Public Works

Two prominent governors, California's Arnold Schwarzenegger and Pennsylvania's Edward G. Rendell, sent a memo to President Obama saying he needed to assert more political leadership instead of leaving it to Congress to draft a plan for improving the nation's aging highways, bridges and ports.

The frescoes encapsulate Depression-era California: Scenes depicting idyllic farm and factory life roll out beside those of grueling economic hardship. Urban shoppers browse for toys. A small boy witnesses a mugging. No one disputes their historical value. But the works — along with their iconic Art Deco home, San Francisco's fluted Coit Tower — are in trouble. Mineral blooms on the concrete pillar's interior walls, a byproduct of this city's legendary fog, have marred the earth- and jewel-toned images.

Longtime public works administrator James H. Eldridge has been appointed as the city's new director of public works, City Manager Paul Brady Jr. recently announced. Eldridge has more than 30 years of experience, most recently as director of public works for Santa Clarita. He will start his new position Monday. He succeeds Allison Hart, assistant city manager, who has served as acting director of public works for the past 14 months.

Voters in the city of Vernon approved a package of governmental reforms Tuesday that establish term limits in a community where some officials have served since the 1970s. The vote marked the first official support from Vernon's residents for an ongoing reform effort in the city's government, which was launched in response to a disincorporation bill in the state Legislature earlier this year. A total of 52 ballots were cast, according to a city spokesman. "The city is moving in the right direction and this is a part of that picture," said John K. Van de Kamp, a former California attorney general who is working as Vernon's ethics advisor.

"Quality of Life Through Public Works" is the message being delivered to approximately 2,300 third- and fourth-grade Downey Unified School District youngsters during National Public Works Week May 19 to 25. In observance of the annual event, the Downey Public Works Department will conduct outdoor presentations and equipment shows focusing on the impact of public works on the youngsters' homes and community.

The Glendora City Council voted 4 to 1 last week to raise public works fees to make them consistent with the city's costs. Effective Jan. 1, fees on development items including plan checks, building permits, the installation of street signs, lighting and trees will increase by 80% in some instances. For example, a building valued at $100,000 would incur about $775 in plan check fees and more than $920 for a building permit, up from $453 for plan check and $520 for permit.

The Los Angeles Board of Public Works will host a public meeting and information fair on Wednesday for Valley residents concerned about public works issues. City Councilwoman Cindy Miscikowski and officials of the city sanitation, engineering, street lighting and street services bureaus are expected to attend the meeting at Valley Presbyterian Hospital. The information fair will be from 6 to 6:30 p.m. It will be followed by a public meeting at Valley Presbyterian, 15107 Vanowen St.

The city has hired its first public works director after conducting a nationwide search, City Manager David Carmany announced. John P. Clement, public works director for the city of Thousand Oaks, was selected from a field of 42 candidates, Carmany said. Clement, who begins work Dec. 20, will oversee Malibu's short- and long-term efforts to recover from last month's devastating fire.

In response to "Bird Welfare Causes Flap Over Pruning" (June 29): If the Department of Public Works wants us to believe that it is environmentally sensitive, and that, for safety's sake, it prunes trees in the spring and summer, instead of in the fall and winter, then perhaps there is someone out there who is gullible enough to believe that I know the name of the unknown soldier. TOBI STEIN Encino

Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa on Thursday appointed Ernesto Cardenas as a commissioner on the Board of Public Works, the agency that oversees the city's streets and sewers, among other facilities. Cardenas is a project manager with SBC and AT&T and lives in the San Fernando Valley. He is the brother of Councilman Tony Cardenas. The City Council still must approve the appointment.

There are three main reasons why the state has not been rapidly rebuilding California's public facilities, despite an urgent need. Two of them I've written about recently: gubernatorial ambivalence and bureaucratic inertia. But the third is a more long-term problem. The state simply does not have enough money to build all that it needs. A massive public works program is essential to stimulate the stagnant economy, create tens of thousands of jobs and — over the long haul — restore California to greatness after decades of sweeping its decaying infrastructure under the political rug. There have been fits and starts.

