Council Panel Rejects Police Bond Proposal : Public safety: Committee members say $100-million measure needs further study before it goes before voters. Deadline for June ballot is Feb. 15.

Declaring that further study is needed, a committee of the Los Angeles City Council rejected a proposal Monday to put a $100-million bond measure before voters in June to build new police stations in the San Fernando Valley and Mid-Wilshire areas.

Despite testimony from residents in support of the plan, the council’s Public Safety Committee voted against it until the city can complete a citywide study of the Police Department’s building needs.

“How can we go to the public now asking for money until we have an idea what our needs are in all 18 (police) stations?” said Councilwoman Laura Chick, who suggested the city wait at least until the March, 1996, presidential primary elections to put a bond measure before voters. Chick said more people vote in presidential primaries, increasing the likelihood of the measure’s passage.

She said a study of police stations citywide may show that a $100-million bond measure is insufficient to pay for all needed improvements and expansion and she fears generating voter animosity by coming back in the near future to ask for additional funding.

Monday’s debate was laced with a sense of urgency since the deadline for placing a bond measure on the June 6 ballot is Feb. 15. The entire City Council is scheduled to take the final vote on the matter Feb. 14.

The measure was drafted and proposed by Councilman Richard Alarcon, whose northeast Valley district would be served by the Valley station. He said both facilities would greatly improve police patrols in crime-plagued neighborhoods.

“I think it would be in the best interest of the city to move this project forward,” he told the panel, adding that another year’s delay will only further delay construction of much-needed police facilities. The two new stations are also needed to house police hired under Mayor Richard Riordan’s departmental expansion plan, Alarcon said.

The matter is expected to provoke a heated debate because several influential council members, such as president John Ferraro and Richard Alatorre, have already endorsed the $100-million bond measure.

Supporters note that the two stations were originally to be built with the money generated by a $176-million bond measure approved by voters in 1989. But because police and city officials vastly underestimated construction costs, the stations were ultimately cut from a project list.

As proposed, the bond measure would commit $35 million for a so-called Mid-Valley station to serve the communities of North Hills, Panorama City, Mission Hills, Arleta and Panorama City. Another $35 million would build a Mid-City station to serve Koreatown and adjacent communities.

The remaining $30 million would be used either to upgrade existing police facilities citywide or purchase additional police equipment.

The bond would be paid off over 25 to 30 years through a $7.50 increase in property taxes per resident per year, according to Alarcon’s staff.

But Councilman Marvin Braude, chairman of the Public Safety Committee, echoed Chick’s concerns with the plan, saying he is reluctant to ask voters to fund police facility improvements until a detailed study of the needs is completed.

“We have to know what we want,” he said. “We have to be credible with the public. The public is very smart.”

Bill Violante, deputy mayor for public safety, said Riordan still has some questions about the funding plan. He said Riordan wants to make sure the city studies the idea thoroughly before asking voters for additional money.

“Whatever it is we do, the mayor wants to know that we do it right,” he said.

For example, Violante said Riordan wants the city to study whether it is wiser to build large, new stations or smaller substations. He also wants the city to consider leasing existing buildings to house police.

The LAPD is currently awaiting a study on the need to expand the William H. Parker Center, the department’s Downtown headquarters, said Police Commander David Kalish, who heads the department’s facilities unit.

In addition, he said the department has also requested that the city hire a consultant to study what expansion and improvements are needed at police stations citywide.

Chick stressed several times that she supports the construction of the two proposed stations but she said she is reluctant to rush the measure before voters because of the errors in calculating the funding needs in the previous bond measure.

“I want this to be a sure win,” she said.