WATER BONDS SLOW TO FLOW JUST ONE PROJECT DONE SINCE VOTERS SAID YES.

Byline: KERRY CAVANAUGH Staff Writer

More than two years after Los Angeles voters approved a $500 million water-bond issue, only one project has been completed while others remain mired in bureaucracy, and some environmentalists have begun to question city priorities.

Passed overwhelming in November 2004, Measure O raised property taxes to fund projects designed to keep trash and pollutants out of the Los Angeles River and Santa Monica Bay.

In return, voters were promised solid engineering toward solving the city's water pollution and tainted urban runoff, along with innovative projects to create parks and green space.

In the 26 months since the measure was passed, the City Council has approved $70 million for 10 projects and recommended $28 million for four others.

But only one project has been completed, and ground has been broken for just a few others -- frustrating some municipal leaders, including City Councilwoman Jan Perry, who want voters to see the impact of their dollars quickly.

``For people like me -- and (Councilwoman) Janice (Hahn), as well -- we have portions of our districts that have really been mired in serious runoff-contamination problems and need more green space,'' said Perry, who helped initiate the bond measure.

``We have a real sense of urgency to get things proposed, funded and built because it takes so long to get public-funded projects built.''

Plan wanted

Some environmentalists on a Citizens Oversight Committee that reviews each bond project expressed satisfaction with the projects so far, but complained there is no master plan for spending or measuring projects' effectiveness.

And that has raised concerns as the panel prepares to weigh two lake restorations that could suck up $200 million -- or 40 percent of the bond money.

``The lack of a plan has been a real problem. They should have been working on a plan the day after the election,'' said Mark Gold, who is executive director of Heal the Bay and sits on the oversight committee.

Deputy Mayor Nancy Sutley has proposed an overhaul of the process, including adopting a master plan and selecting criteria to guide funding.

``We want to be sure the money we're spending is really going toward improving water quality,'' Sutley said. ``In anything like this, it's OK once you've been through the first round to take a deep breath and see what parts worked and what parts didn't.''

But even as city officials wrestle with spending the bond money, there already is growing concern that it will soon run out if not managed carefully or leveraged with state funds.

Money just a start

While a half-billion dollars sounds like a lot of cash, the estimated cost of cleaning the city's dirty water and polluted bay is $8 billion.

Shahram Kharaghani, who is responsible for implementing the bond measure, said the money will help the city meet some water-quality regulations. But Kharaghani said he'll need $100 million more to comply with regulations on trash and bacteria pollution.

To meet upcoming water-quality regulations, Los Angeles will need another bond measure or two, and it could be hard to persuade voters to say yes unless money from the first water-bond issue is spent well.

``When we spend this money, it's literally a drop in the bucket,'' said Francine Diamond, a member of the oversight committee.

``We're very serious about making sure the money is well spent. We want to be able to say to the voters (the city) did a good job, and we're ready for another water bond.''

But the bond measure itself may be making that difficult.

Intangible mandate

Previous city bond measures raised taxes to build fire stations, libraries and animal shelters -- straightforward projects the city has handled hundreds of times. But Measure O had a more intangible mandate: Clean the water.

Los Angeles is crisscrossed with 7,300 miles of paved streets, littered with trash, stained with motor oil and fouled with pet waste, fertilizers and toxic chemicals. Rain and irrigation wash the muck into concrete drainage channels that carry it into the river and ocean.

Under a 1999 settlement between the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and environmental groups, Los Angeles has 13 years to meet more than 60 water-quality regulations on trash, bacteria, metals, salts and other pollutants.

The measure was designed to raise money to meet those regulations, and the owner of a $350,000 home will pay about $34 annually over 20 years to fund it.

But the ballot measure was deliberately vague because many of the water regulations aren't even written yet.

And it took a year just to create basic project-selection standards to administer the bond money and to make appointments for administrative oversight and the citizens oversight committee.

``This is uncharted territory. We took a real leap of faith as a municipality,'' said City Council President Eric Garcetti, who helped draft the measure.

``Part of the risk of being first is you have to learn the technology. Now that we have some of the lessons from that, we should be able to spend the money a little more quickly and with less guesswork.''

Projects undefined

City leaders also wanted the bond measure to address community desires. So in 2005, officials asked environmental groups, neighborhood councils, city departments and governmental agencies for project ideas. They submitted 52 ideas that were whittled down to 22.

But from the beginning, there was uncertainty about what exactly would qualify as a water project. And then the community and nonprofit groups were expected to prepare detailed, technical proposals -- for free -- and hand them over to the city agencies for implementation.

Eventually, city officials hired a consultant, CH2M Hill, to help groups develop concept reports -- at a cost of roughly $30,000 a piece -- with technical water-quality analysis.

Stephanie Pincetl with the Institute of the Environment at the University of California, Los Angeles, recently critiqued the first phase of the water bond measure and found a lack of order overall and an absence of clarity in guidelines. These problems create a risk of ``increasing disillusionment with city government,'' which could hurt future water-bond proposals, she said.

``We don't want to use this money helter-skelter, because this project seemed good and that project seemed good, but they didn't have the cumulative effect we need.''

kerry.cavanaugh(at)dailynews.com

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APPROVED MEASURE O PROJECTS

1. Catch-basin inserts, Phase 1: 14,000 inserts and screens over storm drains to catch trash -- $17 million.

2. Catch-basin inserts, Phase 2: 6,400 screens -- $10 million.

3. Santa Monica Bay beach bacteria prevention: Equipment to catch water tainted with fertilizer and animal waste -- $6 million.

4. Santa Monica Bay/Ballona Creek projects: Recreation fields, tree wells and open space to catch storm water -- $13.3 million.

5. Inner Cabrillo Beach bacteria prevention: Replace contaminated beach sand and improve water circulation -- $8 million.

6. Oros ``Green Street'': Natural filters on Oros Street to capture storm- water runoff -- $386,000.

7. Cesar Chavez Park groundwater improvement: Upgraded methane gas collection under defunct Sheldon-Arleta Landfill in Sun Valley -- $3 million.

8. South Los Angeles wetlands park: Wetlands park to naturally filter tainted water -- $8.1 million.

9. Imperial Highway sunken median: Plants and filtration along 1.3 miles of median -- $2.7 million.

10. Westminster dog park: Wetlands to capture and treat polluted runoff -- $1.4 million.

(Recommended projects include $17.8 million to transform Strathern Pit in Sun Valley into a lake and wetlands to capture storm water and treat it for reuse.)

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APPROVED MEASURE O PROJECTS (see text)