Posted Feb 24, 2021, 2:47 AM
|
|
Registered User
|
|
Join Date: Sep 2006
Posts: 223
|
|
Quote:
Originally Posted by Quixote
They nailed the UCLA station location. That’s exactly where I would place it.
Numble, what are your general thoughts on the two options taken individually and vis-a-vis each other?
|
I'm trying to get access to all 4 proposals to consider them.
Generally, I don't like the monorail since it is all freeway stations, but I am concerned that board members will be hard to dissuade due to the costs and political lobbying by BYD, the main company in the proposal. 4 years ago, Metro board members already tried to award an electric bus contract to BYD despite Metro staff recommending another bidder (this is very rare, they accept staff recommendations 99.99% of the time).
https://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/...520-story.html
Quote:
BYD paid for Antelope Valley’s transit manager, Len Engel, to spend a week in 2016 visiting its facilities in China, on what officially was a plant inspection. Engel said he did not complete a written report from his trip, nor was he able to provide a copy of the itinerary or other documents detailing how his time was spent there. He was accompanied by six U.S. transit officials whose travel expenses also were covered by BYD. The gift was not reported as required by California ethics laws, until after The Times raised questions.
Six months after the China trip, BYD sent Engel to Ecuador for nearly a week and he gave a 15-minute speech at a three-day conference on urban development and housing. At his recommendation, BYD hired his sister-in-law to an administrative post. Engel said the relative’s hiring bought BYD no favors and that she was “absolutely qualified.”
|
Quote:
City records show two city departments sought to give BYD contracts without competitive bidding. In both cases when the projects hit snags, agency emails show, managers told the staff that the purchases were “political,” and in one case to work around problems with the bus. The sanitation department was awaiting approval to buy an electric shuttle bus from BYD in May 2017 when The Times sought records on the purchase. The sale immediately stalled and has remained pending for nearly a year. City airport administrators last year sought to expedite a contract to BYD as the sole supplier of airfield buses, until a competitor forced public bidding. Last month the agency awarded a $23-million contract to BYD, declaring the company alone met city specifications.
The mayor’s office encouraged city departments to do business with BYD, suggesting that the airport and Metro consider a joint contract with BYD, and giving agency referrals and support to BYD sales staff. In one case, BYD included in a grant proposal it wrote for the city a commitment for Los Angeles to buy $10 million in electric garbage trucks. Agency emails show sanitation managers balked at the idea of agreeing to buy something they had not yet tested, but the promise was included anyway in the grant application the city filed with the regional air board.
|
Quote:
When the low scores on its 60-foot bus caused BYD to lose that $60 million sale to competitor New Flyer, BYD launched a lobbying blitz. Emails show BYD turned to Garcetti’s office for support, obtaining private meetings and tapping personal ties to the mayor. Labor leaders aligned with BYD launched attacks on its nonunion competitors. And BYD’s lobbyist focused on Metro director Ara Najarian, sending the former Glendale mayor scripted remarks urging that the contract be given to BYD, his emails show.
In a recent interview, Najarian said he led a failed effort to give the company the contract despite its poor marks due to the jobs BYD promised in Lancaster, not because of the efforts of BYD’s lobbyist, a longtime friend. Najarian said he believes BYD can overcome its production and performance problems, and that its economic engine is a valuable regional asset. It was a conviction he also expressed at a Metro board meeting in 2016, when he argued for a tempered response to the poor performance of BYD’s buses.
“What we don’t want to happen is BYD to feel that they are losing support of this agency or this county,” Najarian said at the time.
|
https://2urbangirls.com/whats-going-...r-of-commerce/
Quote:
Mayor Butts also had a company infuse $50,000 into the chamber’s coffers to keep them afloat. Enter Chinese based electric bus manufacturer, BYD, who made the deposit.
Last July BYD was awarded a contract for 60 busses by Metro for the Silver Line that was introduced by Glendale Councilman Ara Najarian. LA Mayor Eric Garcetti, LA County Supervisor Kathryn Berger and Long Beach Mayor Robert Garcia had “hard conflicts” that prevented them from voting on the matter.
At the Metro Board’s regularly scheduled meeting held July 27, 2017, contracts for both BYD and New Flyer of America were approved. The contract that went to New Flyer of America was a contentious item, as three members wanted to give the contract to BYD. The motion failed and Mayor Butts was absent for the votes pertaining to New Flyer of America.
Now why would a company, with no ties to the city of Inglewood, except for a Metro Board member, put such a substantial amount of money into the Inglewood Chamber of Commerce?
Perhaps favor on future Metro contract votes, when the board has to choose between BYD and New Flyer of America?
|
BYD also is a sponsor of Move LA (which helped pass Measure M): https://www.movela.org/sponsors
|
Prev
Linear Mode
