The Los Angeles Times from Los Angeles, California • Page 21

I 111 t'i i ti ymi phwih TbS ANGELES TIMES WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 3, 1994 B3 METRO NEWS 5882" TZ7 Clinton Asks Congress for 'Ghost Town' Aid WW mm0r housing officials will get $200 million of the total, while Santa Monicawhich lost 5 of its housing stock in the magnitude 6.8 quake-will receive the $25-million balance. Both cities will reserve the money mostly for multifamily buildings. The funds are the latest of $11.9 billion in federal relief set aside by the Clinton Administration and Congress for quake victims in Southern California. I The President took advantage of the telephone conference call and the media attention it had attractedto mention a glowing report on the federal response to the disaster. "At every opportunity, federal agencies responded with speed, flexibility and creativity to meet the needs of earthquake victims," according to the report, drafted by the federal Office of Management and Budget.

i Riordan said he requested the housing loans from Clinton last week after learning that an estimated $400-million surplus in federal funds set aside for repairing quake damage to freewaysr and schools was available for other uses. The mayor said the money is to be funneled to multiunit housing repair loans because that is where city housing officials have identified a large gap between need and funds. i "This will give us the flexibility to use the money where it. is needed," Riordan told Clinton, Money previously allocated by the Federal Emergency Manage- ment Agency, the Small Business Administration and private insurance companies is expected to fund repairs of about 30,000 of the 50,000 severely damaged dwelling units in Los Angeles. i City housing officials had already secured $110 million in funding from other federal and local Please see GHOST, B4 Quake: President requests $225 million mainly for the vacant, crime-infested enclaves of damaged housing.

By HUGO MARTIN TIMES STAFF WRITER Responding to a shortage of money for restoring quake-damaged housing, President Clinton asked Congress on Tuesday to free up $225 million for the cities of Los Angeles and Santa Monica to issue as repair loans, particularly to those vacant, crime-infested enclaves known as "ghost towns." The funding, leftover aid from highway and school repair programs, would provide zero-interest loans to hundreds of owners of wrecked apartment buildings and condominiums unable to get loans through banks or other federal aid programs. Los Angeles housing officials praised the announcement, saying it will nearly close a shortfall in the money needed to repair the more than 50,000 apartments, condos and single-family houses severely damaged Jan. 17. Speaking to Los Angeles Mayor Richard Riordan and Santa Monica Mayor Judy Abdo by telephone from Washington, Clinton called the money a "down payment on our partnership with the cities to solve this 'ghost town' problem." "This goes beyond a typical federal disaster response and it's possible because we have been able to reallocate some other disaster funds," he told the mayors, Housing and Urban Development Secretary Henry Cisneros and Sen. Dianne Feinstein, who were also on the line from Washington.

If the funding is approved by Congress, as expected, Los Angeles IRIS SCHNEIDER Los Angeles Times From left, Supt. Sid Thompson, school district spokesman Bill Rivera, teachers union President Helen Bernstein and Day Higuchi of the union push tables together as contract negotiations begin. Contract Talks Begin With District, Teachers at Odds Over Restoring Pay SPIN: Keeping a Watch on Simpson Case Bombshells PARTIES: Suit Targets Mansion HI Continued from Bl Michael Dupre could all be fined, jailed or both. rFor the past four years, City Atty. James Hahn alleged, the bluff-top mansion has been Party Central.

Up to 1,000 people at a time flocked to the bashes and they weren't the most "well-behaved group, the lawsuit alleges. Neighbors have lodged more than 100 complaints with police about "property damage, thefts, drug sales, sex acts occurring in public, excessive noise and severe traffic and parking congestion," Deputy City Atty. Deborah Sanchez said. ('This was once a peaceful neighborhood," Sanchez said. "There had to be an end because these tenants really crossed the line." Neighbors contend that their potted plants have been pilfered and their driveways blocked, and that passionate party-goers indulged themselves poolside in plain view.

