Belmont Complex Debacle

What has not been clear in all the reporting on the controversy over the Belmont Learning Complex (editorial, Nov. 28) is the extent and quality of the advice the Los Angeles Board of Education received concerning the geological hazards prior to embarking on the project.

The Los Angeles city oil field has been producing and has been well understood by geologists for more than 100 years. The hazards associated with building over the oil field have been understood and dealt with effectively by the Los Angeles City Fire Department for decades. These subsurface conditions and related hazards were dramatically highlighted by the 1971 Sylmar earthquake, which tended to shake the oil field into new vitality.

What has been encountered at Belmont was predictable both by geologists and the Los Angeles City Fire Department.

ARTHUR O. SPAULDING

Geologist and Petroleum

Consultant, Ojai

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Your editorial about the Belmont debacle was excellent, but omitted references to a second critical LAUSD mistake, which jacked the total school price up to $265 million. The high school was designed as a mixed-use school/shopping center complex. Half of the building’s cost was for its unoccupied commercial space. Had this mistake also not been made, then a minimum of $100 million might still be available for construction of other schools.

DICK PLATKIN

Los Angeles