Don Perata remembers the mood and expectations when the Legislature passed a massive $37-billion public works program in 2006. The mood was jubilant, the former Senate leader recalls. Legislators had acted in a very rare bipartisan fashion. And the expectation was that the record-size bond package — pushed hard by then-Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger — would rapidly begin the rebuilding of California's decaying infrastructure, creating tens of thousands of jobs. "Everyone was feeling good about what happened.

Gov. Jerry Brown says President Obama should embark on an FDR-type public works program to stimulate the economy. Excellent idea. And Brown should follow his own advice in Sacramento. The Brown administration is sitting on $9.1 billion in infrastructure bonds that have been sold and are costing the state a ton in debt payments. A rough estimate is $630 million a year. But the borrowed money is stashed in various drawers throughout the bureaucracy instead of circulating around California creating jobs.

Los Angeles city officials voted Monday to deny operating permits for this weekend's Sunset Junction festival, a decision that could mean the cancellation of one of the city's best known music events for the first time in three decades. Members of the Board of Public Works voted 3-1 to deny the application from the Sunset Junction Neighborhood Alliance, citing nearly $400,000 in unpaid fees for the 2011 and 2010 festivals. But they left open the possibility that they might reconsider the decision at their next meeting Wednesday if organizers can raise the nearly $142,000 owed for this year.

The Los Angeles City Council on Friday approved a 10-year contract for the installation of up to 6,000 bus benches, turning back a last-minute proposal to shield the existing contractor from having to pay the city any outstanding debts. On an 11-1 vote, the council replaced Norman Bench, the current vendor, with Martin Outdoor Media. Councilman Mitch Englander, who received $5,000 in campaign contributions in October from individuals affiliated with Norman Bench, cast the lone vote against the winning bidder.

With each passing day, it seems, President Obama is facing more pressure to produce a jobs package that would make a serious dent in the unemployment rate. Obama's economics team is working up some new ideas, but time is running short: the president's job approval numbers are tumbling amid growing public impatience with the weak economic recovery. As Obama's advisors consider the options, a number of elected officials, past and present, are coming forward with proposals of their own. U.S. Rep. Jan Schakowsky (D-IL)

The head of the county's largest labor union is urging the Ventura County Board of Supervisors to expand its search for a new public works director. Several sources close to the selection process said a top candidate for the post is Jeff Long, longtime director of public works in Lancaster. A second finalist is Simi Valley Public Works Director Ron Coons, according to those sources.

Sixteen months after the retirement of the city's public works director, council members have hired a Riverside County city engineer to fill the position, citing his expertise in obtaining state and federal funds for transportation projects. Barry McClellan, a nine-year city engineer and director of public works in Moreno Valley, will become Irvine's public works director Sept. 11. He succeeds Bob Graham, who retired in April, 1994.

California's much-vaunted high-speed rail project is, to put it bluntly, a train wreck. Intended to demonstrate the state's commitment to sustainable, cutting-edge transportation systems, and to show that the U.S. can build rail networks as sophisticated as those in Europe and Asia, it is instead a monument to the ways poor planning, mismanagement and political interference can screw up major public works. For anti-government conservatives, it is also a powerful argument for scrapping President Obama's national rail plans, rescinding federal funding and canceling the project before any more money is wasted on it. We couldn't disagree more.

Disaster is often more foreseeable than we think. Remember the warnings for years before Hurricane Katrina that the New Orleans levees were in dire need of renovation? In that case, as in many others, top officials were given the information they needed, but they put off doing anything about it. The echoes of such tragedies should be ringing in the ears of Los Angeles County supervisors who have kept the Department of Public Works from clearing out the mud-choked basin above Devil's Gate Dam in Pasadena.