Romer Seeks $800,000 Study of Belmont Site

Seven months after the Los Angeles Board of Education voted to abandon the unfinished Belmont Learning Complex, Supt. Roy Romer on Tuesday proposed to spend $800,000 to complete environmental studies on the controversial project--a move that could lead to its revival.

On the face of it, Romer’s plan calls only for completing an environmental study of various options for use of the property: parkland, commercial or residential development or a school. But district officials said that the proposal indicates that the $200-million downtown high school, scrapped by the school board in January for safety reasons, is moving back into consideration.

“Belmont was down, but not out,” said Angelo Bellomo, the Los Angeles Unified School District’s interim environmental health and safety director. “But then it’s difficult to argue that there’s any harm in completing environmental studies.”

The board authorized Romer a month ago to draft a proposal for an environmental study of various nonclassroom options for the property. But the plan presented behind closed doors Tuesday would go beyond that to include the possibility of finishing the school, which is now about half-built.

“I’m trying to be respectful of the very tough decision the board made in the past,” Romer said in an interview. “But I want facts on the table so we can get past what has been a very divisive issue for this city.

“I’m not trying to be a hero; I’m just trying to get a job done,” he added. “We need facts to know what to do with that property, whether it should be used as parkland, or for residential or commercial uses or for a school.”

Romer has wanted to resolve the Belmont issue since the board signed his contract a few weeks ago. The seemingly endless controversy over the high school threatens to forestall other badly needed classroom construction efforts, he feels.

Since the decision to end the project, pressure from politicians and community leaders to revive Belmont has mounted. At the time of the decision to kill the project, district officials said they could quickly find a new site to build a high school to serve the Belmont area just west of downtown. But the effort to find alternative sites has fared poorly, with school officials meeting opposition to every site proposed as a replacement.

The school board’s decision in January to end the Belmont project stemmed from environmental concerns. The site is on top of a now-abandoned oil field that continuously leaks potentially toxic hydrogen sulfide and explosive methane gas. Supporters of the project have said that technology exists to control the risk. Opponents say the site can never be made safe enough to justify sending thousands of children to school there.

Given the implications of his plan, which would take six to eight months to complete, Romer says he does not expect the board to take action on it until next month.

School board members expressed mixed feelings about the proposal.

“As far as I’m concerned, Belmont is a dead issue,” board member Caprice Young said. “We had all the facts we needed when we reached a decision in January. The vote was 5 to 2, and I don’t see any of those votes changing.”

“We wanted a gutsy superintendent,” she added. “But that also means we may choose to differ.”

But Romer, long a successful politician, seems unlikely to have made his proposal without some reason to believe that some votes may be fluid.

Board member Victoria Castro, a longtime supporter of Belmont, sided with Romer.

“It’s extremely important for us to complete the study if we are ever going to put Belmont behind us,” she said. “This was a brave move on Romer’s part. But we must not forget we have a $150-million investment in that site.”

Some critics of the Los Angeles Unified School District praised Romer’s move as a significant step toward breaking the long-standing logjam over Belmont.

“This pleases us tremendously; it means Belmont is not dead,” said Louisa Ollague, legislative deputy for Los Angeles County Supervisor Gloria Molina. “I think it shows Romer is committed to getting a resolution.

“I only wonder why these board talks must always be done behind closed doors,” she added. “This is an issue that affects the lives and livelihood of our children.”

The board earlier this year declined an offer by Molina of $1 million from her official discretionary funds to continue studies on the environmental hazards at Belmont and the surrounding area. The proposed school would serve one of the most severely overcrowded communities in the district, with more than 3,400 students bused out of the area daily. The board has also turned down a similar offer from the committee that oversees the massive school reconstruction program funded by Proposition BB.

Last week, The Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund filed a lawsuit against the school district, demanding that it reconsider its decision to kill the project.

The suit argued that the board’s action violated a state law that would require an environmental impact report before ending the project.

On Tuesday, MALDEF attorney Hector Villagra urged that the board adopt Romer’s plan.

“It’s the reasonable, prudent and legal thing to do,” he said. “It’s also the height of rational decision making to want to know what it would take to finish the school and how that would compare with the completion of all other options on the table.”