NEWSLETTER - Los Angeles

No. 21-11 May 5, 2021

NEWSLETTERAlexandria Park Tiny Homes Village Opens in NoHoBOE Delivered Project Ahead of Schedule and Under Budget

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Councilmember Paul Krekorian cuts the ribbon to officially open the Alexandria Park Tiny Homes Village.

Councilmember Paul Krekorian presided over the opening of the Alexandria Park Tiny Homes Village in North Hollywood, 6099 Laurel Canyon Blvd., on April 22, 2021. Also speaking were Mayor Eric Garcetti, Hope of the Valley CEO Ken Craft, Recreation & Parks Commission President Sylvia Patsaouras, City Engineer Gary Lee Moore, actor Tim Allen, and Los Angeles Housing Services Authority Board Chair Wendy Greuel.

Krekorian said, “You are standing today in what soon will be occupied by as many as 200 people who are currently living on the streets. This is the Alexandria Park Tiny Homes Village, the largest tiny homes village, the largest facility of its kind in the entire State of California. This is the second such facility that I’ve opened in my District, the first one is over on Chandler. Since the day it opened it has been an unmitigated success, filled up immediately, there’s a waitlist of people who want to get into these tiny homes and there’s a good reason for that.

“For people who are currently living on the streets to have their own private space with a door that locks, with air conditioning, with heating, electrical supply, shelves they can put their items on, with drawers where they can store their items, with beds. This is a life changing moment, from living in a tent on the sidewalk to living in your own private, pure,

hygienic space.“Where you are standing right now is in the

middle of Alexandria Park. Just a few months ago Alexandria Park was almost a symbol of failure. It was a place filled with homeless

encampments. It was a place where there were repeated fires, assaults and drug use. Under that overpass we had multiple fires affecting the encampments and the tents that were

l to r: RAP Board President Sylvia Patsaouras, City Engineer Gary Lee Moore, Tim Allen, Councilmember Paul Krekorian at the podium, Mayor Eric Garcetti, Laurie & Ken Craft of Hope of the Valley, and LAHSA Chair Wendy Greuel.

Each of the tiny homes includes fold-out beds, storage space, electrical outlets, lighting, heating & air conditioning unit and a locking door.

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continued on page 3 Structures were placed to ensure that all the trees were preserved and to utilize their shade.

there. We had the Fire Department responding about twenty times a month to this site. So it was a place that was a place of desperation. Today, we’re changing into a place of hope. It was a place that was a significant problem for the entire surrounding neighborhood but importantly it was a place of desperation for those who were forced by circumstances to take up residence in this park or in this wash or on that embankment leading to the freeway. And today the people who are living in those conditions are being given an opportunity to come out of those circumstances into bridge housing and ultimately into more permanent housing. So this is transformative for the people who live here, it’s transformative for the neighborhood surrounding this park, it’s transformative for our City and I couldn’t be prouder to be opening this facility today.”

Mayor Garcetti lauded Krekorian and Hope of the Valley saying, “We’ve got to keep meeting like this. This is the Councilmember and the organization through which we’ve done the first Homeless Navigation Center in the City, the first Bridge Home in the Valley, the first Tiny Homes Village just a few months ago, and now the biggest Tiny Homes Village not just in L.A., but in the State.”

Garcetti said he felt this is a moment of great hope because he knows the commitment is there, the team is there, and the City family is working together toward the goal to end homelessness.

Hope of the Valley CEO Ken Craft said, “I just want to thank BOE, Bureau of Engineer-ing, you guys are amazing in what you’ve put together, the design, thank you. Mayor Eric Garcetti and Councilman Paul Krekorian, as an inclusive, faith-based organization that deeply believes in the dignity, worth and value of every human being, we thank God for you for your unwavering commitment and leadership to create, fund and support inno-vative, supportable and sustainable housing solutions. Two months ago we gathered for the ribbon cutting ceremony at the first Tiny Homes community in the City of Los Angeles on Chandler Boulevard. Because it was new

Mayor Eric Garcetti Los Angeles Housing Services Authority Board Chair Wendy Greuel.

Alexandria Tiny Homes continued from page 1

A colorful palate gives personality to the tiny homes.

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Actor, comedian and community activist Tim Allen City Engineer Gary Lee Moore

The strip of land alongside the 170 Freeway in North Hollywood has long been a place where homeless people set up camp. Now the former homeless encampment has been transformed into a village of tiny homes.

