$744-Million Bond OKd for Ballot

The City Council voted unanimously Friday to ask Los Angeles voters to approve a $744-million bond measure for police and fire stations on the April ballot, hoping voters will be moved by cramped and dilapidated conditions in existing facilities.

The massive bond measure 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 building and a replacement for 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,” Councilman Mike Feuer said.

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

The new bond measure calls for two additional police stations and replacement of the West Valley Police Station, which were all included in a 1989 bond measure but never built because the city had run out of money.

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

While not yet having taken a position, Jonathan Coupal, president of the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Assn., said he is “skeptical” about the need for such a large bond measure.

“This is a substantial increase [over past bond measures],” Coupal said. “We believe the city will have difficulty convincing the voters that it’s necessary.”

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

Council members acknowledged Friday that they face a difficult task persuading voters to approve a much larger public safety bond than the one that received 62.5% of the vote four years ago, but they say changes are being made to win voters’ confidence.

“A very strong consensus has been built between the council, the mayor, the Police Department the Fire Department to do things better and differently,” Councilwoman Laura Chick said. “We have learned some hard lessons, through mistakes that the city has made.”

The new package includes safeguards to make sure projects are completed within five years and on budget, including appointment of a program manager, project managers, an oversight committee that includes the mayor and a citizens’ advisory committee.

Past police stations have been customized for the area they serve. The new projects, however, would utilize a “cookie-cutter” design in which all stations have the same design, officials said.

Chick, who chairs the council’s Public Safety Committee, said the city is asking voters for “a very significant sum of money but asking them in a very responsible and careful way.”

Mayor Richard Riordan, whose support is viewed as critical to win voters’ OK, will review the bond proposal before taking a position, but was looking favorably at the package Friday, said Deane Leavenworth, a Riordan spokesman.

“The mayor feels that it’s a strong measure that will increase public safety across the city and has the kind of oversight and accountability that will ensure that projects are completed on time and on budget,” Leavenworth said.

Councilman Joel Wachs said the campaign for passage of the police and fire bonds should be honest about past mistakes and outline how problems have been corrected.

“You have to be straightforward to anticipate the legitimate questions people will have because of past failures,” Wachs said. “Otherwise, there’s still a credibility gap.”

City leaders have already begun talking about organizing a political campaign to secure passage of the bond measure, Chick said.

“There were political campaigns for the [1998] library and zoo bond measures and they were successful because they explained what value the voters got out of giving their money,” Chick said.

The council also gave final approval Friday to place a $36-million bond measure on the April ballot to expand the California Science Center in Exposition Park.