Building Contracts Canceled

Photo: Christopher Martinez

Two weeks after Southwestern College’s governing board suspended all contracts with Seville Construction Services and Bunton Clifford Associates (BCA), the board terminated its relationships with the two construction firms involved in a pay-for-play controversy that has so far led to 26 felony indictments of South Bay education officials. Following a closed-door session on January 25, Governing Board President Norma Hernandez made the announcement to the public.

“The board took action … to sever the contractual relationships with Seville Construction Services and BCA architects, reserving all rights of the college,” she said.

In response, Seville released a statement that read, “Seville Construction Services and Southwestern Community College District representatives are working toward a mutual solution to dissolve a contractual relationship. We believe SCS has operated and acted in good faith throughout our relationship with the district. The independent actions of individuals previously involved with the program, including a former employee who was terminated a year ago for inappropriate actions that included violation of our corporate code of conduct, are negatively affecting both organizations and the community. It is important to note that the former employee is facing criminal charges for alleged actions while employed elsewhere, not SCS, on an unrelated project, not the college district.”

Sweetwater Trustees Won't Get Legal Fees

*By Mary York and Nickolas Furr

Sofia Reyes / Photo: Christopher Soto

Sweetwater Union High School District trustees decided to take no action on a controversial agenda item that would have granted $1.3 million in legal fees to four trustees who have been under investigation by the San Diego County District Attorney in the South Bay pay-to-play scandal. Trustees let the agenda item die without motions at the end of a volatile seven-hour meeting.

Nearly 800 people packed the Hilltop High School gymnasium and sat on folding chairsand wobbly bleachers shouting “Shame! Shame!” and holding up signs with doctored photos of trustees behind prison bars. On the agenda were items to grant $400,000 each to indicated Sweetwater trustees Arlie Ricasa and Pearl Quiñones as well as former trustee Greg Sandoval. A fourth item sought $100,000 for trustee Bertha López whose home was searched by the district attorney but who has not been charged. Former Sweetwater superintendent Jesus Gandara was also indicted and has legal fees guaranteed in his severance package. Gandara was fired in June, 2011. DA investigators also searched the homes of former Southwestern College administrators Nicholas Alioto and John Wilson. They have not been indicted, though District Attorney Bonnie Dumanis said more indictments were possible.

Board Suspends Construction Contracts with Seville, BCA

Exactly one week after San Diego County District Attorney Bonnie Dumanis announced indictments against four members of the Sweetwater Union High School District and a construction executive, the Southwestern College governing board suspended all construction contracts with Pasadena-based Seville Construction Services and San Jose-based architecture firm Bunton Clifford Associates (BCA). Among the five indicted was Henry Amigable, who until December 2010 was Seville’s SWC project manager overseeing Proposition R construction. Total value of the contracts is $59 million.

Board president Norma Hernandez announced that the board decided to “…take all steps necessary to immediately suspend existing construction contracts with Seville Construction Services and BCA Architects.”
Dr. Melinda Nish, SWC’s new superintendent/president, issued a statement the next day on behalf of Hernandez.

“The board’s action was based on the district’s ongoing internal review and the San Diego County District Attorney’s investigation,” read the statement. “The board’s action was deemed to be the most appropriate and responsible decision to take at this time.”

Column in Jackson Free Press - "The Gold Standard"

I left Jackson in 2008 and knew I'd miss it. I'd miss the people, the music, the arts scene, the Crossroads Film Festival, the parades, Hal & Mal's—all of that. But fortune sent me west to settle near San Diego, in what the natives call the South Bay, a multicultural swath between the big city and Tijuana, Mexico. For all of its dynamism, its culture and its multifaceted personality, this whole area—in fact, much of San Diego—leaves me thinking about some of the best things in Jackson that I miss most.

I have woken up in the middle of the night craving a burger. Not just any burger, but a huge Stamps turkey burger. I haven't eaten beef in over a decade, but I love a good turkey burger. For my money, that's the best there is, particularly if you include the sweet potato fries. I'm told that Stamps is now Cool Al's. I don't know if it's the same, but I do know that it would be the first or second place I'd eat if I came back.

Here, just north of Mexico, tamales are as common as tacos and served by the dozen. They're traditional: pork or chicken wrapped in masa and served in cornhusks—boring. I want tamales served up Mississippi-style, smaller and spicier and crafted from cornmeal and Delta blues. I want it served up with pico de gallo, sour cream and sweet-corn sauce. I want tamales from Walker's Drive-In. I don't care what else I get there; it's all wonderful. But I want tamales with it.