Alexandria Tiny Homes continued from page 2

there were plenty of critics and skeptics. Hope of the Valley, your onsite service provider, is here to tell you the Chandler site has been a great success, a life saving and life changing facility and endeavor. . . Hope is renewed and now residents are getting jobs, free from addiction and healing from trauma and placed into permanent housing.

“To quote some of our residents about the Chandler Tiny Home site, the first one is a woman who came to me and shared with me, ‘I now have hope that I’m going to be okay,’ after her house burned down five years ago and she’d been living in her car ever since. Another person told me, ‘With access to show-ers, laundry and meals, I feel human again.’. .

“Mayor Garcetti, Councilman Krekorian, on behalf of our Board Chairwoman Teresa Jackson, who is here, our Board of Directors and our incredibly dedicated staff, it is our highest honor and extreme privilege to pro-vide the operational and social services to the residents of Alexandria Park.”

In his introduction of the City Engineer, Krekorian said, “The Mayor was just mention-ing to me how quickly this facility was built and how great it looks and that happened because of our extraordinary City team that made this happen. And as with all great infra-structure projects, at the head of that team, our City Engineer Gary Lee Moore, who oversaw the entire site preparation and construction site and made it happen quickly, on budget and made it look terrific.”

Moore said, “We get an opportunity to build many, many projects, but there’s no higher calling that the Mayor Garcetti and Councilman Krekorian have asked us to do and that’s to build homeless housing. . . This layout is special, when we did this layout no front door looks into another front door. Privacy is important. People are transitioning here, they’re going from this into permanent housing. This is their first step after a long time on the streets.

“A little bit about this facility, this 200 bed facility. We used three hygiene mobile trailers and each one of them has five restrooms and they have showers, also water stations. We

used three 8 x 40 modular shipping containers to speed up the construction and this houses the administrative offices, case managers and onsite laundry facilities. You’ll see seating and umbrellas throughout the site for gathering and meal services. And pets are welcome here and that’s also something very important as people have their pets and it helps transition them into this. We have this very nice fenced pet area.

“We’re at a park and it was important to maintain all the trees. I look forward to being back here in a few years when homelessness is eliminated and we’re back and we’ve re-moved all these tiny homes and the trees are still here because we didn’t touch them and it’s back to the park.

“Color, you know in our initial design we had color we had a great partner in this in Ford EC, our contractor, and with Michael Lehrer, the architect, took our color and added and enhanced it and it’s a wonderful and inviting environment.

”And I just want to say finally thanks to the staff. We couldn’t have done this without this

tremendous staff,” and he went on to thank the organizations and people that partnered with BOE as well as BOE staff.

Additional site improvements include site lighting and a fire access road. The fire access lane was required due to the depth of the site and long access distance from Laurel Canyon Blvd. The site is secured with privacy fencing and a controlled guard booth at the entry point. The $8.6 million project was completed 9 days ahead of schedule and about 4% under the original contract amount.

The design was by Lehrer Architects and the Bureau of Engineering and the contractor was Ford EC.

Congratulations go to Chief Deputy City Engineer Deborah Weintraub, Deputy City Engineer Mahmood Karimzadeh, Acting Deputy City Engineer Jose Fuentes, Program Manager Marina Quinonez, Architect Erik Vil-lanueva, Construction Managers: Marcelino Ascensio, Luz Rabelo, and Adrian Hwang; Electrical Engineer Son Vuong; Mechanical Engineer: Raymond Huang and everyone who was involved in this project.


Southern California Team Wins Special Award at Future City Competition

Team Urbs Maxima from Bernardo Heights Middle School, received a Special Award from the American Society of Landscape Architects.

An overhead view of Urbs Maxima’s impressive model.

As reported in the April 7, 2021 BOE News-letter, Bing Neris and Robert Shufeldt of the Wastewater Conveyance Construction Division assisted with the Southern California Regional Future City Competition. Out of ten middle schools participating, the Regional Winner was team Urbs Maxima from Ber-nardo Heights Middle School. They qualified to compete at the National Final. Though normally held in Washington D.C., the Future City Awards national competition was held as virtual presentations starting in March, with the winners announced on April 7, 2021. There were 42 finalists from the United States, Canada, China and Nigeria in the finals competition all showing creative solutions to designing a future city on the moon. All the teams were introduced in the program.

