EDITORIAL : L.A.'S TRUE CRIME STORY; THOSE RESPONSIBLE FOR THE BELMONT FIASCO MUST BE HELD ACCOUNTABLE.SHODDY incompetence or criminal misconduct? Those are two options facing investigators as they wade through the muck that is the Belmont Learning Center This Belmont Learning Center contains information about a building currently under construction. It may contain information of a speculative nature, and the content may change dramatically as construction progresses and new information becomes available. fiasco. At $170 million and climbing, Belmont's ghostly, hulking hulk·ing also hulk·y adj. Unwieldy or bulky; massive. hulking Adjective big and ungainly Adj. 1. , half-finished skeleton is the costliest high school in the nation. And with experts now saying it might never be safe for students, it could well go down as the most expensive educational disaster in the country's history. After months of pressure, District Attorney Gil Garcetti Gilbert "Gil" Garcetti (b. August 5, 1941) served as Los Angeles County's 39th District Attorney for two terms, from 1992 until November 7, 2000. Background Gil Garcetti received a bachelor's degree in Management from the University of Southern California and a Juris issued a statement Friday assuring the public, ``If we determine a crime has been committed, we will certainly prosecute. . . . (If) we conclude that there is no evidence or insufficient evidence insufficient evidence n. a finding (decision) by a trial judge or an appeals court that the prosecution in a criminal case or a plaintiff in a lawsuit has not proved the case because the attorney did not present enough convincing evidence. to prove that any person or persons committed a crime, we shall issue a comprehensive report of our efforts and our findings.'' The commitment that the public will eventually know the judgment of the district attorney on the Belmont scandal is welcome. But it appears to leave the burden of the probe on the district's own chief of audits and investigations, Don Mullinax, who does not have the power to obtain search warrants or subpoena subpoena (səpē`nə) [Lat.,=under penalty], in law, an order to a witness to appear before a court. A subpoena ad testificandum [Lat. witnesses before a grand jury. Nor does he yet have the funds or staff to get to the bottom of Belmont. As the Daily News' investigation has shown over many months, and especially in the series of articles that started Sunday, the questions are many and the scope of the Belmont catastrophe is so big that there can be no letup let·up n. 1. A reduction in pace, force, or intensity; a slowdown. 2. A temporary stop; a pause. Noun 1. until there are answers. Why was this costly site downtown selected over all others when district officials knew of potential problems from the beginning? How much time and thoroughness went into the report on environmental problems? Who reviewed the report for accuracy and trustworthiness? Were records falsified? Did a disposal of hazardous waste Hazardous waste Any solid, liquid, or gaseous waste materials that, if improperly managed or disposed of, may pose substantial hazards to human health and the environment. Every industrial country in the world has had problems with managing hazardous wastes. occur at the Belmont site? Was there collusion between contractors and district officials to hide the truth from the school board and the public? Did anyone consider the release of hydrogen sulfide hydrogen sulfide, chemical compound, H2S, a colorless, extremely poisonous gas that has a very disagreeable odor, much like that of rotten eggs. It is slightly soluble in water and is soluble in carbon disulfide. gas after removal of 40 feet of soil during excavation? Why are reports on methane gas incomplete? The potential for possible violations of environmental laws exists in all these questions and many others that have arisen. We have argued repeatedly that empaneling a grand jury is the only way to get at the whole truth. It also is the only vehicle for determining the responsibility of school officials for what has gone wrong. So here's our contribution to the list of questions that need answering: Is someone afraid of what a grand jury will find? As things stand, the district is liable for delays in construction, and the lead developer, Kajima Urban Development, already has filed notice that it may charge the district $3.4 million for environmental delays. The high school will not open as scheduled in July 2000 and another round of environmental tests Environmental tests are used to verify a piece of equipment can withstand the rigors of harsh environments, for example:
The public has been bamboozled, and the children have been robbed of nearly $200 million that would have gone for books, teachers' salaries and educational programs. If that's not criminal, what is? And the prospect of abandoning Belmont is growing. It could take 5 to 10 years more to build the school or schools needed in one of the poorest and most impacted areas of the city, where thousands of kids ride buses every day and sit in overcrowded o·ver·crowd v. o·ver·crowd·ed, o·ver·crowd·ing, o·ver·crowds v.tr. To cause to be excessively crowded: a system of consolidation that only overcrowded the classrooms. classrooms. Again we ask, If that's not criminal, what is? |
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