Building Inspectors

A sign on the wall of the building on South Figueroa Street reads: "No entry without permission." The interior, apartment units abandoned by an owner facing foreclosure, reveals the warning's ineffectiveness. Inside one apartment, a kitchen wall is spray-painted with names--G Bone, K Dog and 8 Ball--an abbreviated roll call for a gang that has claimed it as a hideaway.

The signature sign that hangs above the marquee at the entrance to the landmark Rialto Theatre has South Pasadena officials worried. City building inspectors say they fear the blade-shaped sign may have been weakened in recent windstorms and could present a danger to pedestrians and cars. Michael Krakower, a structural engineer hired by Rialto owner Landmark Theatres, will offer the city a report on Monday, recommending either that the sign be saved or that it should go. The theater, which opened in 1925, screened its last film in 2010.

Ventura County building inspectors have cited a Piru couple for more than 15 building and safety violations relating to a series of illegal dwellings in their back yard. Officials have been trying since 1988 to force Daniel and Aurora Sanchez to dismantle a chicken coop and remove five trailers that have been converted into dwelling units behind their home at 4075 Market St., assistant county counsel Robin McGrew said.

A building inspector caught up in a federal sting investigation of bribe-taking at Los Angeles City Hall was sentenced Monday to a year and a half in prison. Hugo Gonzalez, 49, was caught accepting $9,000 in bribes for permits involving several construction sites in South L.A. He was the second inspector to be sentenced for bribery this year. U.S. District Judge Christina A. Snyder ordered Gonzalez to pay back the $9,000 he received. Gonzalez offered no statement to the court before he was sentenced.

Los Angeles building inspectors will be under scrutiny Monday when officials take the unusual step of trying to determine whether partially built townhouses can be completed. City zoning administrators will conduct a 2 p.m. hearing at the Van Nuys Woman's Club to decide whether the Department of Building and Safety's inspectors properly interpreted zoning maps when they authorized construction of the 24 townhouses in Woodland Hills. Homeowners contend that the final phase of the West Hills Condominium development is too tall and sits too close to the site's property line.

Telephones are still ringing off the hook in county and city building and safety offices amid fears by property owners that last week's earthquake and aftershocks have turned their homes into time bombs, building department officials say. "We have a lot of scared people," said Sandy Castleman, a spokeswoman for the Department of Building and Safety in Whittier, one of the areas hardest hit by the temblor. Even areas marginally affected are receiving a flood of calls from a concerned public.

Two Los Angeles city building inspectors were arrested Friday on suspicion of accepting thousands of dollars in bribes in exchange for approving and fast-tracking construction projects by signing off on inspections that in some cases never took place. FBI agents arrested Hugo Joel Gonzalez, 49, of Eagle Rock and Raoul Joseph Germain, 59, of Altadena after an investigation that began with a tip from a confidential informant last summer. The informant, a work site manager for a large residential property developer, was a participant in the sting operation, working with an undercover agent who posed as a contractor named "Manny Gonzalez.

Fullerton building inspectors Jim Lace and Nick Lopez have returned from San Francisco where they aided in the earthquake relief effort. On Oct. 26, Lace, Lopez and 88 other building inspectors and structural engineers from Southern California boarded a National Guard transport plane for San Francisco. The trip, coordinated by the Office of Emergency Services and the Orange County Management Agency, was an effort to help meet the flood of building-inspection requests by San Francisco residents.

Kathleen Kenny and Arthur Starz started out plainly in the wrong. Their transformation of a chicken coop into a little cottage in Topanga Canyon was a clear violation of Los Angeles County building codes and California Coastal Commission rules. But out of that converted chicken coop grew a flap that raises big questions about the power of building inspectors and how well they are supervised.

Los Angeles city building inspectors caught in a dispute over construction of 24 townhouse units in Woodland Hills were ordered Monday to turn over their notes and calculations to zoning officials investigating the project's legality. Zoning Administrator Franklin P. Eberhard said he will use the records to help determine whether the $7.5-million third phase of the West Hills Condominiums development is being built too tall or too close to neighboring homes. Nearby residents claim that mistakes by the city's Building and Safety Department in interpreting zoning rules that apply to the Ventura Boulevard site have allowed both to occur.

