Audits

Federal auditors have called for the ouster of the Los Angeles County Housing Authority's director, saying his agency has not properly administered the $200 million federal housing voucher program for the county's poor and has sought to conceal its shortcomings. The unusual recommendations come in a report this month that criticizes the authority for failing to check annually, as required, on tenants' eligibility for subsidies under the federal Section 8 program.

Los Angeles has yet to spend $129 million paid by real estate developers over the last decade to create new parks in the city's fastest-growing neighborhoods, according to an audit released Thursday by City Controller Laura Chick. Chick said the Department of Recreation and Parks should move faster in spending the so-called Quimby fees, which are collected from condominium builders, to take advantage of the real estate downturn.

The Los Angeles Department of Recreation and Parks is losing "hundreds of thousands of dollars" annually because it fails to adequately manage concession contracts at golf courses, parks and other public facilities, City Controller Laura Chick said Friday. Chick released an audit that assailed the department for allowing contracts to lapse before seeking new deals and for letting concessionaires stray from their contractual requirements without ensuring that the public receives quality services.

The state social services agency Wednesday was moving to shut down nine homes used for child day care and foster care after an audit found registered sex offenders in them in violation of state law. The revelation came after state auditors compared the addresses of 75,000 licensed facilities, including foster family homes and in-home day-care centers, with the state's database of registered sex offenders.

An audit released Thursday found no indication that Los Angeles airports director Gina Marie Lindsey improperly influenced the awarding of two major contracts related to the modernization of LAX. The Los Angeles city controller's office concluded that airport staff followed correct procedures during the selection of DMJM Aviation Inc. of Florida and Denver-based Fentress Architects. The findings were similar to those of the City Council, which reviewed the contracts earlier this month.

Federal officials announced Friday that they would assess the air traffic control staffing levels and their effects on safety at Los Angeles International Airport and two other key locations in California. The action comes at the request of Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), who contends that the nation's control towers may be understaffed. In addition to LAX, the Inspector General's Office of the U.S.

Like others classified by the Los Angeles County bureaucracy as a temporary student worker, Patricia Lopez, 51, was not temporary and not a student. For two decades she has answered phones in county health clinics, a job she took initially to get off welfare. Today, Lopez works about 39 hours a week and takes home little more than $1,000 a month.

Federal authorities are questioning whether the agency that manages Los Angeles International Airport has illegally provided more than $40 million in revenue since 2002 to L.A. Inc., the city's convention and visitors bureau. The Federal Aviation Administration, which began a routine audit of airport expenditures in July, has tentatively concluded that Los Angeles World Airports allocated the money in apparent violation of federal laws that restrict how airport revenue can be spent. L.A. Inc.

Overtime pay in the Orange County Sheriff's Department has skyrocketed in recent years because the department lacks a comprehensive policy or effective controls on the extra pay, according to an audit released Wednesday. Overtime in the department totaled nearly $48 million in the last fiscal year, more than double its level eight years ago, the report by the county's performance audit director found.

The Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department, which is facing mounting pressure to account for its handling of DNA evidence from sex crimes, revealed Tuesday that it has a backlog of 4,727 untested sexual assault evidence kits in storage or its laboratory. Sheriff's Department officials informed the county Board of Supervisors that they are now auditing the unexamined kits to determine the status of each case.