City Council awards a $300,000 contract without going to bid.

City Council awards a $300,000 contract without going to bid

The Los Angeles City Council agreed Feb. 5 to award a $300,000 design contract, proposed by the Community Redevelopment Agency without competitive bidding, for a Hollywood housing project.

The CRA board, which already approved the contract, is hoping to expand a proposed parking lot from 240 spaces to 400 as part of a 75-unit senior housing project on Cherokee Avenue north of Hollywood Boulevard. The agency wants $297,000 in city transportation funds so that the architectural firm of Gordon, Friedman, Baldwinson Associates, which designed the housing units, can devise the five-story structure.

The architectural firm was selected by the housing builder, the Korean Senior Citizen Association, a non-profit group.

CRA sources said the contract should be awarded on a sole-source basis to ensure compatibility between the parking lot and the housing project and as a way to reduce design costs. The City Attorney's Office, at the request of the Department of Transportation, researched the legality of the sole-source contract and advised the city that it is acceptable.

Councilman Michael Woo, who represents the area where the housing project would be built, said, "It seemed to make sense to use the same architect that designed the housing units to design the parking lot."

But Robert Nudelman, chairman of the Hollywood Project Area Committee, a community group that has opposed many CRA projects, said the parking lot was a good idea but that the design contract should not have been done on a sole-source basis.

"We think the estimate for the contract was too high. A competitive bid would have probably saved $100,000 in taxpayer funds," Nudelman said.