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Los Angeles Daily News
Aug 30 2014
Playing 'Let's Make a Deal' the L.A. way
By Doug McIntyre, Los Angeles Daily News
The original plan by the Los Angeles City Council was to lease the
building for $1 a year for 50 years. The property has a rental value
over the next 30 years of $5.3 million to $6.6. million.
Remember "Let's Make a Deal"?
Monty Hall?
"Door number one, door number two, or door number three?"
Monty would race through the crowd offering $50 to anyone who had a
hard-boiled egg in their pocket. It was a huge hit show.
But last Tuesday, L.A. City Councilman Paul Koretz hosted his own
version of "Let's Make a Deal" that makes Monty Hall look like an
amateur.
The contestant was the Armenian Cultural Foundation, and they had
exactly what they needed in their pockets, the Los Angeles City
Council.
After years of scheming, the council finally gift-wrapped and
delivered Old Fire House 83 at 5001 Balboa Blvd. in Encino to the ACF
for a dollar a year for 30 years.
Let's make a deal, indeed.
A stink was raised last year when Koretz and the council agreed to
hand over the 20,000-square-foot parcel for a dollar a year for 50
years. After a KABC radio reporter cornered Koretz at City Hall, the
councilman promised to "send this back and have another review for 90
days."
But you can't make a three-minute omelet in two minutes and you can't
make a problem years in the making go away in 90 days. The L.A. way
can't be rushed.
The public needs time to forget, fresh scandals to distract the media.
Now, 13 months later, the time was right. A unanimous City Council has
instructed the Department of General Services to "negotiate and
execute a lease agreement with the ACF for $1 a year."
I suppose we should be happy it's only for 30 years. That's 20 years
less horrible than the original outrage Koretz had orchestrated.
Still, a parcel of property the city itself acknowledges has a rental
value over the next 30 years of $5.3 million to $6.6 million will
instead bring in a whopping $30.
Not $30 million, not $30,000, but 30 stinking bucks.
With a straight face the council's instructions claim this deal will
"not have an impact on the General Fund."
That is a lie.
A similar decommissioned firehouse at 10234 National Blvd. was sold at
auction on Oct. 31, 2012, by the Department of General Services for
$1,150,000; yet Fire Station 83 was given away for $30 by a City
Council that can't come up a bag of cement to patch our sidewalks.
While the deal won't take money out of the general revenue fund, it
doesn't put money into it either and that's an "impact."
The council claims the deal will generate "$16.9 million in economic
community benefits" without citing where they get that number or even
what it means. What are "economic community benefits" and how are they
calculated?
A sale of the land would mean cash for a cash-starved city facing a
$160 million deficit next year and hundreds of millions more in the
years to come. Condos would mean housing in a city with a serious
housing shortage. Development of the property would mean jobs and
taxes in a city desperate for both.
The Armenian Cultural Foundation (identified in the official City
Council meeting minutes as "ACF," never by its full name) has agreed
to invest $1.2 million to $1.5 million in renovations, and the place
clearly needs it. After seven years of neglect, you'd think Richard
Alarcón owns the place.
But even with this investment by the ACF, L.A. would do better selling
the property or repairing it and renting it at full market value.
Paul Koretz wouldn't hear of it.
"Rather than letting this go out there for anybody that's interested
and wind up building condos, we want to make sure this is something
for the community."
Spit take!
Since when is Paul Koretz opposed to condo construction? How many
millions has the City Council given away to developers for condo
construction at the gigantic Westfield mall project in Canoga Park and
countless other sites.
But if you want play "Let's Make a Deal" in L.A. you have to have more
than a hard-boiled egg in your pocket. And the Armenian Cultural
Foundation came to play. As reported by "City Watch" columnist Jack
Humphreville, the ACF put $100,000 into Eric Garcetti's mayoral
campaign.
Lost in all this is something fundamental; Old Firehouse 83 is not
Paul Koretz's firehouse to give away. It's not the City Council's
firehouse. It's your firehouse.
Correction, it was your firehouse.
