State Warns Port About Altering Office for School

The Port of Los Angeles is poised to spend $6 million in public funds to renovate a dilapidated building that may house a new charter school this fall, despite repeated warnings from state officials that the spending may be illegal.

Harbor commissioners on Wednesday will consider approving an additional $1 million for design services for the building even though state statutes require port money to be spent on port-related projects.

Port officials insist that they are renovating the vacant building in downtown San Pedro to create office space to ease overcrowding of port employees, not classrooms for a school.

But port and school records obtained by The Times trace a 3 1/2 -year history of behind-the-scenes support for a charter school in that building from port commissioners and managers, who have also promised more than $1 million to fund its maritime curriculum over five years.

Harbor commissioners, however, have never taken a formal vote to endorse the charter high school or to lease the building to the school.

The State Lands Commission, which has jurisdiction over state tidelands, has repeatedly cautioned the port since 2002 that it cannot pay to renovate the building for the school or for its curriculum. The commission is so concerned about the renovation that its staff is now scrutinizing detailed plans to see, for instance, if the bathrooms are being designed to accommodate large numbers of students.

“We’re trying to see if this is plausibly office space for the port, or if it’s just a school,” said Paul D. Thayer, executive officer of the commission.

Port officials did not notify him of the upcoming renovation or the vote scheduled for Wednesday, he said.

The port is subject to the Tidelands Trust, which requires that port funds be used for water-related purposes and the good of California.

The restoration project is one of several recent steps by Mayor James K. Hahn’s administration to channel millions of dollars of port money into San Pedro, where he lives.

The mayor’s aides defended the funding, saying it helps compensate San Pedro and nearby neighborhoods for air pollution and traffic from the city-owned port, which is now the nation’s largest.

Deputy Mayor Doane Liu said Saturday that Hahn favors spending port money on the school. “This is a great use of funds,” Liu said. “The mayor’s fully supportive of the charter school.”

The project has been led by San Pedro residents with ties to Hahn and his sister, Councilwoman Janice Hahn, who also lives in San Pedro and, like her brother, is up for reelection Tuesday. The mayor appointed all five port commissioners, and the president of the school’s board, San Pedro businessman James Cross, is a friend of Janice Hahn and the treasurer of her reelection bid.

Janice Hahn said Saturday that she disagrees with the Lands Commission and said the school will greatly benefit students in the area.

“Hey, you know, it’s a good thing. I’d rather be doing this than putting the money into something that’s detrimental to our community” such as a polluting terminal or a coke pile, she said.

Port Commissioner Camilla Townsend was a founder of the school and had a highly visible role as a leading proponent for two years of her four-year term as a commissioner, voting during that time to spend millions of dollars on the building.

The port paid $5.6 million for the building and two others in the former Evergreen America Corp. office complex in 2002 mainly to provide land to build a port police headquarters, port officials say.

The 72,000-square-foot building sought by school organizers, known as the Brown Building, was gutted after the discovery of mold and asbestos problems, port spokesman Arley Baker said. The $6-million renovation port commissioners approved Dec. 15 will restore it for use as port offices, he said. If the school rents space, he said it would have to pay to create classrooms and other facilities.

School supporters learned late last month that they will receive more than $16 million from the state, which they say will allow them to finance work on the property so that classes can start in September on the first floor of the two-story building. They hope the school will eventually occupy the entire building.

Even before the Harbor Commission voted in October 2002 to buy the Evergreen complex, President Nicholas G. Tonsich consulted the Lands Commission about using the Brown Building for the charter school. The commission concluded that such a school would not be an authorized use of port funds, but said the port could rent to the school for a short time. Despite that warning, the port listed the school as the planned occupant of the building when it began work on a state-mandated environmental review. Once again, the Lands Commission cautioned port officials that the school is not an approved use of port funds.

Townsend, a former principal, was the school ‘s leading proponent. She stepped back from her leadership role in the school in May 2003 to avoid the appearance of a conflict, although, she said last week, “I don’t think anything about my relationship with the school is a conflict.”

Townsend recused herself from board votes related to the Evergreen complex in December 2003 but not from the December 2004 approval of the Brown Building renovation. The city attorney advised her that she was not required to recuse herself because she does not stand to benefit financially from the charter school, Baker said.

She has remained a strong advocate for the school, saying, “Remember, I was the founder of this project. I care about it.”

A June 2004 port e-mail obtained by The Times indicated that Townsend wanted the school to pay no rent for five years and receive $100,000 a year for its maritime curriculum. Port officials confirmed the e-mail exchange but said the school will have to pay market-rate rent. Port officials, however, do plan to subsidize the curriculum.

In a July 2004 letter, Larry A. Keller, then the port’s executive director, promised that the port would provide $400,000 to launch the maritime studies program and $200,000 a year for up to five years the next four years.

The minutes of a Nov. 4, 2004, meeting of the school’s board of directors, obtained by The Times, show its close relationship with port officials. The directors reviewed a project blueprint and were told to make any suggestions for changes by Nov. 20. They were also assured that the port had “guaranteed occupancy by July” and that the port’s attorney and its interim executive director, Bruce Seaton, “have advised that they are committed to whatever it takes to get ready for students.”

Cross said the port was simply treating the school as a prospective tenant. Baker, speaking for the port, said Seaton has not provided any written guarantee to the school.

Baker said the school’s maritime curriculum would greatly benefit students from the San Pedro area and could be used by other schools statewide.

“They have to know the avenues that they can explore,” he said, “whether they’re interested in a job working as a longshoreman or if they want to go into the commerce side of the business or be a scientist tackling the environmental issues.”