Future City starts with a question - how can we make the world a better place? To answer it, 6th, 7th, and 8th grade students imagine, research, design, and build cities of the future that showcase their solution to a citywide sustainability issue. Each year has a different theme as the challenge. For 2021 it was Future City: Life on the Moon.

We are proud to announced that Urbs Maxima won a Special Award presented by Tony Carter-Conneen, Chief Executive Officer of the American Society of Landscape Archi-tects. He said, “I am so pleased to present the Best Integration of Equity in Designing the Built Environment using Nature-Powered Solutions Special Award, sponsored by the American Society of Landscape Architects. The winner is BHMS from Southern California. The team thoughtfully designed their Future City and created a community that is diverse and equitable. Excellent job.”

In keeping with this year’s theme of life on the moon, two NASA astronauts were guest speakers. Jasmin Moghbeli, aerospace engineer, and Woody Hoburg, commercial pilot, congratulated all the teams for working together and their creative ideas.

Kathy Renzitti, Executive Director of Discover Engineering, said, “I’m thrilled to be with you today for the first ever virtual celebration. Congratulations to our finalists, we know how hard you have worked on your cities in a year that has presented us with a unique set of challenges. But you persevered and here you are. And that is what this com-petition is all about. Recognizing a challenge and finding solutions. At this time last year we at DiscoverE were huddled together trying to find ways to host a Future City competition even if we could not be together in person. We, like you, could not imagine a year with-out Future City. And here we are, we did it, all of us. We could not have made this happen without all of you, students, educators, men-tors, regional coordinators and volunteers. I especially want to thank our sponsors for their

continued support. The show must go on and our sponsors stepped up to ensure that we could all be here today.

“Before we announce the winners I wanted to share a little more about Discover Engineer-ing. In addition to the Future City competition, Discover Engineering is also the organization behind Engineers Week, Introduce a Girl to Engineering Day, World Engineering Day and the Persist Series. Our programs and resources have been adopted and adapted by individuals and organizations around the world, reaching millions.

“Our message is simple. Engineers work with smart, inspiring people to invent, design, and create things that matter. We believe that none of us is as strong as all of us. Because of you and with you we lead a growing vol-

unteer and educator movement recognized worldwide. Thank you for helping to celebrate our legacy and to build for the future through engineering. Next year’s theme is Creating Waste-Free Cities.”

These are the final results for the 2021 Future City Living on the Moon competition that were announced on April 7, 2021. Con-gratulations go to all the participants:

5th place Richard H. O’Rourke Middle School, Albany

4th place St. John Lutheran School, Mich-igan

3rd place St. Clair Junior High, Missouri2nd place Warwick Middle School, Penn-

sylvania1st place Al-Hadi School of Accelerative

Learning, Houston


Jeannie Park is Recognized by BPW for Women’s History MonthAt the March 31, 2021 meeting of the Board of Public Works Commissioner Teresa Ville-gas led the celebration for Women’s History Month. She said, “It gives me great delight and great honor to be able to closeout the month for Women’s History Month celebration and here the Board will be recognizing the dedicated service of a few of the outstanding women from the Department of Public Works. Each year in March we commemorate the vital role of women and their contributions in American history. This is an important time for us to celebrate and reflect on women’s achievements, as well as the struggles, that bring us to where we are today.

“Last year marked the 100 year anniversary of the passage of the 19th Amendment guaran-teeing and protecting women’s constitutional rights to vote. And in honor of this centennial milestone, the 2020 Women’s History Month theme was Valiant Women of the Vote: Re-fusing to be Silenced. And during this time last year, as you all know, the world changed completely and since that time celebrations were either planned or on hold, including our own and Council’s.

“This year the theme has been extended to 2021 just for people to commemorate and make a difference. In a year filled with many challenges, civil unrest, a recession and a global pandemic that significantly impacted women in the workforce who had to choose between their careers, childcare, schooling, we refuse to be silenced. And it’s during Women’s History Month that we also shine the light on the present day contributions and achievements of women and how their stories inspire the future. Within the Department of Public Works we are fortunate to have so many women who do exemplary work each and every day, breaking the glass ceiling, pursuing careers in the fields that were once considered unconventional for women and dominated by men.

