Hundreds of people have expressed outrage over county Supervisor Mark Ridley-Thomas’ plans for a $707,000 office remodel, prompting him to consider scaling down the project, a county official said Wednesday.
County Chief Executive Officer Bill Fujioka said Ridley-Thomas, who represents the inland South Bay, is seeking an independent assessment from an outside firm to determine if the project should be pared back.
The Board of Supervisors has faced intense public pressure since voting unanimously Dec. 1 to refurbish Ridley-Thomas’ offices.
Although Ridley-Thomas was in Washington, D.C., lobbying for transportation funding and did not return calls for comment Wednesday, a page on his Web site argued it is not an “extravagant beautification project.”
“County records show the Second District’s Hall of Administration headquarters has not been substantially upgraded or repaired in more than two decades,” the site said. “We believe that is why other supervisors respected our decision to perform the work we deemed necessary on our office space.”
In a board memo, Fujioka wrote the project would involve replacement of carpet, floor tiles and lighting, interior woodwork, an air conditioning retrofit, relocation of a kitchenette and the purchase of new furniture.
Since the vote, “The John & Ken Show” on KFI AM 640 has lambasted Ridley-Thomas and encouraged listeners to call and e-mail the supervisors to express outrage. County officials say the board offices have been inundated with hundreds of e-mails and phone calls.
“We are going to keep banging on this,” co-host John Kobylt said in an interview.
“They always assume we are going to get tired and go away. We are going to take this right up to Christmas and after Christmas we’ll be back. If we have to do a show in front of their offices, we’ll do that. This is abusive.”
Sherry Bebitch Jeffe, a senior fellow at the School of Policy, Planning and Development at USC, said she doesn’t agree with John & Ken on much, but acknowledges they have a “valid argument” on this issue.
“The point is the county is hurting,” Jeffe said. “Social programs are hurting. There are people who don’t have homes to live in, let alone the ability to remodel. It’s just not a politically astute thing to do at this point in time.”
As unemployment approaches 14 percent in the county, Kris Vosburgh, executive director of the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association, said Ridley-Thomas picked a bad time for an upgrade.
“Spending taxpayer money frivolously couldn’t come at a worse time with so many people out there hurting,” Vosburgh said. “If you were to take a survey today, I’ll bet you’ll find that most county residents wouldn’t care if his staff had to sit on orange crates.
“We’ve got people out there living in boxes and he’s worried about the quality of the wood in his furniture.”
