Conflict of interest for Yaroslavsky?

The two public hearings for the Heschel School West proposal held by the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors came in response to several appeals of the approval given by the Regional Planning Commission. This commission had stated on record it was leaving it up to the supervisors to make certain determinations and legal findings, a task that has not been meaningfully accomplished to this day. What occurred was a travesty.

At the first hearing in January, Agoura Hills Mayor Dan Kuperberg insisted that, at a minimum, Heschel put in place the traffic mitigations imposed as a condition of approval by the planning commission before being allowed to begin grading for the school.

At the second hearing, Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky essentially ignored the city's request and proposed to allow Heschel to begin with a smaller "interim" school (390 vs. 750 students) which uses a four-way traffic signal at the Chesebro/Canwood intersection to control the increased traffic. By state regulation, Caltrans says that any such design must be initiated by Agoura Hills. Should the city not go along with this solution, Yaroslavsky has promised to allow school traffic to exit deep into Chesebro Road through a small, 50foot strip that is in county land. It is a solution his own office considers undesirable, yet he seems perfectly willing to use it as a threat.

Though many details of the interim school are unsettled, the county will soon schedule a final hearing. Unless a supervisor asks for the item to be opened for comment, it will be approved without further examination. Unfortunately, none of the other supervisors asked a single question at either hearing. They rarely do. Such a fact reveals the essential corruption of the political process, in which supervisors, by tacitly supporting each other's projects, are allowed to rule their districts like kings with little check or balance.

Finally, there are some eyeopening conflicts of interest. Yaroslavsky is a childhood friend and long-time associate of Heschel's attorney, Ben Reznik, and Yaroslavsky's deputy handling this issue, Ben Saltsman, while a capable young man, is a cousin of Heschel's principal. How can one expect a fair hearing when conflicts of interest such as these are so fundamental and pervasive? Were it our City Council or even the L.A. City Council, Yaroslavsky and his deputy would have had to recuse themselves from the beginning.

The Old Agoura Homeowners Association has not yet voted to initiate a lawsuit against the county, but the members are sending in their checks should that turn out to be the only way to resolve this decadeold dilemma. Jess Thomas, President Old Agoura Homeowners Association