Supervisors Await Twin Towers Study

Unwilling to either cut spending or abandon their desire to open the high-security Twin Towers jail, the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors on Tuesday postponed any action until mid-September on the county’s worsening financial problems.

In a rancorous afternoon session punctuated by sharp exchanges between several supervisors, the board demonstrated again its inability to find the money to open the high-rise jail that is a lingering symbol of the county’s fiscal crisis.

Instead, a working group, including representatives of law enforcement and criminal justice agencies, will try to find answers to questions about how the county can operate the $373-million jail, which now stands empty. Meanwhile, the county is releasing prisoners from its overcrowded jail system after they serve only a fraction of their sentences.

Supervisors Gloria Molina and Deane Dana were particularly unhappy about waiting for a report from the Sheriff’s Department and pointedly noted that the county has been debating the funding issue involving Twin Towers for months.

“Why didn’t we know about this delay a long time ago?” Dana asked Undersheriff Jerry Harper. “It just sort of popped up today.”

Harper said more time is needed to assemble the working group to tackle the complicated funding questions. He said the goal is to open some jail facilities that have been closed in the last three years and devise a plan to open Twin Towers that supervisors will unanimously support.

However, to achieve that, Harper said it will take at least two weeks to find members of the group and to reach a consensus. The cost to operate one tower is estimated at $18 million for six months.

As it became clear that the majority of board supported delaying all budget decisions--including those involving other financially troubled county programs unrelated to the jail--Molina became incensed.

“We get paid 100 grand to sit here and all of a sudden we’re saying let’s take a hike on this,” Molina said. “Let’s wait two weeks, three weeks, a little bit more time to get more information that is not going to change anything in a good number of departments.”

Molina criticized her colleagues as being irresponsible in not making tough decisions needed to address a potential budget deficit that could reach $182 million.

“I’m not sure why the entire budget has to be stopped in order to do this,” Molina said. “I don’t know why we are being led around by the nose with Twin Towers.”

But Supervisor Yvonne Brathwaite Burke said she favored waiting until the report is finished because she wants to see what the full range of the county’s options are--particularly those involving Twin Towers.

“It’s our baby,” Burke said. “We’ve got to deal with it. . . . Why don’t we let these people see if they can come up with some plan to get us out of this mess.”

Molina was not pacified. “We are not ready to make these other cuts,” she declared. “When are you going to be ready . . . to make the tough decisions you all boast about doing all the time? I think this is a very, very wimpy approach.”

Unmoved, the board voted 4 to 1 to continue budget issues to a special meeting Sept. 12. Shortly afterward, Molina left the board room although the meeting had not ended.

The supervisors also did not hear a report from Health Services Director Mark Finucane about looming layoffs at County-USC Medical Center and Olive View/UCLA Medical Center in Sylmar because of a recent drop of between 5% and 10% in the number of patients admitted there.

The board scheduled Sept. 9 for an all-day hearing, required by federal law, on plans to downsize and privatize Rancho Los Amigos Medical Center in Downey. The hearing will also involve testimony concerning possible layoffs at County-USC and Olive View/UCLA Medical Center.

Finucane said that 88 full-time and 66 temporary workers may be laid off.