Los Angeles Contracts

The Los Angeles City Council and Mayor Richard Riordan officially approved a four-year contract for the city's police officers, giving them raises totaling 18% by 2000. The unanimous council vote and Riordan's signature simply formalize the contract that 94% of the police union's membership approved in June. The salary increases--5% for each of the first three years, and 3% the last year--are retroactive to July 1 (probationary officers get 1% less each year).

Three top city administrators found no evidence of impropriety by Los Angeles city officials or the manufacturer of its fleet of automated trash trucks in connection with contract bidding, reporting of mechanical failures, or maintenance and repair, according to a report released late Wednesday. The report comes more than eight months after two third-graders were killed when a hydraulic piston burst through a truck, manufactured by Ontario-based Amrep. Corp.

Los Angeles Mayor Richard Riordan has agreed to pay a $3,000 fine for violating the state's conflict of interest law, his attorney said Wednesday. In a proposed settlement reached last week with the staff of the California Fair Political Practices Commission, Riordan acknowledged that he had a conflict of interest when he twice acted on matters involving a tenant in the Fine Arts Building, a historic office complex in downtown Los Angeles.

Los Angeles bus riders would get the benefit of at least 6,000 new benches under a controversial plan that was being boosted Wednesday by Los Angeles City Councilman Hal Bernson. The plan is expected to draw protests because the city would have to allow the private company that is offering the graffiti-resistant seats to sell advertising on them.

Los Angeles bus riders would get the benefit of at least 6,000 new bus benches under a controversial plan that was being boosted Wednesday by Los Angeles City Councilman Hal Bernson. The plan is expected to draw protests because the city would have to allow the private company that is offering the graffiti-resistant seats to sell advertising on them.

The Los Angeles City Council on Friday unanimously endorsed a proposed three-year contract for police officers that would include a 5% raise each year, costing the city more than $100 million. In exchange, city officials want Police Protective League members to give up four sick days a year. Also on the table is who will pay for so-called defense reps who help officers accused of wrongdoing. Currently, the city pays for defense reps.

Walter Prince thinks the fix was in. What other explanation could there be, figures the owner of a Northridge janitorial services firm, for the fate of his contract bid at City Hall? How was it that city workers were allowed to use information from winning competitive bids, including his own, to develop their own proposal for keeping in-house some work purportedly intended for private contractors?

Walter Prince thinks the fix was in. What other explanation could there be, figures the owner of a Northridge janitorial services firm, for the fate of his contract bid at City Hall? How was it that city workers were allowed to use information from winning competitive bids, including his own, to develop their own proposal for keeping in-house some work purportedly intended for private contractors?

Outraged Los Angeles City Council members said Monday that a criminal investigation may be warranted into why the city continued to enrich a company whose truck killed two young boys in December, even though the firm had been accused for years of poor quality by maintenance supervisors. "There may be felony implications here," said Councilman Richard Alarcon.

The Los Angeles City Council voted Wednesday to break a monopoly held by city-licensed tow truck operators by establishing a competitive bidding process for new towing contracts. Ending a years-long debate over contracts worth more than $35 million a year, the council voted 10-3 to have the city's official police garage contracts awarded through a competitive bidding process every five years, beginning this year.