The initial proposed decision denied MTA's application at Dorsey and at Foshay, and required MTA to build a pedestrian bridge at Foshay that would have cost $5-8 million to construct. That proposed decision was written by Administrative Law Judge Kenneth Koss and the assigned CPUC Commisioner Timothy Simon, who both have been monitoring this case for the past 2 ½ years. It was they who attended the public hearings at Dorsey in November 2007 and at Foshay in July of 2008. It was they who presided over the week long evidentiary hearing that involved the testimony and cross-examination of over a dozen expert witnesses.
Proving once more that there is truly no low that MTA will not go to push their unsafe design, after the Koss/Simon proposed decision was made public, MTA/Expo spent taxpayer dollars hiring a former Enron lobbyist, Sandra McCubbin, to work to overturn it.
McCubbin and the Expo's high-paid attorney initiated nearly two-dozen backroom/off-the-record meetings with the CPUC Commissioners and staff, and convinced Commissioner Rachel Chong, to author an Alternative Decision to Simon's, that would remove the pedestrian bridge at Foshay that Simon originally found necessary at the end of the trial.
Then Westside politician Zev Yaroslavsky, who doesn't represent any community within miles of Dorsey or Foshay pressured the Commission (pdf) to overturn Simon's previously required pedestrian bridge at Foshay and adopt the Chong Alternative.
Zev Yaroslavsky has advocated for a $5-8 BILLION dollar subway under his community of Miracle Mile, Beverly Hills and Century City, yet he opposes a $5 million bridge at Foshay to protect the South LA students.
Unfortunately, the Zev Yaroslavsky/MTA/Enron-lobbyist pressure worked as the Chong Alternative was approved in a 4-1 decision, with Simon, the only African-American on the Commission, and the Commissioner most intimately familiar with the case being the dissenting vote.
While the South LA community was fighting to literally protect children’s lives, our own elected representative, Council Member Bernard Parks, along with Santa Monica politician State Senator Sheila Kuehl, were applying pressure on judicial officers of a State oversight agency to impede our efforts in court.
The South LA community, teachers, parents, and child advocates have long expressed reservations about the unsafe street-level design of the Expo Light Rail Line, particularly around our schools like Dorsey HS (10 feet of the railroad crossing) and Foshay Learning Center (50 feet of the crossing). The state oversight agency for the safety of all rail crossings is the California Public Utilities Commission (“CPUC”). All transportation agencies attempting to build and operate a rail line across any street in California must submit applications and receive approval from the CPUC. The CPUC can either approve or reject a crossing application on the grounds of safety, and has rejected countless railroad crossing applications in the past.
One of the lead groups of the Fix Expo Campaign, Expo Communities United (“ECU”), exercised its legal rights by protesting all of the unsafe street-level Expo Line applications, and requesting a hearing to discuss the safety hazards and needed safety upgrades. In the process ECU delayed what would have been a 60-day rubberstamp process.
The ECU research team amassed an extensive record proving that the street-level crossings were not safe. Among the evidence submitted were: a)internal memos expressing reservations about the safety of the crossings by the staff of numerous public agencies, namely the PUC’s own engineers & former LADOT General Manager Gloria Jeff; and b) a convincing showing that the bulk of the Expo Line design was an exact replica of the deadliest & most accident-prone light rail line in America, the MTA’s Blue Line, & would operate in more complex environments, meaning even more accidents & deaths could be expected. Surely an opportunity to argue the case would be provided, further lengthening the application process.
Unexpectedly, on August 14, 2007 Commissioner Timothy Simon, one of five governor-appointed representatives to the CPUC, and the assigned Commissioner to the Expo Line case issued an “Open Letter to Lawmakers Regarding the Expo Line Proceeding," stating that he was receiving pressure from local legislators to expedite the case. In the letter Simon stated that he considered approving the applications and expediting the case “of the highest priority.” Commissioner Simon specifically said, “approving these applications” as though a determination had already been made, even though ECU and LAUSD had yet to present their cases to the CPUC.
In an email on November 19, 2007 (pdf), Commissioner Simon’s Chief of Staff identified the legislators who were contacting him with concerns about the “time consuming process of approving these applications” that led to the Open Letter:
STATE SENATOR SHEILA KUEHL (Santa Monica)
COUNCIL MEMBER BERNARD PARKS, who represents the area where the Expo Line passes within a stone’s throw of sensitive sites like Foshay Learning Center, and operates without even basic crossing gates in a design that is exactly like one of the most accident-prone sections of the Blue Line.
When the letter was issued, Simon had not yet been confirmed to the Commission by the California State Senate, in which Sen. Kuehl is a very influential member. Simon’s eventual confirmation hearing, which occurred months later, was filled with controversy about his ethics (PUC Member’s Donation Request Raises Questions – LA Times). At the time Kuehl was also pushing legislation to remove the jurisdiction of rail crossing safety from the CPUC.
