Riordan Pushes for Funding

Mayor Richard Riordan paid a visit to the West Valley police station on Wednesday to ask residents to pass a $744-million public-safety bond measure.

“These bonds are necessary to prepare our Police Department and our Fire Department for the 21st century,” Riordan told a group of about 30 residents. “We need these facilities to hold the increasing numbers of officers.”

The April 13 measure, which requires two-thirds voter approval, would fund, among numerous other facilities, two new Los Angeles police stations in the Valley--one of them a replacement for the crowded West Valley headquarters.

There are now 1,900 officers in the Valley, compared with 1,200 in 1992, said Los Angeles Police Department Deputy Chief Michael J. Bostic. “There’s just no room for us anymore,” he said.

Property taxes would fund the bond measure. Riordan said there would be no “hanky panky” this time, referring to past bond measures that did not deliver what had been promised.

An oversight committee would provide accountability, he said, and residents could attend the committee’s meetings, which would be held every three months.

There will be language saying the money “has to be used exactly as we promised,” Riordan said.

When a resident asked why property owners were being singled out to fund the bond, Riordan said the city lacked sufficient state funds for the new construction and that it did not want to frighten away business with more taxes. The expense to most residents’ annual property tax bill would be $2.50 a month, he said.

The audience at the West Valley station generally supported Riordan. The police needs new facilities, said Lana Kuhlen, coordinator of the West Valley Crisis Response Team, which works with the police. “It’s so overcrowded,” she said.

“If I worked here I would get discouraged,” added Ellie Vargas, another member of the crisis response team. “I would get the feeling nobody cares.”

Also during the meeting, Riordan joked with Bostic about the time officers responding to an alarm at Riordan’s home mistakenly began to frisk the mayor. Bostic cringed; he oversaw the Westside Division at the time.