CALLING 911 IN VALLEY RIBBON CUT ON CENTER.

Byline: Joseph Giordono Staff Writer

WEST HILLS - Nine years after voters approved funding, Mayor James Hahn and other city officials stood Monday on a platform decorated with blue and white balloons and proudly cut the ribbon Monday on the new LAPD emergency dispatch center in the northwest San Fernando Valley.

But except for placards noting what the cavernous spaces will eventually house, the building was empty - the equipment and furnishings will not be delivered, installed and operational until October 2003, officials said.

Among the planned furnishings is one that already has sparked controversy: a donated $50,000 glass wall listing and thanking the dispatch center's contractors and vendors, many of whom have yet to complete their work.

Police Commission President Raquelle de la Rocha plans to question the ethics of having the wall when the panel holds its regular meeting today.

``I am not suggesting an adversarial relationship, but I do not feel comfortable with the city soliciting or accepting donations from contractors who have not delivered on their obligations,'' de la Rocha said in an interview.

``I think it is better if we keep an arm's length until the work is performed.''

Among those vendors is Motorola, which has a $50 million contract to provide new digital police radios that have been the target of complaints from de la Rocha and others alleging shortcomings in the new system.

But city officials praised the on-time (once contracts were finally awarded) and on-budget construction of the Valley Dispatch Center, built on the former Hughes site near Roscoe Boulevard and Fallbrook Avenue. It is a $40 million twin of the new downtown dispatch center next to Parker Center.

The downtown center was initially proposed on city-owned land at a police training facility in Westchester. The two facilities - each capable of serving the entire city - were proposed at distant sites to improve the chances that one of them would remain operational after a natural disaster.

But city officials later said they preferred to have one of the facilities close to police headquarters so it would not be cut off after a disaster.

Both of the communication centers were funded by Proposition M, a $235 million bond issue approved by city voters in 1992. That measure passed after similar proposals were voted down in 1990 and 1991.

Police officials said the Valley center will be instrumental in handling a 911 system load that topped 3.2 million calls last year, including 1.8 million emergency calls.

``Sometimes good things take a long time to make,'' said LAPD Chief Information Officer Roger W. Ham. ``We may not be building a cathedral, but we are building a facility that truly responds to the prayers of many people in times of need.''

The three-story, 59,000-square-foot building will house 80 emergency 911 dispatchers and is designed to withstand power outages, water outages and other natural disasters - including an earthquake of up to 8.3 magnitude.

``This facility is evidence of our strong commitment to this part of the city,'' Hahn said.

``This center is about saving lives. It's about responding to emergencies. It's about those most terrifying hours in a person's life when they have to dial 911. They want to be able to get through, and they don't want to get a busy signal.''

The two new dispatch centers are intended to cut police response time from a 7 1/2-minute average to 5 1/2 minutes. With both centers operating, callers can expect a 911 operator to pick up within 10 seconds or about the third ring, officials predicted.

Several dispatchers, officially known as police service representatives, were on hand to witness the ribbon-cutting ceremony. They uniformly praised the squat, cubish, steel-and-glass structure as a welcome change from the current downtown location.

``It's a lot better than sitting four stories underground,'' said Maria Quintaro, a San Fernando resident and 6-year veteran dispatcher. ``It's much more spacious and actually has windows. I am looking forward to working here.''

CAPTION(S):

2 photos

Photo:

(1) City officials survey the site of the new LAPD Dispatch Center in West Hills.

(2) LAPD dispatcher Rhonda Johnson listens to speakers during ribbon- cutting ceremonies Monday at the new LAPD Dispatch Center in West Hills.

Tina Burch/Staff Photographer