And we have confirmed that Bernard Parks has been accepting donations for his campaign for County Supervisor from MTA and Expo Line contractors in violation of California law.
On Thursday, May 22, we went to the MTA to demand an immediate investigation into ethics law violations of our Council Member and MTA Board Member Bernard Parks.
In total disregard for MTA’s ethics rules and California state law, Bernard Parks is taking in money hand over fist from contractors doing business and in current negotiations with MTA. These are hundred million dollar projects with MTA, and thousands upon thousand of contributions to Bernard Parks. It’s incumbent on all oversight agencies and authorities to conduct an extensive investigation to determine how egregious Parks has been.
California Senate Bill 89 (backup link) (“Limits on MTA Contributions”), by then State Senator Tom Hayden, was signed into law during the 1997-1998 session and established the following ethics laws which are still in effect today:
“Neither the owner, an employee, or any member of their immediate families, of any construction company, engineering firm, consultant, legal firm, or any company, vendor, or business entity seeking a contract with the authority shall make a contribution of over ten dollars ($10) in value or amount to a member, alternate member, or employee of the authority, or to any member of their immediate families.
“No member, alternate member, or employee of the authority, or member of their immediate families, shall accept, solicit, or direct a contribution of over ten dollars ($10) in value or amount from any construction company, engineering firm, consultant, legal firm, or any company, vendor, or business entity seeking a contract with the authority.”
And yet Parks has taken at least $21,800 in such illegal contributions:
Gerarld Brown, Vice President: $1,000 on 12/28/07 (the same day “Homemaker” Patricia Brown gave $1,000).
Mark Fischbach Vice President: $1,000 on 12/28/07 (the same day “Homemaker” Rosemary Fischbach gave $1,000).
James Foster, Equipment Manager: $1,000 on 12/28/07.
James Frost, Construction Executive: $1,000 on 12/31/07 (the same day “Homemaker” Nicole Frost gave $1,000).
Joseph Guglielmo, Construction Manager: $1,000 on 12/28/07 (the same day “Homemaker” Ardis Guglielmo gave $1,000).
Michael Kerchner, Vice President: $1,000 on 12/28/07 (the same day “Homemaker” Carolyn Kerchner gave $1,000).
Robert Lewis, Executive: $1,000 on 12/31/07.
David Randall, Sr. Vice President: $1,000 on 12/28/07.
Roger Sexton, Business Executive: $1,000 on 12/28/07 (the same day “Homemaker” Diane Sexton gave $1,000).
Williams Sparks, CFO: $1,000 on 1/24/08 (the same day “Homemaker” Vicki Sparks gave $1,000).
Koar Development Group, LLC and Archeon International Group are jointly building a $160 million dollar mixed-use project with the MTA at the Wilshire/Western Station.
MTA contractor URS Corp Vice President Gerard Orozco gave Parks $1,000 on 12/31/07.
Carter & Burgess, Inc. Professional Engineer Bruce Russell gave Parks $1,000 on 12/17/07.
Bernard Parks put MTA in the mirror and saw ATM. The dirty money has clearly compromised his ability to be independent and serve his constituents.
Despite amassing our large and growing coalition of South LA community groups to encourage MTA to address the safety hazards and other adverse impacts of the current Expo Line design through the South LA community, the concerns of our group have fallen on deaf ears with Parks. In a moment captured on camera last fall and available on YouTube, Parks dismissively told the group leader Damien Goodmon, “Just because you don’t like the line, you should stop wasting other people’s time, because you have a concern about it.”
Additionally, in response to community concerns about the safety of the design of the Expo Line given its similarity to the MTA’s Blue Line, which is the nation’s deadliest light rail line by multiples at 90 deaths from 815 accidents, Parks’ defended the safety record of the MTA’s Blue Line.
Parks’ actions were confusing, but it’s all beginning to make sense now. Our advocacy on behalf of the safety of the children in his district, and the parents who have trusted him to protect them, is clearly interfering with whatever backroom deals he’s made for his personal political gain.
The former police chief is acting like a true criminal.
The initial proposed decision denied MTA's application at Dorsey and at Foshay, and required MTA to build a pedestrian bridge at Foshay that would have cost $5-8 million to construct. That proposed decision was written by Administrative Law Judge Kenneth Koss and the assigned CPUC Commisioner Timothy Simon, who both have been monitoring this case for the past 2 ½ years. It was they who attended the public hearings at Dorsey in November 2007 and at Foshay in July of 2008. It was they who presided over the week long evidentiary hearing that involved the testimony and cross-examination of over a dozen expert witnesses.