Posted: January 27th, 2006

January 27, 2006

Ron Kaye, Editor
Naush Boghossian, Staff Writer
Los Angeles Daily News
P.O. Box 4200
Woodland Hills, CA 91365

Dear Mr. Kaye and Ms. Bohossian:

We write to set the record straight regarding the false and outrageous statements in the Daily News article concerning Taylor Yard.

In an article on January 26, 2006, the Daily News wrote as follows:

Los Angeles Unified School District Board Members received a letter from “[T]he Center for Law in the Public Interest, which recently received a $1 million donation from Meruelo, raising the specter of a conflict of interest involving the district’s bond oversight committee. The letter . . . urged the board to hold off on a vote until considering every alternative for the land.”

The reporter did not call anyone here at the Center to learn the facts before publishing that story. I left a message for the reporter on January 26, 2006, in an effort to reach her to set the record straight.

Again without anyone checking with me, the Daily News then published an editorial on January 27, 2006, falsely stating, among other things, that “board members were given a letter from the Center for Law in the Public Interest urging them to consider every alternative to condemning the property, which would, of course, include Meruelo’s plan. Nudge, nudge. Wink, wink.”

The Center has not received one million dollars from Richard Meruelo or anyone else. The Center did not ask the school board to hold off on a vote until considering every alternative for the land, or to consider every alternative to condemning the property. Thomas Rubin, a member of the board of directors of the Center, recused himself from this matter in 2005, to avoid even the appearance of a conflict of interest.

Our attached January 26, 2006, letter calls for comprehensive planning for the Taylor Yard area, including schools, to serve the needs of the community as defined by the community. The Los Angeles Unified School District should work with the community, State Parks and Recreation, the Los Angeles Department of Recreation and Parks, the Los Angeles River Master Plan Committee, and others to develop a comprehensive plan for shared use of schools at Taylor Yard that are part of a broader vision for the area. Instead, State and City park officials, the School District, and others are stumbling over themselves to develop individual projects with no coherent plan to serve the community.

The Center has consistently called for a comprehensive plan for the Taylor Yard vicinity, including schools, as part and parcel of the Center’s work for the past five years to develop and implement a comprehensive and coherent web for the Los Angeles region of parks and open space, schools, and transportation that promotes human health and economic vitality, and serves the diverse needs of diverse users.

The Center did not ask for the Board to delay action. Indeed, having voted for a school at Taylor Yard, now is the time for the School District to work without delay with stakeholders as part of a comprehensive plan that reflects a broader vision for the Taylor Yard area and the greening of the Los Angeles River.

The Center has not endorsed any specific proposal, public or private, for the Taylor Yard area — except to work with the community to create El Rio de Los Angeles State Park, and to prevent any high speed train proposal that would destroy the Taylor Yard community. The Center has taken no position on any discussions involving the School District and Richard Meruelo.

The Center has not received one million dollars from Richard Meruelo or anyone else. The Center received $5,000 from the William C. Velazquez Institute on or about December 7, 2005, for work that the Center and others did regarding the Los Angeles State Historic Park (Cornfield) in calendar year 2005. That amount is 0.7% — seven tenths of one percent — of the Center’s budget for 2005.

We demand a retraction and correction.

Very truly yours,

Robert García

Cc: Members of the Los Angeles Unified School Board
Members of the Independent Citizens’ School Bond Oversight Committee