ACLA has never had economic clout as a result of it’s principles; our objective has been to seek efficacy in all the relational and built environments we create and pursue..... Possibly this was one of our failings....no one took us seriously....
LAUSD became the trigger to the series of events that literally spiraled down and out of control.....Ossified Bureaucracy played a major role in in this Situational drama....We were ready to break ground on the Spiraling Orchard Community Pavilion...Final step in Permit Process – Lot tie to union Lots of different ownership. Single ownership required by city...
LAUSD Claimed we were squatters........ after 15 years of permits and partnership agreements contingent on ACLA securing State Murray Hayen funds. No documentation could be found in LAUSD files....More importantly no history in the staff other than one individual...who went MUTE. The muted person was involved in suing LAUSD & Superindent Cortenes for sexual harassment; he did not want any distractions from his case. He later rescinded and our paperwork found after the state parks made it clear that LAUSD was equally responsible for the dollars invested in the site if it was not to be a park in perpetuity .....
Instead of signing off on construction, LAUSD placed site on open market to the highest bidder...Disallowing our bid to purchase and dis-crediting our investments in remediating the land; because ACLA had not received written permission from LAUSD to execute the various levels of environmental work to achieve remediation. foreshadowing a possible demise of ACLA and the lose of seminal work in the field of socially responsible community building.