BP Gets 4.5 Acres for New Complex in Carson

Carson’s Redevelopment Agency, made up of the City Council, has agreed to give BP 4.5 acres of land valued at nearly $3 million to consolidate its administrative offices. BP will build a $30 million, 126,000-square-foot complex to house about 500 employees. The Redevelopment Agency, which approved the deal last month, will receive about $275,000 a year in increased property taxes once the project is finished. The company will “pay” the city for the land by applying 75 percent of that tax toward the principal for 15 years, the Daily Breeze reported.

Real Estate Fraud Booms


Real estate fraud is surging, fueled by a booming housing market, feverish refinancing activity and lax regulation, authorities say. In the last two years, according to the FBI, reports of mortgage fraud nationally have tripled to 21,994, while the dollar value of the alleged crimes quadrupled to $1.01 billion. Swindlers have lots of room to hide in an industry so flush, so busy and so much more complex than it used to be. Mortgage fraud can be as simple as a loan applicant lying about income and as complicated as a ring of conspirators using identity theft and fake appraisals to steal properties from unsuspecting owners. Much of the industry is not required to report fraud to regulators, so it doesn’t, the Los Angeles Times reported.

Old Power System Gets Upgrades


After a power outage last week left more than 14,000 customers in the dark, Glendale officials said they have been upgrading aging parts of the city’s electrical system, but the effort is costly and takes time. Glendale Water and Power has a $40 million capital improvement program to upgrade its system over the next three to five years. The existing system is a mix of old and new technology, with some of the older substations dating from the 1960s. The outage last Tuesday evening darkened many areas after a 3-inch cable burned out. Glendale also had an outage March 8 that affected 16,000 customers and another one April 5, the Daily News of Los Angeles reported.

Mayor Gains Strength in Wage Talks


Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa appears to be gaining ground in his battle with a union representing City Hall workers who are seeking a hefty pay increase. A protest at Los Angeles International Airport on Nov. 27, which some union officials had predicted could disrupt holiday travel, drew a smaller-than-expected group of demonstrators. Now, the Engineers and Architects Assn. is coming under pressure from the powerful head of the Los Angeles County Federation of Labor, who warned union leaders that the coalition of city labor unions might not support a strike. Villaraigosa has a lot riding on the negotiations, both politically and fiscally, the Los Angeles Times reported, but he has balked at the union’s request and vowed to stand firm.