Kosti Shirvanian

Kosti Shirvanian has gone from picking up trash in a battered Chevy truck in the 1950s to being chauffeured around in his personal limousine and living in a multimillion-dollar mansion on Newport's Linda Isle. Along the way, he has won the admiration and friendship of a number of politicians, who see his transformation--from penniless Iranian immigrant to a mogul of the waste business--as a true Horatio Alger story.

Kosti Shirvanian has gone from picking up trash in a battered Chevy truck in the 1950s to being chauffeured around in his personal limousine and living in a multimillion-dollar mansion on Newport's Linda Isle. Along the way, he has won the admiration and friendship of a number of politicians, who see his transformation--from penniless Iranian immigrant to a mogul of the waste business--as a true Horatio Alger story.

Kosti Shirvanian has been reelected chairman of the board and president of Western Waste Industries, an industrial, residential and commercial refuse company based in Gardena. Lewis H. Jordan, a resident of Palos Verdes Estates, has been named president and chief operating officer of Flying Tigers, a subsidiary of Tiger International Inc. Flying Tigers provides worldwide cargo service. Alan A.

The Redondo Beach City Council has postponed action on a proposed trash collection contract with Western Waste Industries because of concern that Councilman Ron Cawdrey may have a conflict of interest in the issue. Councilman Stevan Colin suggested Tuesday that Cawdrey may have a conflict because he has received $1,500 in political contributions from Western Waste and two of its officers.

The Lynwood City Council, at a special meeting Friday, decided against forming a controversial public-private partnership with a Newport Beach businessman to handle the city's waste collection. Despite appeals from businessman Kosti Shirvanian, who said his venture is the "future of the industry,'' the council awarded the contract to a competitor that the city staff had concluded would provide greater revenue.

Western Waste Industries Inc. of Torrance said Friday that it has abandoned plans announced last month to merge into the nation's second-largest waste management company, Browning-Ferris Industries Inc. of Houston. The two companies, which had signed a letter of intent to merge in a stock swap valued at the time at $520 million, said they were "unable to agree on the definitive terms" of the merger, which was to have been completed in four to six months.

The Carson City Council voted to save residents about a dollar a year in trash-collection costs, rejecting a staff recommendation that would have lowered residents' bills a little more than that. The council set the rate at $12.37 a month, retroactive to July 1. Carson residents had been paying $12.45 a month for Western Waste's collection services. The new fee was the one the trash-hauler recommended. The annual cost of the new rate--$148.

Redondo Beach City Councilman Ron Cawdrey announced Thursday that he will file an appeal in his legal fight to stay on the council. Less than two days after a Torrance Superior Court judge rejected Cawdrey's lawsuit asking that it throw out Redondo Beach's two-term limit on council membership, Cawdrey said he must appeal the ruling "as a matter of principle." He and his attorney said that appeal will be filed today. "Yes, I'd like to be on the (March 5) ballot, but is it a primary concern?

Western Waste Industries, the biggest municipal garbage contractor in Southern California, is the target of a federal political corruption probe, its parent company admitted Tuesday. In a disclosure to the Securities and Exchange Commission, USA Waste Services of Houston also revealed that FBI agents have served subpoenas for Western Waste documents dating back to 1990.

Western Waste Industries Inc. of Torrance, the largest trash-hauling company in Los Angeles County, said Thursday that it agreed to merge into the nation's No. 2 waste management company, Browning-Ferris Industries Inc. of Houston. The transaction--valued at $520 million--extends Browning-Ferris' reach in Southern California beyond the commercial sector into residential waste services. BFI said it also hopes to capitalize on California's stringent recycling efforts.

Former Compton City Councilwoman Patricia Moore, who contends that she is a target of a government plot to destroy America's black leadership, has indicated that she might call Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan as a defense witness in her upcoming federal extortion trial. In a letter to government prosecutors Thursday, Moore's lawyer, Thomas A. Mesereau Jr., said the defense reserved the right to call Farrakhan as well as the Rev.