“Today we will honor a few of these wom-en who answered the call and stepped up to participate in the City’s Disaster Service Work-er Program to bring aid to those most in need during this time of crisis. Whether assigned to shifts delivering meals to seniors throughout Los Angeles, making contact tracing calls, or staffing COVID19 testing and now vaccination sites. These women took on unfamiliar and challenging roles while maintaining their cur-rent workload and responsibilities. I call them superheroes. We’d like to thank you for your service to the community and your hard work and dedication, delivering the core services that make our neighborhoods safer, cleaner and more livable. Especially in this past year amid a pandemic you continued to keep the city running and enhanced the quality of life for people across the City of Los Angeles. To-day the Board is honored to recognize a few of these outstanding women for their invalu-

able contributions to the Department of Public Works, the City of Los Angeles and its millions of residents.”

The following employees of the Department of Pub-lic Works were in-troduced by their respective liaison Commissioner: Tamara Martin, Board of Public Works Jeannie Park, Bureau of Engineering Tammy Jackson, Bureau of Street Services Tania Arzate, Bureau of Contract Admin-

istration Myrna Pietri, Bureau of Sanitation Joanna Lee, Bureau of Street LightingIn her introduction, Commissioner Jessica Caloza said, “Jeannie Park, a Senior Manage-ment Analyst from the Bureau of Engineering, is our honoree for Women’s History Month for BOE. Jeannie has done remarkable work bringing her own skills and passions to go above and beyond the call of duty in her time as a Disaster Service Worker. Jeanie, as I mentioned, is a Senior Management Analyst with the Bureau and has completed 508 hours as a DSW, serving at all four sites managed by the BOE including the Vagabond Inn, Ameri-ca’s Best Value, Best Western Dragon Inn and the H Hotel. Her duties included unpacking, sorting, microwaving and serving meals, accompanying the nurses on their health checks, disinfecting public areas, picking up trash and various other tasks assigned by the site managers.

“At the Vagabond Inn Jeannie initiated a recycling program to divert cardboard meal boxes and plastic bottles into recycling bins and also tried to divert leftover meals that would otherwise be tossed out. Instead, fam-ilies in the USC’s Neighborhood Advancement Initiative Program got to benefit from that. She also made recommendations for the DSW pro-gram that were largely implemented. So even in her volunteer capacity as a DSW worker Jeannie continued to lead in both small ways and in big ways, which is remarkable.

“Another standout memory for Jeannie was mediating between residents and agency staff and the police when they were called in to assist with an infection, and we know how sensitive these matters can be, and Jeannie was the voice of reason and calm during these times that really helped navigate what otherwise would be a tense situation. Thank you for that.

“So this recognition honors all of Jeannie’s work and contributions to the BOE, to the community and of course the City during a pandemic. Thank you Jeannie so much for your service and for the 500 hours that you have put in blood, sweat and tears. And thank

you also for the recycling program, which is truly remarkable. Give a big round of applause for Jeannie, please. At this time I’d like to turn it over to our City Engineer Gary Lee Moore from the Bureau of Engineering to say a few words and embarrass Jeannie a little bit more.”

City Engineer Gary Lee Moore started by saying, “From all of us at the Bureau of Engineering we just want to thank the Board for recognizing Women’s History Month. It is so important and such a passion - equity and equality is so important. It’s great that you’re taking the time today to stop and recognize the women in the Department of Public Works, because they are exceptional. And to all the other honorees, congratulations.

“Before I embarrass Jeannie, I want to thank her division manager and supervisor Steve Chen, because he supported those 60 days going to be a DSW worker. That put more burden on Steve and the rest of the team and I just want to thank them for supporting Jeannie in doing all this because the team work really came together during the Disaster Service Worker implementation.

“I just love the write up about Jeannie and her implementing process improvements while she’s a Disaster Service Worker because that is how I would describe her in the Bureau of Engineering, looking for ways to improve the Bureau of Engineering, looking for ways to build partnerships across divisions, looking for ways for how we can be better employees. Jeannie, I just want to thank you from all of us in the Executive team for your constant efforts to make us better and it’s so well deserved, your recognition today, we’re all so proud of you.”

When it was her turn to speak, Jeannie Park said, “I wanted to thank my manager Steve and my City Engineer Gary for giving me these opportunities. I truly think that the Bureau of Engineering does allow women who are not engineers to truly contribute and to gain experience. As you know, the Bureau of Engineering is involved with the building of facilities for the homeless. This was an opportunity to work with the most vulnera-ble members of the population. The Project Roomkey Program was a success, I’m glad to see that it’s ongoing. And I thank you because I benefited as much as whatever I might have given, from just being able to work and serve this population, so thank you for this honor.”