Party trash has been left in the driveway, only to become infested with maggots, Sanchez said. And then there's the noise, the complaint alleges music and screaming at all hours of the night, i. "We have had party-goers urinate in our bushes and light up marijuana joints in our driveway," neighbors Margot and Cliff Lach-man said in a court declaration. "We have observed the sale of drugs directly in front of our home," said Richard and Patti Kimball. Court records indicate that the mansion in the 3200 block of Wrightwood Drive is the most complained-about residence in the Los Angeles Police Department's North Hollywood division.

In court documents, Sgt. Charles Wampler called it "an ongoing and habitual police problem." On May 6, the suit says, undercover police officers attended a party at the house and bought drinks at three bars. They issued seven citations for selling alcohol without a license to the bartenders. The city's suit alleges that the underground parties violate liquor laws and building and safety codes and sometimes lead to violence, city attorney spokesman "Mike Quails said. I Quails added that Tuesday's suit was the first abatement case that tie had seen filed against a private residence for underground parties, which usually are held in commer-cial buildings.

1 Bolduc said Tuesday that the jallegations had been trumped up 'by overzealous police officers and Spiteful neighbors. He said that Isince he moved in eight months he has been made to pay for the sins of past tenants, i The house already was notorious "gangsta" rapper Dr. Dre a birthday bash there early year that was carried on MTV, ihe said. Bolduc says party-pooper towed about 100 cars that night. i He says his friends have been harassed by police.

Once, he said, officers climbed up the bluff and hid in the bushes, frightening a 'guest who let out a bloodcurdling shriek at the sight of armed men by the pool. "The problem isn't me," he said. I'Tm just a working guy trying to 'get ahead and enjoy the summer in a nice place." i And so what, he asks, if the city attorney doesn't approve of some of his party themes, such as "Lingerie Night," at which young women were admitted free if they wore lingerie. )' "What's against the law about having a lingerie party?" he asked. "I've been going to pajama parties since I was 8 years old." "I'll admit to living a bachelor jifestyle," Bolduc said while conducting a tour of the house.

There was barely a stick of furniture downstairs: A 0ouple of couches, draped with blankets. A pool table. Here and there, an empty beer can or a cheap art print. He headed up the sweeping staircase and toward the master bedroom. "This is the jungle, the lair of Jerry Bo," he said, proudly showing off a huge boudoir, complete with a Jacuzzi that offers a view of Universal Studios, all the way to Pie Griffith Observatory.

A lone goldfish inhabited the aquarium. Magazines featuring photos of unclothed women were strewn on one The union spent about $70,000 for the audit, which was intended to identify possible accounts and reserves that could be used for teachers' pay. The audit, conducted by an outside accounting firm, took more than four months to complete. Last year the district cut most employees' salaries by 10. Restoring those wages would cost $200 million.

District officials already have identified a possible $116 million for a partial pay restoration. But they said they are still waiting to hear from the state on the availability of some of those funds and that they could be barred from using that money for ongoing salary expenditures. Of that $116 million, nearly $42 million comes from the employees' health benefit account, about $54 million would come from the state reimbursement of integration claims and $7 million from higher lottery revenues. About $8 million would be rolled over from last year's budget and another $5 million could come from reimbursed earthquake repair costs. But school board members, who plan to meet Thursday in a closed session to review contract talks, said they are concerned about using the one-time reimbursements for ongoing salary costs.

They said they want to be sure the money will be available over several years so that cuts do not have to be made in the district's tightly balanced budget. In addition, the board members said they want the negotiations on a fast track to avoid a protracted labor dispute. "People in Los Angeles are really tired of hearing about the dispute between the district and the teachers," said board member Leticia Quezada. "The public really does not want that to continue." officer wielding baton over youth. "Felipe just asked, she said.

