Officials of the State of California won't disclose the price their counterparts with the City of Los Angeles have proposed to pay for a 0.7-acre parcel of land they want to purchase and develop into a park at 9th and Hill streets.
Los Angeles officials have announced plans to seek $5 million from a state fund for public parks and an additional $1.6 million from the city's coffers to pay for the deal. They have declined to publicly disclose how much of the total of $6.6 million they plan to use for the actual purchase of the parcel of land, however — or any estimate of how much would go for adding a performance stage, a play area, "fitness stations" and other features on the site.
An absence of any breakdown of the estimated cost of the land and the proposed amenities on the site makes it difficult for community members and other observers to determine if they think the plan is feasible or desirable, raising concerns among some about the official silence.
Some observers are also on alert about the proposal at 9th and Hill streets because it comes approximately one year after city officials agreed to pay $5.6 million for a similarly sized parcel of land intended to be turned into a park on the 400 block of S. Spring Street. That price tag included only the cost of the land, and city officials eventually cut their offer to $5.1 million after a series of reports in the Garment & Citizen shed light on a number of irregularities and inconsistencies in methods used to determine the value of the parcel.
Meanwhile, the real estate market has yet to see a significant recovery in the Downtown area over the past year.
Other observers have wondered about plans to spend money to create a new park when the city is contemplating drastic cutbacks that could include layoffs of employees and cuts to programs at many existing facilities (see related story from Watts Times, "Advocates Say Layoffs Threaten 'One Watts' and Many Children").
City officials are apparently under no requirement to keep the information on the price of the land at 9th and Hill streets private. Officials of the Los Angeles Department of Recreation & Parks and 14th District City Councilmember Jose Huizar — who has taken a lead in pushing for the purchase of the land — have nonetheless declined to respond to inquiries about the price as well as their reasons for keeping the figure private.
State officials did respond to inquiries, telling the Garment & Citizen that their decision to withhold the information is a matter of discretionary policy and not due to any laws or regulations prohibiting such disclosures.
Roy Stearns, director of communications for the California Department of Parks — which oversees the grant program that would provide the $5 million to the city — indicated that the decision to withhold information on proposed prices for real estate is based more on internal, bureaucratic considerations than anything else. He said that making such information public could lead to a "never-ending process of people submitting bids," with applicants adjusting their grant proposals to make them more attractive for state funding.
Stearns did not directly respond to a query on whether state officials had considered setting up a process that allowed grant seekers only one chance to submit a proposal, with no possibility of adjusting terms at a later date. Such a practice is sometimes used in similar situations in the private sector.
But state officials didn't want to "put one applicant at a disadvantage in terms of competitiveness against another applicant," Stearns said.
Stearns also declined to respond directly to an inquiry on whether a more competitive structure for the grant-proposal process might lead to greater efficiency in using the state funds, which come from a pool of $5.4 billion in money raised through bond sales under Proposition 84, which passed in a statewide vote in 2006. The bonds issued used under Prop 84 will eventually have to be repaid by taxpayers, with interest.
Stearns said that a competitive field is "good for the state when they're bidding for a business contract," but added that, under the Prop 84 program. "we just want people to submit a fair and reasonable and appropriate grant application that meets the requirements of the law."
A number of community members who have expressed concerns about the lack of information on the price the city has proposed to pay for the site at 9th and Hill street have requested that their names be withheld from publication over fears of retaliation from City Hall.
The proposal has drawn support from a band of local residents, however, including a number who own or rent condominiums at the Eastern Columbia Building at 9th Street and Broadway. The site they hope to see purchased as a park is immediately adjacent to the Eastern Columbia.
A final decision from state officials on the city's grant application is expected in September.
Related article:
• "Advocates Say Layoffs Threaten 'One Watts' and Many Children"
Jerry Sullivan is editor of the L.A. Garment & Citizen.
Photo by L.A. Garment & Citizen.
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