Tuttle on CRA Audit

* Re “There Is a CRA Scandal, but Not the One Tuttle Thinks,” Opinion, Dec. 10: The city controller’s recent audit on internal controls in the Community Redevelopment Agency did not attempt to pass final judgment on whether the CRA should have spent less--or perhaps more--on the properties the agency acquired. The problem our audit identified was that these transactions were not done in the full sunshine of public disclosure. The CRA board and the City Council, when asked to approve property acquisition transactions, were not informed of the discrepancy between the acquisition price and the appraisal.

These findings are even more disturbing in the context of a number of other weaknesses in internal controls: appraisals made outside the approved appraisal process, the choice of contractors and consultants without appropriate competition and problems in records management that included missing files.

None of the properties in our audit were obtained by eminent domain. While the concern about the potential for abuse of power in taking over land is legitimate, at the same time the city should not fail to bargain just as hard as any private developer, consistent with redevelopment law, when it negotiates prices. The aim should be a price that is fair for both sides. And putting information about appraisals into the public record, available for examination by the public after negotiations conclude, can serve to protect all parties.

RICK TUTTLE

L.A. City Controller