A Los Angeles Department of Building and Safety inspector who was caught accepting bribes in an FBI sting operation was sentenced Monday to one year and nine months in prison. Raoul Germain, 60, was "very remorseful" about his deeds but did not cooperate with federal investigators trying to gauge the extent of corruption in the agency, said his lawyer, Steven Cron. Asked why Germain did not help the FBI, Cron said: "What do you think happens to someone who cooperates?" "There is certainly the possibility of danger to oneself or one's family," the lawyer added.

The Los Angeles Department of Building and Safety fired a 27-year employee after determining that he had accepted bribes, making him the third person at the agency to lose his job as a result of a major corruption probe, officials said Wednesday. Albert Acosta, 54, was fired Friday, department spokesman David Lara said in a statement. He worked as a building mechanical inspector in the department's Van Nuys office, where he earned more than $83,000 annually. Lara said officials discovered that Acosta had solicited funds from contractors while on duty but would not provide additional details.

A former building inspector who has come under scrutiny in a bribery investigation at Los Angeles City Hall allegedly advised a landlord in 2009 to pay $15,000 to resolve a permitting dispute, according to a fraud lawsuit filed last year. Kyong Ho Cho, 63, filed a case against Samuel In stemming from code enforcement violations at his rental property on Venice Boulevard, where inspectors had cited him for illegally building an apartment inside his garage. Cho said In told him that In's business partner, Tae Seog Lee, would be able to fix the problem — which was caused by a previous contractor — for a fee, the lawsuit states.

For many seeking privacy and space, the high desert of the Antelope Valley is an oasis from the urban density of the rest of Los Angeles County. Lots are large; neighbors are few. Many residents chafe at restrictions, such as zoning and permitting laws, that they consider onerous and irrelevant. But few have defied those regulations like Alan Kimble Fahey , a determined eccentric who has spent years expanding his house on 1.7 acres in Acton into a colorful extravaganza of structures with wings and bridges, a tower and a yurt-turned-aviary for his chickens, turkeys, and hens.

A second Los Angeles city building inspector has agreed to plead guilty to charges that he solicited and accepted thousands of dollars in bribes for signing off on permits for properties he had never inspected. Hugo Joel Gonzalez, 49, of Eagle Rock signed a plea agreement Friday in which he admitted taking $9,000 in bribes last year from an FBI informant who worked for a major residential developer and an undercover agent posing as a contractor. In exchange for the money, Gonzalez signed off on permits for multiple properties in South Los Angeles that he had not inspected, according to court documents.

Days after two city inspectors were arrested on suspicion of taking bribes, officials at the Los Angeles Department of Building and Safety called Tuesday for the agency to electronically track the whereabouts of its employees. Building and Safety spokesman David Lara said his department sent a series of recommendations to Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, including a move to activate the GPS tracking devices contained within each inspector's cellphone and laptop computer. "For us, it's mostly about making sure our inspectors are where they're supposed to be," Lara said.

The Carson City Council has ordered an internal investigation into allegations that a building inspector solicited a bribe from a developer who sought to build a supermarket in south Carson, city officials said Thursday. The investigation was ordered after the president of a neighborhood homeowners association announced abruptly at the end of Tuesday's council meeting that the city's Community Development Department was in need of "a thorough housecleaning . . . from the top right on down."

One day after revealing that the former president of the city's Building and Safety Commission is under criminal investigation for alleged conflicts of interest, city officials said Thursday that they are conducting a broader probe of whether several building inspectors have taken bribes or approved projects that did not meet required standards. Arthur C.

Two Los Angeles city building inspectors were arrested Friday on suspicion of accepting thousands of dollars in bribes in exchange for approving and fast-tracking construction projects by signing off on inspections that in some cases never took place. FBI agents arrested Hugo Joel Gonzalez, 49, of Eagle Rock and Raoul Joseph Germain, 59, of Altadena after an investigation that began with a tip from a confidential informant last summer. The informant, a work site manager for a large residential property developer, was a participant in the sting operation, working with an undercover agent who posed as a contractor named "Manny Gonzalez.