Los Angeles’ $5.7 billion campus rebuilding project has been plagued with problems and will be reviewed by a new panel, write Gale Holland and Michael Finnegan in the LA Times. A recent series by the Times showed poor construction, failed planning and half-finished projects at the district’s nine campuses, amounting to waste of tens of millions of dollars.

Mistakes include wasting $39 million on four buildings at West Los Angeles College on which planning/construction were halted when officials realized they couldn’t afford to complete them.

It is unclear exactly what role the new panel will have in analyzing and fixing the problems or what information they’ll be given.

Lydia Gutierrez, a teacher and candidate for the community college Board of Trustees election on May 17, asserts that the panel needs to be in conjunction with a change in who’s carrying out the construction jobs. She said:

“Until you have qualified people in the jobs, you’ll just be walking in a circle.”

Gutierrez and others criticize the administration for oversight that missed or ignored low-quality workmanship and mismanagement of resources.

With interest, the total bill for the community college construction projects will run to $11 billion and will impact property taxes until 2050.

[Photo: Mission College, by Kirk McCoy/LA Times]