The Inglewood Public Works department continues requesting Measure R funds be allocated to consultants for activities related to the Inglewood Transit Connector despite the project remaining only partially funded.
Metro has awarded Inglewood approx. $300 million in Measure R funds that continue to be spent on a plethora of consultants that don’t go through a competitive bidding process.
According to the most recent audit of the City’s financials ending Sept. 30, 2021, they are still waiting on nearly $3.3 million in reimbursements from Metro for expenses incurred related to the ITC project. This means the general fund (taxpayers) is using revenue that can be used elsewhere on a project that has no start date in either the immediate or distant future.
If the activities are “legitimate” it is unknown why Metro is delaying reimbursement especially taking into consideration Inglewood Mayor James T. Butts sits on the transit agencies board. Treasurer Wanda Brown previously spoke on how she was called in to “fix” errors made by the Public Works department, related to Metro reimbursements, before the council kicked her out of city hall.
This week’s council agenda includes a two-year agreement with Brian Boudreau, an individual, for Project Control Manager Services in the amount of $216,250 out of Measure R funds. There was no bidding process for this agreement.
Anser Advisory, LLC is receiving an amended agreement for project administrative support in the amount of $4,800,000 out of Measure R funds. Their contract was originally approved in Jan. of this year.
FInally, the CIty will continue discussions with Vons grocery store to relocate their store since the property will also be used as a storage facility for the ITC.
The biggest concern Inglewood voters/residents should have for this project is where will the City “find” an additional $1 billion or so dollars to bring the project to completion. Mayor Butts and Councilmembers George Dotson and Alex Padilla are up for re-election next month and perhaps their return to the dais is fundamental in achieving said funding.
The two biggest projects in the City have been announced to the public either AFTER and/or DURING the mayor’s re-elections.
The mayor won re-election in Nov. 2014 and three months later, in Feb. 2015, the council fast tracked approval for SoFi Stadium without voter approval.
During the mayor’s 2018 re-election campaign Murphy’s Bowl spent $400 million to purchase the Forum to squash litigation with Madison Square Garden and then pumped hundreds of thousands of dollars into the re-election campaigns of Butts, Sen. Steve Bradford and then Asm. Sydney Kamlager-Dove to move the Intuit Dome project forward. The environmental report says the traffic and noise would be significant and unavoidable and the City proposed a shuttle service and light rail at Market Street to address the traffic concerns that will affect “61 intersections and at eight segments of the 405 and 105 freeways” as outlined in the above Daily Breeze article.
“Our city was the weeklong destination during the decades of the ’70s, ’80s and ’90s for tens of thousands of cars coming to The Forum to see concerts, the Lakers, the Kings and thoroughbred racing at Hollywood Park racetrack. We know, better than any city our size in the United States of America, how to properly manage and mitigate significant streams of traffic and other environmental impacts associated with sports and entertainment events.”
Mayor Butts
But the City isn’t properly handling traffic which is evident by the numerous complaints on social media and by residents attending the Parking and Traffic Commission meetings. The biggest difference between then and now is the race track primarily functioned during the day and by the time the Lakers played attendees parked at the race track. Now attendees are parking in our residential neighborhoods which draws more complaints about why the City implemented a permit parking scheme that only penalizes residents.
Parking enforcement is understaffed and are stationed at the sports and entertainment venues leaving no one available to ticket cars parking in residential areas on event days.
Inglewood police sergeant
Is another “tax” on the horizon for Inglewood residents to pay for the transit connector project should Butts, Dotson, and Padilla get re-elected? If they aren’t elected does the Intuit Dome project move forward?
Someone should ask Mayor Butts today at his campaign kickoff.
