Belmont: The Black Hole of School Construction #444-445
Los Angeles, CA. The Full Disclosure Network™ presents a three (3) minute video preview of a two-part series entitled, “Belmont: The Black Hole of School Construction.”
This preview of a special series exposes the Los Angeles Unified School District’s (LAUSD) Belmont Learning Center fiasco with exclusive video footage of all the major players involved in the planning, development, financing and investigations of the most notorious school construction project in the United States, they are:
- Steve Cooley , L.A. County District Attorney
- Jim McConnell, LAUSD Chief Facilities Executive
- Anthony Patchett, Belmont Prosecutor, Special Assistant. D.A. (ret)
- Don Mullinax, Inspector General L.A. Unified School District
- Roger Carrick. Special Legal Counsel to Inspector General
- Scott Wildman. Chair. CA Legislative Audit Committee
- Dominic Shambra, Director of Planning & Development LAUSD
- David Cartwright, Sr. Partner O’Melveny & Myers
- Dr. Kaye Kilburn, USC Keck School of Medicine, Edgington Chair
The still incomplete public school is now estimated to have cost almost a half a billion dollars after seven years of investigations, lawsuits and controversy. When the Los Angeles news media ceased covering the Belmont Learning Center debacle the Full Disclosure Network™ (FDN) jumped at the opportunity to cover the story, on videotape, as a PUBLIC SERVICE. Belmont was only 60% complete and had an estimated cost of $175 million to $228 million. Most public officials and the news media had pronounced the project a “dead issue”. That could not have been farther from the truth.
Following the LAUSD Board vote to complete the Belmot project costs continue to escalate. Demolition of the new and never occupied buildings located on an earthquake fault and costly re-reconstruction began in December of 2004. A one hundred-thirty-two million dollar million remediation for the methane and hydrogen sulfide gases has been planned but as of December 2005, not yet approved by the State of California.
Just fifteen days after the 2005 Full Disclosure Network™ series entitled“Belmont: The Black Hole of School Construction” was first shown on Southern California Cable channels, Jim Mc Connell announced his intention to leave the LAUSD. As Chief Executive of the Facilities Division Mc Connell was featured in the FDN series saying, “the days of Belmont are over”. However, mistaken he was, as the days of Belmont are far from finished.
Here are a few of the revelations in Belmont: The Black Hole of school construction:
- What lawsuit blocked BB Bond funds from being used to build Belmont?
- Why was the site (an old oil field) purchased “as is”?
- How did LAUSD Raise the first $92 million to pay for Belmont?
- Why was construction on Belmont stopped when only 60% complete?
- Who stopped the construction?
- LAUSD had to change State laws to win approval for Belmont, why?
