Larry Eisenberg, Executive Director of Facilities Planning and Development, L. A. Community College District: First to Be Held Accountable For Bond Abuse

By Mars Melnicoff Wed., Mar. 9 2011 at 6:10 PM

Update: See Bottom.

Larry, in happier days

25 minutes ago, Larry Eisenberg, executive director of Facilities Planning and Development for the Los Angeles Community College District -- the man who oversees the fraud-ridden $5.7 billion construction bond program at Los Angeles Community College District, was let go. Terminated effective March 12.

Chancellor Dr. Daniel LaVista made the announcement to the public at today's Los Angeles Community College District Board meeting. Thomas Hall will be serving in his place in the interim.

A six part expose put out last week by the L.A. Times uncovered misuse of tens of millions of dollars. Also to blame are the Board of Trustees, yet voters did not oust incumbents Mona Field and Miguel Santiago in yesterday's elections.

However: they may still have some answering to do also:

In light of the Times expose, County Mayor Michael D. Antonovich - who served on this very board of trustees from 1969-1972 -- announced that he calls upon Los Angeles County District Attorney Steve Cooley for an investigation into the Los Angeles Community Colleges and the allegations contained in the (L.A. Times) series.

We will keep you updated as the heads [hopefully] continue rolling.

Update: During the Board meeting, some Board members did their usual "the building program is wonderful" shpeel -- hilarious!

Board members Mona Field, Sylvia Scott-Hayes and Tina Park, however, kept quiet. Just as hillarious.

The seven-member Board of Trustees voted unanimous in a closed session to terminate Eisenberg's contract.

Contact: Mars Melnicoff at mmelnicoff@laweekly.com / follow @marsmelnicoff

Tags:

Bond abuse, Larry Eisenberg, Los Angeles Community College, Mars Melnicoff

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Lavalson

Incompetence and arrogance are only 2 of Eisenberg's greatest qualities. The low-life wasted hundreds of millions of dollars on dubious projects with even more dubious contractors and should be held accountable and prosecuted. Let's put this crook in jail for a long time.

Ruben Rojas

I am glad this d-bag was sacked. I listened to his dreams meeting after meeting while the "green building" scam took millions out of taxpayers' pockets.

Good riddance. Now the board of trustees has to go too.

TheSage2011

Much more money was wasted or misspent; this is just the tip of the "Eisenberg"!

Oilking6

Yes they are but just think how great they would be if there was proper planning and no waste, abuse, and mis-use

anonymous

Larry was a fall guy for the Board who all got relected. Lay the blame on the electeds.

A Consumate Professional

This is the most unprofessional article I have ever read. What a disgrace to journalism. Your snarky comments under Larry's picture and at the bottom of the article are classic high school level input from a semi-professional journalistic document. Just because you have an opinion doesn't mean you should share it with the world. I believe that is truly relevant in this case. I am ahppy to see LE get ousted but I am not going to lower myself the way you have. I hope you are not sued for your reference to "fraud-ridden program" because there was nowhere in the LA Times articles that represented his incompetence as fraud.

TheSage2011

I love the sense of humor! We might as well get a few laughs out of this situation. Ha ha ha!

old dog

Who is going to hold the trustees accountable? I have a suggestion. How about the FBI? You see, Cooley only goes after the little fish.

Hearnest47

That is so true. The reason this County has turned into a cesspool of public corruption is that the "Public Integrity Unit" itself has little integrity to prosecute misfeasance and malfeasance in office. Often, if an elected official is informed by the D.A. that such charges are about to be filed, the elected official suddenly wants to spend more time with his or her family. They could start with Mona Field and Miguel Santiago who just got re-elected with $500,000 of union and construction contractor money to crush their opponents. It is time for them to go.

have seen this picture before

Janie must be one of those who has defrauded the taxpayers. Now, let me draw a map for the DA. Look into the overhead charges billed to the district and the consultant who was having as office a $54 P.O Box. How about the consultant who was billing the District for employee health benefits but not paid. That`s for starters. Could anyone tell me that these acts are not a FRAUD?

Janie

Get a life! You don't have your facts straight. Let the investigators do their job and you'll see it was the tax payers that voted all the stupid policies that put so much red tape on every step of the process. It's nearly impossible to do the job right with all the tax payers insisting on using lowest bidders. You know what you get with lowest bidders? Headaches, mistakes and change orders. The Program has been simply following the policies the tax payers have put in place. Auditors check the procedures constantly to ensure it is being done legally and fairly. They won't find much of anything else. How about u take the time to shed some light on all the wonderful things the Program has brought to students. Why dont you tour the 9 campuses and you tell me that the taxpayer's money was wasted. We have some of the best community colleges in the country because of what this program brings to the table.