Former LAUSD Attorney Describes Half a Billion Dollar Belmont School Debacle: Internet Video (7 min)
June 13, 2006
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Former LAUSD Attorney Describes Half a Billion Dollar Belmont School Debacle: Internet Video (7 min)
Senior Partner with the O’Melveny & Myers Law Firm, David Cartwright, who served as the outside real estate Counsel to the Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) in the early days of the Belmont Learning Center project, appears in a seven (7) minute Full Disclosure video preview of a one-hour interview at the following URL: http://www.fulldisclosure.net/flash/395-6_Cartwright.htm Available FREE, 24/7, on demand, as a public service.
Los Angeles, CA June 13, 2006 — Senior Partner with the O’Melveny & Myers Law Firm, David Cartwright, who served as the outside real estate Counsel to the Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) in the early days of the Belmont Learning Center project, appears in a seven minute Full Disclosure video preview of a one-hour interview at the following URL: http://www.fulldisclosure.net/flash/395-6_Cartwright.htm available free, on demand, 24/7, as a public service.
HISTORY OF PROJECT
Cartwright explains the history of the project and why there was no prosecution of allegations of the waste, fraud and abuse as documented in the reports Don Mullinax, LAUSD Inspector General. Experts have estimated the unfinished and unoccupied Belmont school has cost a half a billion dollars and is currently under re-construction almost ten years later and after a partial demolition of the new buildings located on an earthquake fault.
KNOCK DOWN BARRIERS
Cartwright also, describes how as legal counsel he charted the course as “part of a project team that was specifically created to start knocking down the barriers to school construction” and explains why the Belmont site, formerly known as the old Los Angeles oil field, was purchased “as is” and why the developer failed to remediate the toxic hazards of methane gas and hydrogen sulfide on the site.
INSPECTOR GENERAL’S REPORT “FICTION”
In describing the condemning reports prepared by LAUSD Inspector General Don Mullinax and the California Joint Legislative Audit committee on Belmont, Cartwright says they were complete works of “fiction”. .
He blames school board member David Tokofsky and the legal counsel to the LAUSD Inspector General for shutting down Belmont construction. Cartwright claimed they didn’t “have a clue about school construction or oil and gas.”
BELMONT TELEVISION SERIES
This is one of fourteen hour-long interviews conducted by the Full Disclosure Network with the major players involved in the planning, financing and development of the notorious Belmont Learning Center. In 2002 the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences presented a public affairs Emmy Award to Full Disclosure Host Leslie Dutton for the series entitled “L.A.’s War Against Terrorism,” featuring LAPD Chief Bernard Parks, L.A. County Sheriff Leroy Baca, Police Union Director Lt. Ken Hillman, and L.A. City Councilman Mark Ridley-Thomas.
The Full Disclosure programs can be seen on 43 cable systems and the Internet. A listing of cable channels and air times is available on the website at : http://www.fulldisclosure.net/Channels/channelsINDEX.htm