Unions Seek Corner Lot PLA

Governing Board President Tim Nader’s recent statement that there is little chance he would sign a union-favoring Project Labor Agreement (PLA) for the first phase of Proposition R construction has pro-labor activists crying foul. But pro-business advocates said they are also feeling unsatisfied with the process.

With Phase I construction on the $389 million Prop R project planned for early next year and no signed labor contracts in place, union representatives and workers tried recently to convince Nader and the rest of the board that there is still time to sign a PLA that would go into effect immediately. Union members said the agreement would benefit the college, community and construction workers of the district.

But none of that may matter. Governing board members insist that construction management contracts already in place would make agreeing to a new PLA difficult, at least for Phase I of the five-phase project.

Management contracts oversee money, while construction contracts oversee the hiring of subcontractors and workers. Former Vice President of Fiscal Services Nicholas Alioto signed management contracts with Seville Construction Services for project management. The former governing board approved. Echo Pacific Construction was hired by Alioto to handle construction contracts, but the current board terminated Echo Pacific’s contract this fall. Balfour Beatty has been approached by the college about assuming Echo Pacific’s terminated contract and assuming responsibility for construction and labor. No contract has been approved.

Board Fires Corner Lot Construction Firm

One year ago this week, donning pressed suits and ill-fitting construction hard hats, the previous Southwestern College Governing Board broke ground to celebrate the start of construction on the $389 million Proposition R project on the infamous “corner lot.” A seven-acre dirt and gravel field on Chula Vista’s busiest intersection, the lot has remained empty for five decades. In the 12 months since then, the only meaningful activity on the property was seasonal vendors selling pumpkins in October and Christmas trees in December.

Pumpkin Patch: the only work being done / Photo: Serina Duarte

With the pumpkin patch up and running again this year, the current governing board unknowing marked the anniversary of the groundbreaking by firing Escondido-based Echo Pacific Construction, the firm contracted to provide construction management for most of the Prop R project. Echo Pacific, however, continued on as if it was business as usual.

SWC Director of Facilities John Brown confirmed the board action to fire Echo Pacific. The firm would continue to be part of the Proposition AA project, he said, but the board was already seeking its replacement for Prop R work.

“A recommendation was made at the October 12, 2011 governing board meeting by staff to open negotiations with the number two ranked firm, Balfour Beatty [formerly known as Barnhart Balfour Beatty],” Brown said.

Builder Decries Lack of Oversight Members

David Adams / Photo: Furr

Some conservative building contractors and taxpayer advocates are complaining that two experienced members of the college’s Proposition R Oversight Committee were replaced with pro-union representatives. Members of the governing board said one representative was not reappointed because she had not applied for another term.

In 2008, voters of the Southwestern Community College District overwhelmingly approved a $389 million construction and modernization bond meant to improve the college, including the “corner lot” project, a parcel of empty former farmland located at the corner of H Street and Otay Lakes Road in Chula Vista.

Following California law, the Prop R Citizens Oversight Committee was formed to monitor expenditures and provide representation, not to the college or construction companies, but to the voters of the district.
Three new members joined the committee this summer. Nicholas Segura, Thomas Davis and Matt Kriz filled one vacant seat and replaced members David Krogh and Rebecca Kelley. The board’s refusal to reappoint Kelley to her seat proved to be a controversial decision.

"Kizuna: Fiction for Japan" is Out!

It is with great pleasure that I announce that Kizuna: Fiction for Japan is out! This charity anthology is unlike any other. Featuring a mix of authors - the known and the unknown, created and developed to be released and read online, but designed to also go into print, Kizuna: Fiction for Japan is a labor of love of 76 different writers from 11 different countries - all of whom are taking part in helping the victims of the earthquakes and tsunami in Japan this spring.

I'm not exaggerating when I say this was the brainchild of American-born, Japan-based writer Brent Millis - who alone developed the idea of a charity anthology and then started seeking the opinions of people he knew online.

Brent and I have known each other on Twitter for a couple of years, and on Facebook for nearly as long. We've never met, but we have a clear respect for each other's work and ability. And following this, Brent has my highest level of respect as a man able to do what few others have ever even attempted.

Chief Chartier is the Wrong Man to Lead Campus Police

Winds of change have buffeted Southwestern College and show no signs of abating. With the governing board elections of 2010 tipping the power balance to a pro-education stance, and the resignations of Superintendent Dr. Raj K. Chopra and Nick Alioto, fiscal services vice president, it is clear that no position is exempt from change and any college leader might need to justify the job they do to those who matter most: the public.

Given the inconsistent, secretive and often questionable actions the campus police have taken recently, one must ask whether campus Chief of Police Brent Chartier should continue.

