Inglewood Unified pulls controversial board agenda item

Inglewood Unified has done the right thing and pulled a controversial item from their special board meeting held June 12th.  2UrbanGirls reported on the board preparing to vote to give 22 acres of vacant land to a campaign donor of Asm. Autumn Burke and after nearly two hours in closed session, the item was pulled due to “board members questions”.

Asm. Autumn Burke came onto the political scene for no other reason than she’s the daughter of former LA County Supervisor Yvonne Brathwaite-Burke.  Her commitment to the Black community is non-existent and only comes around when the media is present.

Her long-term career, prior to being elected in 2014 was the owner of Mandeville Group, LLC which according to state filings is a real estate consulting firm.  Since becoming elected, she has written and supported legislation related to the selling and/or leasing of surplus land held by Inglewood and Oakland School Districts.  Both owe millions of dollars to the State of California and repayment plans allow the district’s to either sell or lease land to generate revenue to pay back their state loans.

Asm. Burke chided online behemoth Amazon for failure to remit taxes to the state of California, which Burke fails to do herself.

Related:   California now requires out-of-state and online retailers to collect sales taxes

“The enactment of AB 147 will bring in significant revenues from out-of-state retailers to fund essential state and local services. This represents a major step forward for both California and its tax system. AB 147 will level the playing field between California retailers and their out-of-state competitors. It also reduces administrative burdens for small online retailers, so they can spend time and resources to focus on their business and not tax compliance,” said Assemblywoman Autumn R. Burke (D-Inglewood).

According to the Franchise Tax Board businesses are “suspended” for failure to file taxes for three consecutive years.  Burke is required to submit annual statements of economic interests, commonly known as Form 700s, to the California Fair Political Practices Commissions (FPPC), which details income and gifts received during the reporting period.

There is growing concern that Burke has been misreporting income to the FPPC and the lack of filing corporate tax returns is concerning.

Burke has reported income received from Mandeville Group, LLC as follows:

• up to $10,000 in 2018
• up to $10,000 in 2017
• up to $10,000 in 2016

2UrbanGirls spoke to a member of a local school district who shared, “…where there is smoke there’s fire” when board members pull board agenda items when there is presumed favoritism in awarding a contract to a campaign donor.  Especially in the case of Burke who’s primary 2014 campaign message was to “save Inglewood Unified”.

“It would appear that Burke has possibly taken in money, through her consulting firm, to write and support legislation, that would directly benefit her donor,” said the source who insisted on remaining anonymous.

The exclusive negotiating agreement between Inglewood Unified and Majestic Realty Co. called for Majestic to control 22 acres of land, for a residential housing development, that doesn’t have thru access from Lemoli Ave to 104th Street.  The map shows that the development would most likely also have to go before the Inglewood City Council to make the street fully accessible for any development taken on the site.

Inglewood City Clerk Yvonne Horton refuses to ensure transparency of campaign contributions to the city council by not uploading either campaign finance forms or statement of economic interest forms to the city of Inglewood website.  The construction would also endanger the students health at Woodworth-Monroe and Morningside High School from the dust and heavy equipment and of course the noise.

RECITALS:
A. Owner owns approximately 22.6 acres of certain land in Inglewood, CA (the “Property”). A depiction of the Property is attached as Exhibit “A” to this Agreement. MRC is a privately-held real estate development company with extensive experience working with both governmental and non-governmental entities in converting unproductive or under-utilized land into income-producing various types of properties using a participating ground lease (“PGL”) structure. Under a PGL, (1) the private developer is given a leasehold interest in the land and the property owner (in this case, Owner) receives one-half of the net revenue as rent during the term
of the ground lease, which typically is for fifty (50) years or longer, (2) the property owner (in this case, Owner) is not required to pledge its fee interest in the land to secure any loan obtained by the private developer; instead, the private developer’s lender relies solely on the private developer’s leasehold interest as collateral to secure any such loan, and (3) the property owner (in this case, Owner) is not required to make any monetary contributions toward the development.  MRC intends to include annualized payments of $535,000 ($44,583.34/month) once the PGL is entered into as lease payments during the entitlement period for up to eighteen (18) months and $1,350,000 ($112,500/month) once entitlements are approved as construction period payments for up to eighteen (18) months. Payments shall commence the month after approval of the PGL and be due the first of each month. Extension of either period will be by mutual written agreement of the
parties. The ENA will terminate upon expiration and failure to extend either period or enter into a PGL

The community wants more affordable housing.  Board member D’artagnan Scorza has been very vocal about creating more affordable housing to alleviate the hemorrhaging of students whose families can no longer afford to live here due to the costs of rent skyrocketing prior to the city’s enaction of a temporary rent control ordinance.

The city has changed the General Plan to make housing more dense, by allowing more people to live, in smaller unit sizes.

If this deal were truly for the better of students and increasing affordable housing stock, why did the district pull the approval after it was revealed that Majestic Realty donated to Asm. Autumn Burke?

Related:  Coliseum Panel to Consider Pact to Lure NFL

On October 7, 1988 the Los Angeles Coliseum Commission held a closed session meeting to give Ed Roski, owner of Majestic Realty Co, exclusive rights to negotiate for a NFL franchise to play in the Coliseum.  At the time Burke’s mother was on the board of supervisors, and her father, Dr. William Burke, was a member of the commission.  He declined to vote on the contract.

Has Autumn Burke been installed in a seat that is really controlled by her parents?

Burke is up for re-election this November.