Another witness, identified as Carla Gavina, said the youth had argued with the officer, but did not threaten him. "He did give him attitude, probably a reason for the police officer, not to hit him the way he did, but yet to provoke him a little bit," Gavina told the television station. The tape does not capture the discussions that led up to the confrontation but begins with several seconds of quiet before the officer suddenly delivers a barrage of blows to the youth with his baton. Times staff writer Nleson Hlmmel contributed to this story. i i J.

jT. the school board in the talks, was less pessimistic. "Absolutely, we're trying to restore salaries," Slavkin said. "It's a question of how much we think is there and how much they'll accept." The talks got off to a noisy start school district officials began rearranging the tables and chairs to face the union team. "I guess we're getting closer," Slavkin quipped as he helped move a table.

The district had seven representatives, including Thompson and Slavkin, at the table. The union had an eight-member team, including Bernstein and two accountants. For the first time, the district did not have lawyers at the bargaining table, a move that union leaders applauded as a step toward promoting a more positive tone during negotiations. Tuesday's meeting, which is scheduled to continue today, marks the first round of contract negotiations since last year's labor dispute, when state Assembly Speaker Willie Brown stepped in as mediator. A strike was narrowly averted when teachers agreed to take a 10 pay cut for two years.

Although school board members say money is available in the district's budget for at least a partial salary restoration, union leaders say they have proof that enough money exists for a substantial reimbursement. Union leaders arrived at the session armed with an audit that they said shows money is available from a variety of sources. Bernstein, who represents 32,000 teachers, nurses, counselors and school psychologists, refused to release details of the audit. "We are very prepared, as you can see," she said, displaying a thick binder marked "Confidential," "to go into bargaining in good faith to make sure we can restore the salaries." 41 Image from videotape of Compton es had been filed against him. Maria Quintana, identified by KNBC as the youth's godmother, said she was called to the home by her godchildren, and arrived just as the social worker was rounding them up to take them away.

Quintana told the TV station that her godson, had confronted the officer and the social worker, but had not made any physical threat "The police officer said on his report that the youth) had threatened the social worker, which is not true, then that he tried to take the gun away from the police officer when he told him to put his hands behind the back," Quintana said. Quintana said her godson never went for the officer's gun. a Labor: School officials say they may be able to afford only a partial salary increase. Union leaders have threatened a strike. By BETH SHUSTER TIMES STAFF WRITER Leaders of the Los Angeles Unified School District and the teachers union began face-to-face contract talks Tuesday but the two sides appeared to be far apart on the key issue-, restoring a 10 cut in teachers' salaries.

Meeting in offices at the United Way near Downtown, officials on both sides said they planned to spend at least two days hashing out the pay issue. Teachers union leaders, who have threatened to strike when school starts in the fall, said they are seeking restoration of the 10 cut from teachers' pay over the last three years which would cost the district $139 million. "We're going in to ask for the full restoration of our salaries," United Teachers-Los Angeles President Helen Bernstein said as she entered the meeting rooms. "I'm saying that our teachers deserve to be adequately compensated for the work that they do with L.A. Unified." District officials say that giving back part of the lost wages may be possible, but Supt.

Sid Thompson said the school system could not afford a double-digit boost. "I don't see that in the package," Thompson said before talks began Tuesday morning. "Somehow that's a little bit of stretch when the state gave us nothing." Board of Education President Mark Slavkin, who is representing BEATING: Home Video Continued from Bl and got hit in the face." Meanwhile, another lawyer who specializes in police brutality and who viewed the unedited tape said he was "flabbergasted" by the conduct of the policeman, whom he identified as Officer Michael Jackson. Compton police would not confirm that identification nor provide any information about the officer involved except to say that he is still an employee of the department. The video, the lawyer said, shows numerous violations of the law regarding police use of force, including the illegal blow to the head.

