lies with the bureaucracy, not, heaven forfend, with the council. So round and round we go. Eventually, 50 additional workers were assigned to speeding up bond-related construction. But precious years had been lost. There’s no telling how much of last week’s quake damage to city property might have been avoided if the city quickly had done with the bond money what the voters intended.

ON THE PLUS SIDE: City government isn’t always so inept. Take the story about the City Council employees who wouldn’t take post-quake price gouging and fraud sitting down. Staff members of City Council member Laura Chick, they were discussing how to curb the exploitation being suffered by those who unknowingly were hiring rip-off artists to repair earthquake damage. Chick suggested that the aides gather flyers from the parks and tent city locations and then phone the supposedly experienced and licensed contractors to request estimates for staffers whose homes needed work. The LAPD was in on the sting, and the California Contractor License Board’s Unlicensed Activity Unit was at the homes to make arrests if crimes occurred. Four people have been charged with fraud felonies so far and more arrests are coming. After an emergency is declared, unlicensed contractors who perform reconstruction can be charged with a felony punishable by up to three years in prison or a fine of up to $10,000.

Another example of good government action is the effort of Caltrans, the state transportation agency, to get us to car-pool. One bit of clever work is its gambit on the Santa Monica Freeway. On this east-west thoroughfare, severed near Fairfax Avenue, Caltrans has provided one easy detour off and back on the freeway for cars with more than one passenger; there’s a less easy, longer route for the single-occupancy vehicle. Car pool, anyone?

BUT OH THOSE LINES: Thousands of earthquake victims who need emergency food stamps are stuck in horrendous lines--sometimes competing with opportunists trying to take advantage of this crisis. Anyone with a photo ID can get the aid because federal officials compassionately eliminated the customary formal proof of need so that hungry families who apply today can eat today. But to better serve the truly needy in Los Angeles, officials should require some proof of need and keep careful records of who gets help so any fraud can be prosecuted. To help keep the county centers open longer, the National Guard should bolster security.