Alarcon, Riordan at Odds Over Payment for DWP Land

Los Angeles City Councilman Richard Alarcon set the stage Wednesday for a clash with Mayor Richard Riordan by proposing a land deal that would cut the Department of Water and Power out of $5 million.

The DWP owns a 44-acre parcel in Granada Hills that the city plans to develop for a new police driver training facility. Riordan and the DWP want the city to spend $5 million from a 1989 bond measure to pay for the land.

But in a motion introduced Wednesday, Alarcon called it outrageous that the city should use voter-approved bond money to buy a parcel already owned by the city.

Instead he suggests that the DWP live up to a previous commitment to lease the land for $1 per year.

Alarcon said the $5 million should instead be used to begin the construction of other proposed projects, such as a police substation on the site of the General Motors plant in Panorama City and improvements to the west San Fernando Valley detectives headquarters in Reseda.

The police training facility and other bond-funded projects have been the subject of hot debate lately in City Hall as city officials have discovered that many projects have gone over budget or are far behind schedule.

On Monday, police officials told the council’s Public Safety Committee that the estimated cost of the police training facility in Granada Hills has jumped from $22 million to an estimated $35 million, in part because of the $5-million cost of the land.

Councilwoman Laura Chick, chair of the committee, and Councilman Mike Feuer, a member, both expressed surprise and concern about the increase and instructed police officials to draft a report explaining the increase.

Alarcon, who championed an unsuccessful bond measure last year to build several new police projects, said the DWP’s request for $5 million is part of the reason the city can’t fulfill its promise to build the police facilities with the bond money voters have approved.

“The overwhelming consideration should be what is in the best interest of the city of Los Angeles,” he said.

But Mike Keely, Riordan’s chief operating officer, said the mayor believes the DWP should collect the $5 million for the land. He stopped short of saying Riordan would oppose Alarcon’s motion, however.

Riordan supports paying for the land because last year the DWP increased the amount of money it contributes to balance the city’s general budget. DWP officials planned to make up for that increase by selling surplus DWP land and other assets.

Keely said forcing the DWP to lease the land for $1 a year would hurt the department’s efforts to make up for the revenue it provided the general fund.

“The mayor is very concerned that bond proceeds be spent appropriately, but he also believes that nothing is free in life and it is hard to understand why the DWP should be forced to give something for nothing,” he said.

City officials also don’t think the council can force the semi-autonomous DWP to give up the land for $1 a year.

In a related motion, Alarcon called on the city to appoint an inspector general to oversee the construction of bond-funded projects.

Both motions are expected to be discussed at the council’s Public Safety and Public Works committees next month.