SOBOROFF ASKS LAUSD ABOUT DEAL WITH ARMY; BB PANEL MUST OK SPENDING.Byline: Greg Gittrich Staff Writer The head of the Proposition BB bond oversight committee said Thursday that the Los Angeles school The Los Angeles School of Urbanism is an academic movement emerged during the mid-1980s, loosely based at the University of Southern California and UCLA, that poses a challenge to the dominant Chicago School of Urbanism. board has entered into an open-ended construction management contract with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and has not substantiated its decision to recruit the federal agency. Steve Soboroff Steve Soboroff (born August 31, 1948) is a real estate developer and president of Playa Vista. Mr. Soboroff is the Chairperson of the Leavey Center for the Study of Los Angeles at Loyola Marymount University. , chairman of the citizens oversight committee, said the panel will hold a special meeting next month to review the Dec. 6 pact signed between the Army and LAUSD LAUSD Los Angeles Unified School District (Los Angeles, CA) Chief Operating Officer Chief Operating Officer (COO) The officer of a firm responsible for day-to-day management, usually the president or an executive vice-president. Howard Miller Howard Miller may refer to
``Bringing in the Army Corps might be a good thing to do. But they have to tell us why,'' said Soboroff, who one day earlier got into a disagreement with Miller at a Proposition BB meeting. ``I don't believe the Board of Education asked the important, tough questions before going forward with this decision,'' Soboroff said. ``Hopefully this all works out.'' The school board approved the agreement on Tuesday - without having the document before them for review. The board action left open the possibility of using money from the $2.4 billion Proposition BB bond to fund the corps' work, but LAUSD officials never asked the oversight committee for input on the deal. As approved by voters in April 1997, the Proposition BB measure requires the oversight committee to sign off on all uses of the bond money. According to according to prep. 1. As stated or indicated by; on the authority of: according to historians. 2. In keeping with: according to instructions. 3. Soboroff, the oversight committee has reservations about the agreement because it calls for the corps to be paid in advance and allows the district to expand the scope of work without review by the school board or oversight committee. A controversial section of the four-page contract reads: ``Goods and services In economics, economic output is divided into physical goods and intangible services. Consumption of goods and services is assumed to produce utility (unless the "good" is a "bad"). It is often used when referring to a Goods and Services Tax. which the (Army) may provide . . . include engineering services for LAUSD . . . and such other related goods or services as may be agreed upon Adj. 1. agreed upon - constituted or contracted by stipulation or agreement; "stipulatory obligations" stipulatory noncontroversial, uncontroversial - not likely to arouse controversy in the future.'' The school board approved the agreement as part of a report that calls for the Army to receive $1.2 million to manage the construction of new schools and oversee technology improvements at existing campuses through March 31. The board majority rejected amendments to the agreement that would have required board approval for any changes to the Army's scope of work. At Wednesday's Proposition BB meeting, the oversight committee expressed concerns about being left out of the loop and asked whether the corps has a proven ability to build schools and handle environmental problems. Board President Genethia Hayes apologized for not informing the committee about the deal and Miller agreed to answer all the panel's questions. But the meeting deteriorated into a standoff stand·off n. 1. A tie or draw, as in a contest. 2. A situation in which one force neutralizes or counterbalances the other. 3. A standoff insulator. adj. Standoffish. between Miller and the committee after Miller produced an internal audit that alleged an excessive amount of the bond money was being used to manage the repair projects. The committee members denied the allegations, but the disagreement left nearly all of the questions about the Army unanswered. As a result, both sides have agreed to convene CONVENE, civil law. This is a technical term, signifying to bring an action. a special joint meeting next month to address the oversight committee's concerns. ``I'm always happy to meet with Soboroff and the committee,'' Miller said. ``I have no idea why Soboroff is continuing to defend the existing project management fees . . . Every requirement necessary for BB approval will be met.'' Following the joint meeting, the oversight committee will decide whether to release bond money to fund the deal with the Army. Without the panel's approval, the money would likely come from LAUSD's general fund. Several Proposition BB committee members said the situation is similar to 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. In 1997, the school board approved using Proposition BB bond money to build Belmont. The board never received approval from the oversight committee, which eventually denied the funding request. Consequently, nearly all of the $170 million sunk into the environmentally troubled campus has come out of the district's general fund. Staff writer David R. Baker contributed to this story. |
|
||||||||||||
Printer friendly
Cite/link
Email
Feedback
Reader Opinion