Blow Out
The Los Angeles City Council will consider placing a one-year moratorium on its own new law banning the use of leaf blowers within 500 feet of homes.
After being approved two weeks ago, the city’s Community and Economic Development Committee decided to resubmit the law back to the council. The three-member panel said the law is impractical to enforce and should be rewritten.
The request came after the Southern California Gardeners Association demanded a new study of the economic impacts of the ban and that the mayor meet with representatives to discuss alternatives.
The panel wants the council to look into the law’s failure to provide gardeners and homeowners with two warnings before imposing fines of up to $1,000. In addition, the lawmakers want to give gardeners and leaf-blower manufacturers a chance to develop reasonable alternatives.
Northrop Deal
Northrop Grumman Corp. has signed a $1.9 billion contract with McDonnell Douglas Corp. to make components used in building C-17 military transport aircraft during the next six years.
The contract comes just a week after Lockheed Martin Corp. announced it would acquire the Los Angeles-based aerospace company. The deal is worth an estimated $11.6 billion.
McDonnell Douglas will use the parts to complete its mission to build an additional 80 C-17s by 2004. The Air Force planes are designed to carry large combat equipment and troops or humanitarian aid directly to small airfields anywhere in the world.
Construction of the planes would be mostly completed at McDonnell Douglas’ Long Beach plant.
Clothier Declares Bankruptcy
Rampage Clothing Co. is seeking bankruptcy protection after racking up $94 million in debt during an ambitious expansion drive.
The privately held company which filed for Chapter 11 last month fell into trouble after the retail division began expanding to more sites and larger stores. The retailer owns about 50 stores nationwide operated under the Judy’s, Rampage and Friends names.
Attorneys for Rampage say they hope to reorganize to focus on its core business, reduce overhead and improve product lines.
Rampage Clothing Co. has total assets of $54.1 million and liabilities of $61 million. Meanwhile, Rampage Retailing Inc. has $23.5 million in assets and close to $33 million in liabilities.
Each company has more than 100 creditors. The biggest amount $27 million is owed to CIT Group/Commercial Services.
Ironically, Rampage began its expansion plans in 1993 with the takeover of Judy’s clothing stores which was in the midst of its own bankruptcy filing. Rampage previously supplied the retailer with clothes, but rescued the company and then began converting them into Rampage stores.
Strike Averted
Los Angeles County’s bus drivers union will vote this week on a new contract with the Metropolitan Transportation Authority to resolve their wage and job security issues.
Negotiators for the MTA and the 4,200-member United Transportation Union reached tentative agreement last Tuesday on a three-year contract. If approved by the union, the deal would then be sent to the full MTA board for its approval.
The deal gives union members an 8 percent to 9 percent pay hike over three years. But the MTA would be allowed to hire more part-time workers which could comprise up to 18 percent of its work force.
The agreement also allows the MTA to hire new drivers at a lower pay rate than existing drivers, whose top pay is $19.05 an hour.
Alatorre Controversy
Two charities that are heavily supported by City Councilman Richard Alatorre are being investigated by transit authorities for consistently hiring an event-planning firm founded by his wife, according to a report in the Los Angeles Times.
Alatorre has personally helped solicit donations to the charities from businesses, lobbyists and others seeking contracts with the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority. The charities then hired Eventfully Yours, formed by Angie Alatorre, to stage events, according to the Times.
Both Alatorre and his wife have denied any wrongdoing.
The investigation of the charities and their relationship with Eventfully Yours is being conducted by the MTA inspector general’s office. The agency is examining whether the company served as an improper channel for money raised from transit interests.
El Sereno Youth Development Corp. and Feliz Navidad Project Inc. paid Eventfully Yours in recent years nearly a quarter-million dollars in commissions, according to the Times.
Quake Site Redevelopment
A formal groundbreaking ceremony will be held this week for a new 158-unit apartment complex being built on the site of the Northridge Meadows complex, which collapsed in the 1994 earthquake, killing 16 people.
The new project, called Parc Ridge, is owned by the Northridge Redevelopment Group L.P. and is being built by Structure Development Group.