Once again the taxpayers have been zonked.
http://www.dailynews.com/government-and-politics/20140830/playing-lets-make-a-deal-the-la-way
Aug 30 2014
Playing 'Let's Make a Deal' the L.A. way
By Doug McIntyre, Los Angeles Daily News
The original plan by the Los Angeles City Council was to lease the
building for $1 a year for 50 years. The property has a rental value
over the next 30 years of $5.3 million to $6.6. million.
Remember "Let's Make a Deal"?
Monty Hall?
"Door number one, door number two, or door number three?"
Monty would race through the crowd offering $50 to anyone who had a
hard-boiled egg in their pocket. It was a huge hit show.
But last Tuesday, L.A. City Councilman Paul Koretz hosted his own
version of "Let's Make a Deal" that makes Monty Hall look like an
amateur.
The contestant was the Armenian Cultural Foundation, and they had
exactly what they needed in their pockets, the Los Angeles City
Council.
After years of scheming, the council finally gift-wrapped and
delivered Old Fire House 83 at 5001 Balboa Blvd. in Encino to the ACF
for a dollar a year for 30 years.
Let's make a deal, indeed.
A stink was raised last year when Koretz and the council agreed to
hand over the 20,000-square-foot parcel for a dollar a year for 50
years. After a KABC radio reporter cornered Koretz at City Hall, the
councilman promised to "send this back and have another review for 90
days."
But you can't make a three-minute omelet in two minutes and you can't
make a problem years in the making go away in 90 days. The L.A. way
can't be rushed.
The public needs time to forget, fresh scandals to distract the media.
Now, 13 months later, the time was right. A unanimous City Council has
instructed the Department of General Services to "negotiate and
execute a lease agreement with the ACF for $1 a year."
I suppose we should be happy it's only for 30 years. That's 20 years
less horrible than the original outrage Koretz had orchestrated.
Still, a parcel of property the city itself acknowledges has a rental
value over the next 30 years of $5.3 million to $6.6 million will
instead bring in a whopping $30.
Not $30 million, not $30,000, but 30 stinking bucks.
With a straight face the council's instructions claim this deal will
"not have an impact on the General Fund."
That is a lie.
A similar decommissioned firehouse at 10234 National Blvd. was sold at
auction on Oct. 31, 2012, by the Department of General Services for
$1,150,000; yet Fire Station 83 was given away for $30 by a City
Council that can't come up a bag of cement to patch our sidewalks.
While the deal won't take money out of the general revenue fund, it
doesn't put money into it either and that's an "impact."
The council claims the deal will generate "$16.9 million in economic
community benefits" without citing where they get that number or even
what it means. What are "economic community benefits" and how are they
calculated?
A sale of the land would mean cash for a cash-starved city facing a
$160 million deficit next year and hundreds of millions more in the
years to come. Condos would mean housing in a city with a serious
housing shortage. Development of the property would mean jobs and
taxes in a city desperate for both.
The Armenian Cultural Foundation (identified in the official City
Council meeting minutes as "ACF," never by its full name) has agreed
to invest $1.2 million to $1.5 million in renovations, and the place
clearly needs it. After seven years of neglect, you'd think Richard
Alarcón owns the place.
But even with this investment by the ACF, L.A. would do better selling
the property or repairing it and renting it at full market value.
Paul Koretz wouldn't hear of it.
"Rather than letting this go out there for anybody that's interested
and wind up building condos, we want to make sure this is something
for the community."
Spit take!
Since when is Paul Koretz opposed to condo construction? How many
millions has the City Council given away to developers for condo
construction at the gigantic Westfield mall project in Canoga Park and
countless other sites.
But if you want play "Let's Make a Deal" in L.A. you have to have more
than a hard-boiled egg in your pocket. And the Armenian Cultural
Foundation came to play. As reported by "City Watch" columnist Jack
Humphreville, the ACF put $100,000 into Eric Garcetti's mayoral
campaign.
Lost in all this is something fundamental; Old Firehouse 83 is not
Paul Koretz's firehouse to give away. It's not the City Council's
firehouse. It's your firehouse.
Correction, it was your firehouse.
Once again the taxpayers have been zonked.
http://www.dailynews.com/government-and-politics/20140830/playing-lets-make-a-deal-the-la-way