Waste throws wrench into Los Angeles community colleges' massive project

[XemaSab]

The effects of decades of neglect were all too visible at the nine far-flung campuses. Roofs leaked. Furniture was decrepit. Seismic protections were outdated.

In 2001, leaders of the Los Angeles Community College District decided to take action. With support from construction companies and labor unions, they persuaded voters to pass a series of bond measures over the next seven years that raised $5.7 billion to rebuild every campus.

The money would ease classroom crowding. It would make college buildings safer. New technology would enhance learning. And financial oversight would be stringent.

That is what was promised to Los Angeles voters.

http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-build1-20110227,0,1763444.story

[somone]

1. Fucking obscene

"Bond money that was supposed to pay for new buildings has gone to public relations, travel and promotional videos. The videos alone cost more than $350,000 and include aerial footage shot from chartered helicopters. One was a biography of Larry Eisenberg, the district official in charge of the program; it included childhood photos of Eisenberg set to a soundtrack of piano music by French composer Erik Satie... Eisenberg once joked about the challenge of spending up to $31 million a week. "There was a movie some time ago about someone giving money, and they had to spend it in a certain amount of time," he told a business group in downtown Los Angeles in 2009. "Well, they didn't know us."..."

The entire story is a must-read.

[Liberal_in_LA]

2. thanks for posting this. I could have predicted it would turn into a fiasco from knowing how

LACCD works.

[tammywammy]

3. All I can think is WTF?

I understand the power of a sudden influx of money, but seriously? Approving projects when you've run out of money? Moving buildings after you've spend money on the architects? None of these people should be in charge of anything, ever. I don't understand how they could get away without having an independent person, they just refused? There's no accountability for these people that wasted that bond money.

[Cleita]

4. My late husband, an architect, worked for a company

that designed schools. They seldom took jobs from the Los Angeles School District because they were so dysfunctional that it was nearly impossible to work with them. It appears the LACCD is equally as dysfunctional. What a shame because the community college system in Los Angeles County is one of the last places a poor student can get a start on a higher education.

[Liberal_in_LA]

5. There are good people doing good work within LACCD but it's a VERY dysfunctional

place. Rank and file employees and faculty watched administrators waste the $$ with despair

[XemaSab]

6. This article was SHOCKING

When the voters approve multi-billion-dollar bonds, I think they expect the money to go towards classrooms and not clock towers and gyms.