Link To RonKayeLA Article: "Wanted: A Thousand Citizen Watchdogs"

WHEN WENDY GREUEL AUDITS SHADY AS HELL $20 BILLION IN LAUSD CONSTRUCTION SPENDING AND SAYS, "ALL IS WELL"...TIME TO POST THIS: (How can you spend half a billion on ONE SCHOOL and say, "Hunky-Dory?") Wendy, maybe you should call ZD for some tips on what just happened under your cute little haircut and DUMB HELLEN KELLER NOSE!

DON'T EVER VOTE FOR THE NAME, "WENDY GREUEL" no matter HOW MUCH Diane Fienstein begs you to.

Wanted: A Thousand Citizen Watchdogs

By

Ron Kaye

 on October 28, 2010 

EXCERPTS:  

Earlier this month, LACCD named Christine Marez to be its newly-created inspector general with a $705,000 a year five-year contract for her newly-created firm.

For the past four years, she lists herself as "Director of Policies" on construction, formally known as the Director of the Office of Construction Management Standards.

On May 19, she posted this: "My new firm is at the top of the list for an amazing contract!! Asking for your love and support...tomorrow at 2 p.m. they choose us unanimously!"

Apparently successful in winning that contract, she went after the college inspector general contract in August and was awared it on Oct. 6 by the LACCD board.

"By employing an inspector general who reports directly to us, the Board will be improving our oversight of the District's bond program and hopefully will be increasing efficiencies over the remaining years of the construction projects," said Georgia L. Mercer, president of the Board of Trustees.

Maybe, but a lot of the problems in the LAUSD construction program involved the use of consultants and the lack of policies and standards, according to a Feb. 24, 2009 audit by then Inspector General Jerry Thornton.

In 2006-07, shortly after Marez went from being a consultant to an LAUSD employee, he found there were 1,277 contractors in the Facilities Division earning $186 million -- 1.7 times the cost of full-time employees. 

He noted the lines of authority between staff and consultants were "blurry," causing a "lack of accountability" and hiring other consultants from their own firms as well as signing their time sheets.

Fourteen months later, an LAUSD consultant was indicted for allegedly funneling business from the construction program to a  business he co-owned and Superintendent Ramon Cortines asked LA City Controller to conduct an audit for other possible conflicts of interests.

On Wednesday, Greuel released her audit which some might call a whitewash or at the least a burying of a decade of mismanagement and giving a clean bill of health to the district -- and presumably Marez, who shared responsibility for the policies and standards of the construction program.

"While we found some potential conflicts of interest during an earlier era at the district, it appears that the LAUSD under its current leadership has made significant progress in reforming the process for awarding construction projects," said City Controller Greuel. "The district still has room for improvement, but they appear to be on the right path." [INSERT ZUMA DOGG SPIT-TAKE, HERE!]


THIS IS JUST EXCERPT OF BIG POST AT RON KAYE LA. HERE IS THE DIRECT LINK TO POST.

4PM - BREAKING: L.A. City Controller Releases Audit of City's Red Light Camera (HEAR CONTROLLER'S PRESS CONFERENCE AUDIO, HERE.)

From: LAPD BLOG:

CITY CONTROLLER RELEASES AUDIT OF CITY’S PHOTO RED LIGHT CAMERA PROGRAM

Cameras Meant to Reduce Accidents Have Not Been Placed at Most Dangerous Intersections

September 29, 2010 – City Controller Wendy Greuel was joined by LAPD Chief Charlie Beck and City Councilmember Dennis Zine to release an audit of the effectiveness of the City’s Photo Red Light Program (PRLP). The City currently has 32 cameras installed at intersections throughout Los Angeles, which as intended to reduce traffic accidents by catching drivers who break the law running red lights.

However, the audit found the red light cameras have not been installed at the City’s most dangerous 32 intersections. There were numerous reasons for this, including placing at least one red light camera in each of the Council Districts, weak infrastructure at some locations and not wanted to conduct the additional analyses required for State controlled-intersections.

“If public safety is the number one priority of the Photo Red Light Program then the most dangerous intersections should be selected, period,” said City Controller Greuel. “Regardless of the reasons, the cameras are only effective if they are placed at the most dangerous intersections. If we don’t use them effectively we are putting Angelenos lives in danger.”

While there have been no fatalities at monitored intersections since the current contract was implemented in 2006, the audit found the PRLP cannot document conclusively an increase in public safety and a more comprehensive approach to evaluating the PRLP is needed. There was only a reduction in traffic accidents at 50% of the intersections with red light cameras for the six months after a camera was installed when compared with the six months before it was installed.

“I believe any program that can prevent accidents and prevent even one fatality from occurring is worthwhile,” Controller Greuel said. “However, we must be transparent about the cost to the City during these dire economic times.”

In addition the City has expended $2.6 million to operate the red light camera program over the past two years. However, having these cameras allows police officers to help fight crime in other parts of the City. If the cameras were not installed it would require more than 100 motor officers with salaries in excess of $10 million dollars to monitor the 32 PRLP intersections.

September 30, 2010