|
For Immediate Release
MILLENNIUM PROJECT Controversy Has More Legs Than a Centipede
At a Friday news conference, opponents of the Millennium Project urged the City of LA Ethics Commission to give top priority to a complaint that the City of LA Building and Safety Department's handling of the Millennium project may have been compromised by a possible conflict-of-interest. This news received widespread, hugely favorable media coverage, with nine stories appearing on six TV stations (KCBS, KCAL, KABC, KNBC, KTLA and KTTV) and two radio stations (KPCC and KPFK) on Friday alone. In addition, the Wall Street Journal published a story about the controversial Millennium project that appeared in its Saturday paper, and the opponents' attorney, Robert P. Silverstein, was interviewed on the "McIntyre in the Morning" show on Talk Radio 790 KABC earlier in the week.
Silverstein said the investigation deserved the highest attention of the City Ethics Commission because of recent disclosures that the son of the Department of Building and Safety's boss was working for the developer's chief advocate at City Hall, the law firm of Sheppard Mullin, while the project was being reviewed by the Department.
On Sept. 9, 2013, an opponent of the project filed a formal complaint with the Ethics Commission calling attention to the possibility of a conflict-of-interest involving Department general manager Raymond Chan while his Department was reviewing the project's earthquake issues. The complaint cited evidence that suggested Chan's son was working for Sheppard Mullin at least in February 2013.
That complaint triggered an LA Times story on Sept. 18, 2013 in which an attorney for Sheppard Mullin confirmed that Chan's son had been a paid "student intern" at Sheppard Mullin between January and May 2013.
During Friday's news conference, Silverstein, who represents a city-wide coalition of 40 community groups opposed to the Millennium project, said: "In our opinion, the question must be asked: Did the son's paid position with Millennium's attorneys play a role in Mr. Chan's handling of the Millennium project and its troubling earthquake issues?"
At the news conference, the opponents also released a video interview they shot of Chan in which the general manager denied he was involved in the Millennium project in July 2013, a claim patently contradicted by "smoking gun" emails that show he was involved at least as early as March 2012, fully 16 months earlier than he was admitting. And incredibly, in that smoking gun March 16, 2012 email Chan and Sheppard Mullin attorneys were discussing "the Hollywood Fault line that could potentially be crossing the property," the very issue at the heart of this scandal. 
In the interview, Chan also conceded he had not asked the Ethics Commission or City Attorney's office if his connection, through his son, to Sheppard Mullin created a conflict-of-interest that should have caused him to excuse himself completely from being involved in his Department's review of the Millennium project's earthquake safety issues.
Millennium opponents have filed a lawsuit alleging the city's environmental review of the Millennium project, involving construction of two skyscrapers (one 39-stories tall, the other 35-stories), failed to disclose the relationship of the Millennium property to the Hollywood Earthquake Fault.
California State Geologist Dr. John Parrish told the City Council four days before City lawmakers approved the project on July 24, 2013 that he believed the active Hollywood Fault may run directly through the Millennium property.
Want to know how to donate? Go to: StopTheMillenniumHollywood.org and hit the "Donate" button. You can also send checks made payable to "BCNA - Stop The Millennium", 2751 Westshire Dr., Los Angeles, CA 90068 Thanks, and please forward this to everyone you think might be able to help, and in turn, ask them to forward it to their friends and family. Regards, Your friends at Stop the Millennium 
Return to top | 
