Housing Official Seeks More Money for Novice Firm to Do Quake Repairs

Los Angeles’ top housing official wants to loan more money to an inexperienced but politically connected developer that is seeking up to $1 million to jump-start repair work in one of the most devastated “ghost towns” left by the Northridge earthquake.

Gary Squier, general manager of the Los Angeles Housing Department, said he would ask the City Council next month to approve new loans to Neighborhood Empowerment and Economic Development, a nonprofit North Hills organization run by political allies of Councilman Richard Alarcon.

The loans would be used to immediately start work on three apartment buildings on Orion Street in the Orion / Parthenia neighborhood that are called “ghost towns” because they have been uninhabited since they were condemned.

Squier also plans to loan money to help start work on a fourth project just outside the ghost town, he said.

All together, officials said they expect they will require an additional $1 million, with the amount to be sought in city loans still undetermined. Some money is being sought from private sources.

Squier outlined the proposals in a status report requested by Mayor Richard Riordan’s office in response to a Times investigation of the recovery problems in the Orion / Parthenia ghost town. Shortly after the Times series, Squier said he would no longer allow inexperienced nonprofit community groups to take on multiple repair projects at once.

A spokesman for Riordan said the mayor has not decided whether he will support Squier’s request for more loans.