January 2011 Archives

After three years of funding Tent City, city officials have decided to shut down the homeless services area by the summer of 2012.

With only 38 people living in Tent City, and nearly $300,000 of city resources dedicated to operating the area, the council felt it was time to close the facility.

"We've proven that we care about the homeless," Councilwoman Sheila Mautz during a special meeting Friday at the Ontario Convention Center. "We whittled that mass to at least something manageable."

"The (Temporary Homeless Services Area) has done what it was meant to do. We've got to do something else."

Mayor Paul Leon added, "to spend $300,000 on 38 people is a freaky figure to me."

January through April

Move fence enclosure to reduce THSA area.

Increase rental assistance for up to 12 months for eligible THSA clients.

Require that all RVs be moved every 30 days.

May through September

Focus efforts on securing housing for all THSA RV and car owners (20 permit holders).

Terminate THSA permits for RVs by Sept. 30

Revoke THSA permit, if suitable housing has been secured and rejected.

October through February 2012

Focus efforts on securing housing for all THSA households earning more than $750 per month.

Terminate THSA permits for all households earning more than $750 per month by Feb. 28, 2012.

All permanent housing units completed.

March 2012 through June 2012

Focus efforts on qualifying all remaining households for other suitable housing.

Open Homeless Service Center by May 2012.

Discontinue all remaining THSA permits 30 days after opening of Homeless Service Center.

Homeless Prevention and Rapid Re-Housing Program discontinues on August 30, 2012.

Source: city of Ontario

The project will elevate 1.5 miles of railroad tracks over Milliken between Guasti and Airport Drive, Councilman Alan Wapner said at a groundbreaking ceremony Wednesday morning.

Construction on the two- year, $49 million grade separation will begin at the end of February.

"We all know the cargo traffic that goes through this intersection and how congested it can get," Wapner said. "This is an important cargo corridor for Southern California and our nation."

PASADENA, Calif., Jan. 18, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- Jacobs Engineering Group Inc. (NYSE: JEC) announced today that it received an award from Los Angeles World Airports (LAWA) to provide facilities management implementation support services.

Officials did not disclose the contract value.

The scope of the contract includes services provided as part of an integrated team to assist and support the development of a facilities management program to ensure LAWA exemplifies best facilities management and business practices. These best practices are to be applied to meet LAWA's facilities management needs at Los Angeles International Airport (LAX), LA/OntarioInternational Airport (LA/ONT), Van Nuys Airport (VNY), as well as property in and around Palmdale, Calif.

LAWA has a multi-billion-dollar portfolio of existing facilities at various stages of deterioration with significant renewal/replacement requirements. LAWA is investing extensively in new facilities to accommodate new large aircraft and to improve the customer experience.

Jacobs' responsibilities include assisting LAWA in defining and implementing a phased facilities management program applied to the entire portfolio of assets to provide LAWA with a systematic approach for acquiring, managing, operating, investing in and evaluating their facilities that is cost-effective, reliable and sustainable. The facilities management program is expected to help maximize the value of new assets being developed at Los Angeles International Airport.  To achieve this goal, Jacobs will work with LAWA staff to integrate people, processes and technologies to optimize the value of facilities through their life cycles from planning, design and construction, to operations and maintenance, renewal and, ultimately, disposal.

LAWA, which operates ONT, will accept submissions through February from the private sector and other interested parties about managing the airport.

The Board of Airport Commissioners approved the process at its Dec. 20 meeting.

The following day, Ontario city officials announced they had given their city manager the option to sue LAWA over violation of the joint powers agreement.

On Monday, Gina Marie Lindsey, executive director of LAWA, provided the commissioners with a brief update which announced that the expressions of interest packets were released to the public last week.

"The purpose of this is to gather information from other folks," she said.

For more than a year Ontario officials have said local control would better address the downward trend in air traffic at ONT and have been pushing to regain control of the ailing airport. More recently, Ontario officials have been in negotiations with city of Los Angeles and LAWA to return control to Ontario.

The expressions of interest packets ask parties how they might be able to:

• Return ONT to pre-2008 passenger traffic trends and increase ONT's share of air traffic in the Los Angeles region;
• Effectively market ONT to airlines, passengers and air cargo companies;
• Operate ONT more efficiently and;
• Balance the short-term improvement initiatives currently under way at ONT while maintaining ONT's long-term capacity for growth.

Commissioner Fernando Gil-Torres on Monday reiterated his position that the expressions of interest process did not signify the end of discussions between LAWA and ONT.

"We are partners with Ontario. We want to work this out," he said.

Gil-Torres said the two agencies have "a difference of opinion" about why air traffic has fallen at Ontario but "we are partners, we are friends."

Newly named board president Michael Lawson echoed Gil-Torres' sentiments: "There is no mal-intent," he said.

On Monday afternoon, Ontario Councilman Alan Wapner said he was pleased to hear the tone of the commissioners' comments.

"We wanted to make sure the (expressions of interest packets) did not impede or deter us from continuing to seek control of the operation of the airport," he said.

But the city's action to include possible litigation in its effort should not be taken as a sign of hostility, Wapner said.

"We were voicing our opinions," he said. "We will exercise all options. Certainly, we hope it doesn't get to that point."

At the previous meeting, Lawson was the only commissioner to say he would prefer LAWA consider the idea of selling ONT.

That's the message from LAWA after the Ontario City Council in December gave City Manager Chris Hughes the option to sue Los Angeles over violation of the joint-powers agreement about the airport.

The two agencies have been in negotiations for more than a year over how to operate ONT.

But despite the recent action, it does not cause a rift between the city and LAWA, said Mike Molina, the agency's deputy executive director of external affairs.

"It does not hurt the relationship," Molina said. "The city of Ontario is an important partner with LAWA. We will continue to develop that relationship."