Alarcon Seeks to Divert Funds for Police Use

Los Angeles City Councilman Richard Alarcon on Tuesday proposed using $100 million that the city has set aside for subways to build police stations in the San Fernando Valley and Mid-City areas, including a Valley police headquarters.

Valley police commander and Deputy Chief Michael J. Bostic said Alarcon’s proposal has the strong support of Police Chief Bernard C. Parks. The additional facilities in the Valley would allow the Los Angeles Police Department to divide the region into two separate commands, which would lead to a more responsive, efficient police force, Bostic said.

But Mayor Richard Riordan and several council members questioned Alarcon’s effort to tap into city money destined for the Metropolitan Transportation Authority’s controversial subway system.

“The city needs to carefully balance the need for public facilities and the need to invest in our transportation infrastructure. These are questions the mayor and the city council will have to wrestle with,” said Deane Levenworth, the mayor’s press deputy.

The police facilities Alarcon identified were promised to voters nine years ago but never constructed.

Councilman Richard Alatorre, who along with Riordon sits on the MTA board, called Alarcon’s proposal “shortsighted.” Even if some lines of subway system are never built, as many predict, the $200 million that the city is contributing toward the MTA project should be used to improve the city’s overburdened transportation system--not on police stations, Alatorre said.

“He can’t do it,” Alatorre said. “That’s not good public policy.”

Alarcon’s proposal, introduced in a motion before the council Tuesday, calls on the city to build police facilities originally slated to be constructed with money generated by a $176-million bond measure approved by voters in 1989.

While the measure, Proposition 2, did not designate specific stations to be built, former police chief Daryl F. Gates said the money would pay for new stations in the Valley and Mid-Wilshire areas. However, those stations were dropped from the project list because police and city officials underestimated construction costs.

By reclaiming the money destined for the MTA, the city could build those stations as well as a new Valley police headquarters, a station in the West Valley and make renovations to facilities in the Hollenbeck and Harbor divisions, Alarcon said.

The site of the former General Motors plant in Van Nuys and the Department of Water and Power complex in Sun Valley are prime locations for the new Valley headquarters and the new police station, he said.

“The city has to keep its promises,” Alarcon, a state Senate candidate in the Valley, said at a news conference Tuesday.

While the City Council and LAPD are considering placing another police-facilities bond measure on the ballot, Alarcon said he doubts voters would approve the proposition. In 1995, a similar bond measure was narrowly defeated.

“This very much fits in our plans of what we’re trying to accomplish in the city,” Bostic said. “The chief recognizes the Valley deserves two chief officers out here, and two bureaus to help represent this area. The Valley represents over 40% of the population and 50% of the geographic area, and it’s only one bureau.”

The money Alarcon wants to divert is part of the $200 million the city agreed to pay to the MTA to assist with the construction of subway extensions to North Hollywood, the Mid-City and Eastside. However, the MTA has suspended the Mid-City and Eastside expansions because of funding problems.

The city already has paid the MTA $55 million for the North Hollywood line, and owes an additional $35 million, according to an MTA spokesman.

“The Eastside station is not going to happen,” Alarcon said. “The Mid-City station is not going to happen, and we should not pay for it.

“What I am suggesting is that we renegotiate that agreement, but that we also take 100 million from that proposal.”

Because the city money being set aside for the MTA can only be used for transportation projects, Alarcon’s motion proposes using the money for road resurfacing and other transportation projects paid out of the city’s general fund. The money in the general fund could then be used to build the police stations.

Julian Burke, chief executive officer of the MTA, said he plans to meet with Alarcon on Friday to discuss the councilman’s proposal, but said his priority is improving regional transportation.