"This was completely out to lunch in terms of what this officer was doing to this kid," said attorney Thomas E. Beck, who viewed the tape at the request of KNBC, but who has no other interest in the case. "Especially since the kid was not being arrested the officer had been called there to back up a social worker who was there to take the youth and his siblings from the house as latchkey children," Beck said. The claim, he said, was that "the adult who was supposed to be supervising them was at work, and they weren't being supervised." Compton police confirmed that the officer had been called to the house to back up a Department of Children's Services worker investigating reports of child neglect. The youth, police said, was arrested and is still in custody.

However, they would not say whether charg- Simpson Caset Forces Jail Renovation A court order requiring1 the Sheriff's Department to provide O.J. Simpson's squad of attorneys a place to confer with their famous client on weekends is prompting renovations to visiting areas of the Mert's Central Jail. The attorneys' room where Simpson meets with Robert L. Shapiro and other members of his legal team normally is closed Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays. But the room was made available to Simpson and his attorneys last weekend and staffed with a guard earning overtime pay because other visiting rooms were too small to accom-f modate them.

Those visiting rooms, which are equipped with glass walls to separate inmates from their are being enlarged and more intercoms installed; sheriff's spokesman Brian Jones said Tuesday. When completed, an inmate will be able to speak with as many as four people at. a time. i In addition to enlarging the visiting rooms, the de partment will install a partition on the attorneys' side of the glass wall to provide a measure of privacy. I Jones said the depart? ment had planned the renot vations in response to logis-! tic problems in the past involving other teams of attorneys.

The project was speeded up, however, to save the cost of paying overtime to monitor Simpson's visitation sessions. In another, cost-saving move, the department is planning to install additional cameras that will allow the wing where he is jailed to be monitored remotely, according to a sheriff's official. Simpson is housed in a 9-by-7-foot windowless cell in the so-called "high-power" wing of the jail, where other residents have included Christian Brando, Charles Keating and, currently, Erik Menendez. Continued from Bl the media. The Times ran it as part of a story on tips, many of which "appear to be the product of overactive imaginations." The next day in court, however, Johnnie L.

Cochran one of Simpson's lawyers, elevated the burglar to the top of the news. Referring to the informant, Cochran said, "There is at least one witness who police have talked to some time ago, and are apparently talking to him even as we speak." The witness, Cochran said, "has given testimony or evidence that is totally inconsistent with the theory of a lone assailant and is entirely inconsistent with the fact that Mr. Simpson is that assailant." When Cochran told the story in court, it was picked up by all news outlets, without going through the process of verification. Tuesday, I asked a noted libel lawyer, Rex S. Heinke of Los Angeles, why the media could run unverified information simply because it had been presented in a courtroom.

The answer, Heinke said, is something called "privilege," a protection that allows journalists to report what's said in court, or in other public proceedings, without being sued for libel. Thus, if the defense team had implied in court, rather than in a New Yorker interview, that Detective Fuhrman had planted evidence, and the magazine had reported it, the officer would have had no grounds for a suit. "There is an absolute privilege for statements that are made in court by the person who is speaking as long as it has a reasonable relation to the proceeding," Heinke said. "As long as it is an accurate summary, that privilege allows the press to report on any judicial proceedings, or city council, or whatever. If you didn't have a privilege like that, how would you know what is going on in the Simpson case or anywhere else? The press is the eyes and ears of the public.

If I was in the courtroom, I would have heard it All the press is doing is serving as a conduit." Understanding the concept of privilege is important in following the Simpson case the next few weeks. There will be frequent hearings on procedural matters before the trial is scheduled to begin Sept. 19. Each one will give the prosecution and defense a chance to lob bombs at each other. We'll report them, protected by privilege.

It will be pretty hard to ignore them, because the proceedings will be televised live around the country. But remember: Many of these bombshells are unverified and the truth may turn out to be something else altogether. bf the four king-size mattresses ined up against one wall. The beds were draped in the same camouflage parachute material that balloons from the ceiling and were surrounded by Army-green bean-bag chairs. I "It's 35 feet long, including the beanbags," Bolduc said.

"I'll admit to having sex here," he said. "I'm guilty of that But we emphatically deny that we have broken any laws here.".