Relocation May Increase Dispatch Center Costs

A long-delayed plan to build a new police dispatch center may cost Los Angeles taxpayers $3 million more than expected because of an about-face by city officials who now want to build the facility downtown instead of in Westchester.

Five years after voters approved a $235-million bond issue to overhaul the city’s antiquated and overburdened emergency communications system, ground has still not been broken for a new Los Angeles Police Department 911 dispatch center. The latest plan calls for putting the facility just south of police headquarters, on 1st Street between San Pedro and Los Angeles streets, at a cost of $19.3 million--$2.3 million to $3.2 million higher than the price tag for a similar project by the ocean.

“I need a justification. If there isn’t any, why in God’s name would we want to increase the cost?” said City Councilwoman Laura Chick, who chairs the Public Safety Committee.

Staff reports and Kelly Martin, a mayoral deputy, say the added expense is worth it to keep the 911 center near the city’s emergency command post, under City Hall East, and the Fire Department’s headquarters. Officials refer to this setup as a “sneaker net” because employees would be close enough to run back and forth in an emergency.

If the Fire Department eventually builds a new dispatch center near the LAPD’s--as proposed in another bond issue the mayor and some council members are backing--the downtown location could end up saving taxpayers money, the reports say, because the city would not have to purchase land in Westchester.

“This is a building that has an expected life of 50 years. These costs, amortized over 50 years, are modest,” Martin said. “We’ve seen in these emergencies time and time again, the demonstrated benefits of being in this sneaker net. They may not be measurable on a dollar basis, but on a life-or-death basis, it’s very significant.”

Martin said the location change would not delay the project further. A report by the city engineer is due to the City Council on June 1.

Chick removed the item from a committee agenda Monday because she wanted a cost-benefit analysis of the two sites. Among the questions, she said, is why officials originally said it was better to have emergency centers geographically scattered and why they now want them all in the same place. She said there would be a meeting on the topic Friday.

“When somebody presents arguments and switches, I want to know why,” she said.