Green Energy Plan Wastes Millions at L.A. Community Colleges

I've been busy and meant to post on LAT's series on the bond program boondoggle at the Los Angeles Community Colleges, but this one's too good to postpone. See, "Colleges Green Energy Plan Proves Wildly Impractical; Blunders Devour $10 Million":

Larry Eisenberg had a vision. "Amazing," he called it. "Spectacular."

The Los Angeles Community College District would become a paragon of clean energy. By generating solar, wind and geothermal power, the district would supply all its electricity needs. Not only would the nine colleges sever ties to the grid, saving millions of dollars a year, they would make money by selling surplus power. Thanks to state and federal subsidies, construction of the green energy projects would cost nothing upfront.

As head of a $5.7-billion, taxpayer-funded program to rebuild the college campuses, Eisenberg commanded attention. But his plan for energy independence was seriously flawed.

He overestimated how much power the colleges could generate. He underestimated the cost. And he poured millions of dollars into designs for projects that proved so impractical or unpopular they were never built.

These and other blunders cost nearly $10 million that could have paid for new classrooms, laboratories and other college facilities, a Times investigation found.

RTWT. The incompetence is astounding.

And the full series is here: "Billions to Spend: Complete Coverage." And columnist Steve Lopez has this: "Times community college investigation unearths shameful waste."

The district's bond program had incentives for corruption built in from the beginning. There was literally no independent oversight from outside citizens' groups. See the intitial report, "The price of poor planning, weak oversight." Years ago, when my college got its bond program approved by the voters, the administration ended up going with a new contractor after just about a year. I heard all kinds of stories of lush spending with the bond money, for food and Starbucks coffee, and it was probably worse, but should news like that get out to the community there'd be hell to pay. As it is my college's South Quad complex is often ridiculed as the Taj Mahal amid state budget cuts that have put student needs on the backburner. As for the Los Angeles District, it's like an early-20th century big-city machine --- and a Democrat thing, dontcha know! The Democratic Party of the San Fernando Valley held fundraisers for board member Miguel Santiago: "Reelect Miguel Santiago--Los Angeles Community College District Board of Trustees." And the L.A.'s Democratic Party & Courage Campaign endorsed longtime board member Mona Field: "March 8 Election Recommendations from Pacific Palisades Democratic Club." And get this, Mona Field's got a long record of corruption: "Incompetence and Corruption at LA Community College District Must End":

We have lived through an era where public officials and union leaders lost – indeed gleefully destroyed – their moral compass. The cities of Los Angeles, Inglewood, and others teeter on the brink of bankruptcy because elected city officials and public unions have engaged in years of “mutual money massage”.

The public unions commit funds and campaign resources to “friendly” candidates and those candidates, when elected, have given away the public treasury in the form of outrageous pay hikes and rich pension plans no longer seen in the private sector.

And "LACCD Board President Mona Field Admits to Misuse of Bond Funds."

Added: "Candidates for L.A. Community College District board urge greater scrutiny of system."

Kinda like Chicago and the Obamacrats.

PHOTO CREDIT: "The clock tower at East Los Angeles College was built crooked. It cost an additional $157,000 to fix. (Ricardo DeAratanha / Los Angeles Times / November 3, 2010)."