Inglewood's Mayor, City Council Give Another $300,000 to Forum

INSIDE INGLEWOOD-At the Tuesday afternoon Inglewood city council, the mayor, James T. Butts, (photo on right) and city council unanimously approved several proposals in a single vote. One of the proposals was to spend more than $300,000 for “surveillance cameras … near the MTA Bus Facility, Siminski Park, and the area surrounding the Forum in an amount not exceed $308,674.”

In the 133-page agenda item dated August 5, it was disclosed that the majority of the cameras will be installed “[t]o increase the [Inglewood Police] Department's ability to monitor security in the areas near the Forum.”

There was no public discussion regarding the significant expenditure.

Inglewood currently has 32 unsolved homicides that have taken place since April, 2013. None of them have occurred on the streets where the cameras are slated to be installed.

At the July 29 city council meeting, the parents of one young man who was murdered while waiting on a bus testified to the treatment he has received since his son’s death. The Rivera’s son, David, was only 18 when he was shot and killed on January 21 at approximately 4 p.m.

“My son was killed on La Brea and Hyde Park.  The [police] said they could not do anything because the cameras were not working. Then they said the pictures on the camera are too grainy. Which version of the lie should I believe—the cameras don’t work or they (images) are too grainy? How is this killer going to be identified? Where should I go to ask for help?” Said Mr. Rivera.

The mayor just smiled at the man and said he was sorry for what happened before calling on the next speaker.

According to the agenda item that is being urged by Inglewood Police Department (IPD), the cameras for the Forum will be “install[ed] … at the intersections of the Manchester and Kareem Court, Manchester and Prairie, Manchester and Hillcrest, Manchester and Crenshaw, Manchester and West, Pincay and Kareem Court, Prairie and Hillcrest, Prairie and Queen, and Prairie and Century. The cameras will only be able to monitor the streets near the property and some areas of the parking lot.”

Two other cameras will be placed near a Metro bus terminal and it is believed that two more will be placed in Siminski Park in Inglewood.

The Forum was sold by Faithful Central Bible Church’s for-profit company, Forum Enterprises Inc. (FEI). The iconic venue was sold to Madison Square Garden (MSG) in January, 2013. The sale was facilitated by an $18 million dollar Redevelopment Agency (RDA) loan that many consider was a bailout for FEI. The Forum had been in foreclosure for approximately two years until its sale to MSG.

That loan was apparently forgiven in January of this year and the Inglewood city council attempted to hide the disclosure during the July 29 city council meeting. The fact was found deep in a 208-page single audit performed by Mayer Hoffman McCann PC, the same Orange County auditor that was involved in the City of bell scandal and for which the firm was heavily fined.

In a January, 2014 story in the LA Times, Butts is quoted as saying, “Because of where we were economically, and because we had lost all our retail anchors, that adds to the economic uncertainty of a billion-dollar company placing its only West Coast operation in the city of Inglewood.”

At present, it is believed that the City of Inglewood may be approximately $100 million dollars in debt. The city has refused to release a 2010 forensic audit by Simpson & Simpson as well as to release its quarterly financial reports for the last two quarters. There has also been a significant amount of litigation regarding RDA funds as well as some initial clawback of funds by the State of California.

To date, multiple requests for verification of any revenues from MSG ticket sales, etc., have been placed to the city of Inglewood’s Chief Financial Officer, David Esparza. Neither he nor any other city official has responded.

 

(Randall Fleming is a veteran journalist and magazine publisher. He has worked at and for the New York Post, the Brooklyn Spectator and the Los Feliz Ledger. He is currently editor-in-chief at the Morningside Park Chronicle, a weekly newspaper based in Inglewood, CA and on-line at www.MorningsideParkChronicle.com.  Mr. Fleming’s views are his own and do not reflect the views of CityWatch.) Photo credit: Randall Fleming

 -cw

 

 

 

CityWatch

Vol 12 Issue 64

Pub: Aug 8, 2014