Safety Bond Measure OKd for City Ballot

The City Council unanimously decided Friday to ask Los Angeles voters to approve a $744-million bond measure for police and fire stations, hoping that cramped and dilapidated conditions in existing facilities will help win voters’ support.

The massive bond measure on the April ballot would provide money to replace 17 fire stations and four police stations and to build two additional police stations--in the Mid-Wilshire area and north San Fernando Valley.

A new downtown police headquarters and a replacement of the Fire Department’s helicopter base at Van Nuys Airport would also be funded by the measure, which would add $31 to the annual property tax bill for a home valued at $162,000.

“These are crucial public safety needs,” said Councilman Mike Feuer.

However, the last police bond measure, which asked for $171 million, failed to win the two-thirds vote required for passage in 1995 after critics noted that a previous police bond measure failed to deliver all of the promised projects.

The two additional police stations included in the new bond measure and replacement of the West Valley police station were included in a 1989 bond measure, but they were never built because the city ran out of money.

“How many times do they have to vote before they get the job done?” Councilman Nate Holden asked Friday.

Jonathan Coupal, president of the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Assn., said he is skeptical about the need for such a large bond measure.

City officials say that the Police and Fire Departments need more than $2 billion for new facilities, but have agreed to go to voters in five-year phases, the first being the measure on the April ballot.