In March, a campus police officer stopped a female adjunct instructor to cite her for driving while talking on a cell phone. He handcuffed and arrested her for allegedly resisting arrest. It is still not clear what crime she had committed to be handcuffed in the first place.

Rob Unger, the SCEA grievance chair who was involved in the early stages of the incident, said the woman’s story is that she was handcuffed and had her head slammed into the hood of her car. When the officer pinned her to the car he became sexually aggressive, she reported, pressing his crotch to her rear. She asked him to change positions and he pushed harder against her. She then yelled for him to stop.

“He may have taken that to be resistance,” Unger said.

Delays, Controversy Again Stagger Corner Lot Project

For 50 years, the 2.6 acre patch at the northeast of Southwestern College has laid fallow, a vestige from the lima bean and horse ranch it once was. For the past decade it has become a killing field for SWC administrators and board members who get too wrapped in the often murky worlds of construction, politics and money.

And still the land sits empty as a new set of players settles in to try to make sense of the stalled project that led to so much upheaval at SWC last year.

Pasadena-based Seville Construction Services, chosen by a previous SWC administration and board to manage an ambitious new incarnation of the highly-visible “corner lot,” has pushed back the start date several times. Seville has become entangled in governing board politics, SWC contract troubles, love affairs, investigations, and was caught playing a personnel shell game as detailed in a Los Angeles Times investigative series.

In October 2009, Seville was awarded a $2.7 million contract – or 2.7 percent of the initial $100 million Phase I project costs – to provide program management and as-needed construction management services for the college’s Proposition R construction, projects funded by a voter-approved $389 million construction and modernization bond in 2008. Projected to be spread out over 23 years and five phases, the Prop. R work would be largest college building project in about 35 years. Of the $100 million slated for Phase I, the corner lot project was budgeted at $74 million.

Board Orders New Audit on Contracts, SWC Foundation

Originally published on 4/14/11...

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Former VP Hid, Dumped Millions

Originally published in the Southwestern College Sun on 3/22/11...

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New Superintendent Shakes Up Tech Study Group

Originally published in the Southwestern College Sun on 2/22/11...

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Rammer Jammer Yellowhammer (Book Review)

Mississippians love their books. They have to, what with being the state known for Faulkner, Welty, Tennessee Williams, John Grisham, and others. Planet readers were astonishingly literate and one of our constants was our book section. We did small book reviews and had lists of regular book signings, and every now and then I'd do a book review (we had an editor and several freelancers who loved to do them). This was just one of my favorites.

I’m sitting on the couch, watching Olympic event after Olympic event and nearly drooling at the opportunity to watch my Chiefs smack around the Rams on preseason Monday Night Football (by the time this sees print, I’ll find out if I was right). I’ve made no secret of my love of sports, or of the fact that Kansas City football and baseball are imprinted on my soul. I’m also a New England Patriots fan – many moons in Maine caused me to adopt them, but they are a distant second compared to my beloved Arrowhead Stadium roughnecks. I’m a half-assed Ole Miss fan, simply because I went to a cow college in a neighboring state, one in which the football team found mediocrity something to strive for. I once screamed so loud and so long – at a high school football game – that I broke my voice.

Put simply, I’m a sports fan.

Rebekah Potter Interview (Multi-Media Artist)

This was unquestionably my most informal interview - and it seemed perfect for the subject. We met in her kitchen while she made pizza dough, and I questioned her with off-hand comments. I considered it an interview version of her work - "not a rectangle." Sometime later, she gave me a 5' x 4' piece of art that I had admired in her studio. It's vaguely rectangular, has no real corners, is folded in places, stitched, battered, taped (and all this the way she made it), and goes everywhere with me. Like all great art, wherever I hang it, it's perfect.

Rebekah Potter does not believe in rectangles. Instead, she prefers to let the borders of her art become part of the art itself. Using scrap wood – complete with gashes, tears, and protrusions – she creates pieces that purposefully reach beyond the boundaries our minds impose. Many of her paper and cardboard collage pieces have no shape, reaching out and folding back in on themselves, helping turn the medium into the message. She sews stitches into many of her pieces, adding texture and drawing your eyes to places they would not necessarily go. And yes, she does have some rectangular pieces, but only because it suits her to do so.

Potter has been called an intrepid wanderer, living alone around the world, yet always touching base in Jackson, where she lived for six years. Perhaps because of her infrequent visits home, she has remained near the edges of Jackson’s vibrant art scene, yet she has many devotees and numerous individuals collect her work. She often reaches inside herself to find her subject matter, which vividly reflects her state of mind at the time.