Post by blackcrowheart on Mar 30, 2007 8:39:00 GMT -5
Playa Vista dispute centers on usage of bond cash
Posted by: "SAL CAMARILLo" salcamarillo1@sbcglobal.net salcamarillo1
Thu Jan 18, 2007 4:46 am (PST)
But L.A. still OKs $11.4 million in Mello-Roos money for drainage channel work.
Playa Vista developers won approval from the Los Angeles City Council on Tuesday to use $11.4 million in bond money for a drainage channel project that involved the excavation of American Indian grave sites.
With a 13-0 vote, the council agreed to allow the Mello-Roos money -- which is typically used for infrastructure improvements such as new streets and parks -- to pay for the costs of the archaeological work on the east-west channel at Playa Vista.
Councilman Bill Rosendahl, who represents the area, also won approval for his office to work with the developers and American Indian tribes to craft a plan for reburial.
"I look forward to the day that we can rebury, with reverence, the remains of those that have been disturbed," Rosendahl said.
But some Westside residents and members of the Gabrielino-Tongva tribe protested the move, arguing that Mello-Roos money shouldn't be used to reimburse the developers for excavation costs.
Chief Anthony Morales of the Gabrielino-Tongva San Gabriel Band of Mission Indians protested the further disturbance of the site with any additional work needed to develop the water route.
"If this was any other ethnic group, there would be immediate action to stop it," Morales said. "This is an inappropriate use of state money." Judith Davies, a teacher from Santa Monica, said afterward that "it's really not what Mello-Roos is (intended) to do."
But city officials said that the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers would not have allowed the developers to move the waterway to a new area and that they think the use of the money is appropriate as a way to handle the American Indian remains and artifacts from the site.
Some Playa Vista residents defended the move, too, saying their Mello-Roos bond payments have already brought walkways, roads and street lamps. The cost of building the channel known as Playa Vista's Riparian Corridor was initially estimated at about $3.8 million, according to a staff report.
Playa Vista spokesman Steve Sugerman said the developers asked the council to adjust the infrastructure budget because that figure and several others had changed since the expenses were projected several years ago.
The extra $11.4 million required for the excavation work along the channel was necessary, in large part because of the experts called in for the job, he said.
"It was an expensive project with the most expert archeologists in the country," Sugerman said. "They did it in a very meticulous manner."
Posted by: "SAL CAMARILLo" salcamarillo1@sbcglobal.net salcamarillo1
Thu Jan 18, 2007 4:46 am (PST)
But L.A. still OKs $11.4 million in Mello-Roos money for drainage channel work.
Playa Vista developers won approval from the Los Angeles City Council on Tuesday to use $11.4 million in bond money for a drainage channel project that involved the excavation of American Indian grave sites.
With a 13-0 vote, the council agreed to allow the Mello-Roos money -- which is typically used for infrastructure improvements such as new streets and parks -- to pay for the costs of the archaeological work on the east-west channel at Playa Vista.
Councilman Bill Rosendahl, who represents the area, also won approval for his office to work with the developers and American Indian tribes to craft a plan for reburial.
"I look forward to the day that we can rebury, with reverence, the remains of those that have been disturbed," Rosendahl said.
But some Westside residents and members of the Gabrielino-Tongva tribe protested the move, arguing that Mello-Roos money shouldn't be used to reimburse the developers for excavation costs.
Chief Anthony Morales of the Gabrielino-Tongva San Gabriel Band of Mission Indians protested the further disturbance of the site with any additional work needed to develop the water route.
"If this was any other ethnic group, there would be immediate action to stop it," Morales said. "This is an inappropriate use of state money." Judith Davies, a teacher from Santa Monica, said afterward that "it's really not what Mello-Roos is (intended) to do."
But city officials said that the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers would not have allowed the developers to move the waterway to a new area and that they think the use of the money is appropriate as a way to handle the American Indian remains and artifacts from the site.
Some Playa Vista residents defended the move, too, saying their Mello-Roos bond payments have already brought walkways, roads and street lamps. The cost of building the channel known as Playa Vista's Riparian Corridor was initially estimated at about $3.8 million, according to a staff report.
Playa Vista spokesman Steve Sugerman said the developers asked the council to adjust the infrastructure budget because that figure and several others had changed since the expenses were projected several years ago.
The extra $11.4 million required for the excavation work along the channel was necessary, in large part because of the experts called in for the job, he said.
"It was an expensive project with the most expert archeologists in the country," Sugerman said. "They did it in a very meticulous manner."