$500-Million Bond Backed for Police, Fire Depts.

Warning that public safety is at stake, a city blue ribbon panel recommended Wednesday that Los Angeles voters be asked to approve a $500-million bond measure for new facilities.

The package, scaled back from $1.5 billion requested earlier by police and fire chiefs, includes a sixth police station in the San Fernando Valley and replacement of the West Valley Police Station.

Both projects were promised as part of a police bond measure passed in 1989, but never built.

The West Valley station was built in 1960 to accommodate 150 people, but is now the workplace for 400 police officers and civilian employees, said Capt. Lee Carter, the station’s commanding officer.

“It [replacement] is absolutely necessary,” Carter said. “It’s ludicrous.”

While recommending that the bonds fund the West Valley station, the panel excluded additional funds for a second Valley police bureau building.

“There can be little doubt that the conditions in many facilities pose a detrimental threat to public safety in terms of effective use of resources and response times,” the committee of business leaders concluded.

Mayor Richard Riordan, who with council President John Ferraro appointed the panel, said the proposal is a good starting point for talks with the City Council, which will begin hearings on the bond package today.

“I take very seriously their recommendation, but I intend to look at all of the factors and talk to others before I make up my mind,” Riordan said.

Just hours after the report’s release, pressure was already mounting to increase the bond measure. A separate committee that includes representatives of the mayor, city administrative officer and other top officials endorsed the projects proposed by the blue ribbon committee as a minimum but estimated the cost at $704 million.

Also, the committee of city officials proposed that the sixth Valley police station be larger--raising its cost from $30 million to $40 million--to accommodate the staffing level for a second Valley bureau as well.

In addition to providing for a sixth Valley station, and replacement of the West Valley facility, the bond package recommended by the blue ribbon panel would replace three other stations and would allow for construction of a new downtown headquarters building to replace Parker Center.

The bond measure calls for replacement of 11 fire stations, including those in Studio City, Arleta, Northridge, Sun Valley, Tarzana and Woodland Hills. The proposed bond also seeks to build a new air operations center at Van Nuys Airport and construct a new fire dispatch center and emergency operations center downtown. The panel recommended a civilian oversight committee monitor the projects.

City officials have admitted poor performance in administering $176 million in proceeds from a bond bond measure approved by voters in 1989 for police stations, according to City Controller Rick Tuttle.

Several of the projects, including the North Hollywood Police Station, came in over budget and years late, while other promised projects, including the sixth Valley police station, were never delivered because the city ran out of bond money. “It’s a record of broken promises,” Tuttle said.