In Board of Public Works Vice President Aura Garcia closing remarks she thanked all the honorees for their excellent work saying, “As you’ve heard today, you’ve all taken on new and challenging assignments that are outside the scope of your regular duties and have done it all with positive attitudes. This was clearly a demonstration that all of you have such great positive attitudes even doing extra work than your normal work. So thank you for that.”


BPW Honors Nur Malhis for Arab American Heritage MonthThe Board of Public Works celebration of Arab American Public Works employees was held on April 28, 2021. The honorees were: Board of Public Works - Hanaa Eid Bureau of Contract Administration - Samer

Hussein Bureau of Engineering - Nur Malhis Bureau of Sanitation - Aghareed Soliman Bureau of Street Lighting - Asaad Alnajjar Bureau of Street Services - Elias NajarCommissioner Teresa Villegas began by say-ing, “Today it’s my privilege to join with my fellow Commissioners and members of the Public Works and City family in celebration of Arab American Heritage Month. By recog-nizing the achievement of several outstanding men and women from the Department of Public Works. Today in City Council Mitch O’Farrell will lead a wonderful recognition at City Council. Even though these celebrations are virtual, please note that it is critical for us to continue to acknowledge these important cultural heritage months.

“During this month of April we celebrate the history and the culture and the contri-butions of Arab Americans whose ancestors from 22 Arab nations, located in Northern Africa through Western Asia. And the people of these nations are ethnically, politically and religiously diverse but we all share a common theme. In celebration nationwide for Arab American Heritage Month the theme is “Mosaic” and it’s just filled with educators, writers, and poets, people that we all know and love and who we admire, like Nobel Prize winner in chemistry and local Caltech professor Ahmed Zewail, and former U.S. Health & Human Services Secretary Donna Shalala, actor Rami Malek, and Today Show co-host Hoda Kotb. The United States is home to 3.5 million Arab Americans, with more than 300,000 in California, more than any other state, with the majority of them living in Los Angeles, San Francisco and San Diego.”

In a recorded message, Mayor Eric Garcetti said, “It’s my honor to recognize April as Arab American Heritage Month. This is the first year the U.S. State Department has designated an official month to honor Arab Americans. But make no mistake, in Los Angeles we celebrate Arab American culture, ingenuity, creativity and heritage every single day. In the City of Angels we feel the extraordinary contributions of Arab Americans all around us, in art and entertainment, to science and technology, from those fighting COVID19 in our hospitals, to those serving Angelenos in the corridors of City Hall. In just a few miles from here, Arab American students at UCLA founded the first Arab sorority in the nation, Epsilon Alpha Sigma, also known as the Empowered Arab Sisterhood.

“I’m proud that Los Angeles is home to one of our nation’s largest Arab American communities, a community of kaleidoscopic

diversity, a tapestry of many traditions, many backgrounds and many nations of origins. This month we lift up the gifts that Arab Americans have given to our City, to our country and to our world and speak out against discrimination and hate against them. So, on behalf of the City of Los Angeles, have a happy Arab American Heritage Month. We stand with you.”

Commissioner Villegas then said, “Today we are proud to have an Arab American lead-ing Streets LA in Adel Hagekhalil. Adel has been with the City more than three decades and has done a wonderful job as general manager and executive director and in various roles in Public Works. At this time I’d like to turn the program over to Adel to say a few words and share a short video.”

Adel Hagekhalil said, “Thank you Com-missioner Villegas, thank you to everyone, thank you to the Mayor, thank you to Board President Good and to all the Commissioners, especially Commissioner Aura Garcia and Commissioner Villegas. As we say in Arabic, shukran. On behalf of the Arab American community in Los Angeles and on behalf of Arab American City workers, thank you for recognizing April as Arab American Heritage Month. I know Commissioner Davis always reminds us about diversity and inclusion is what makes Los Angeles a great place to live and work. Arab Americans I’m proud to be part of this beautiful and colorful tapestry that we call Los Angeles.

“As the late Reverend Martin Luther King said, “Whatever affects one, directly affects all. I can never be what I ought to be until you are what you ought to be.” This can’t be more im-portant than now as we pursue racial justice, as we pursue racial equity, and as we stand against hate, especially against our brothers and sisters in the Asian American community, the Latino community and the African Amer-ican community. We are all are one, we may look different but we are all the same, we’re all people that love communities, want to do the best for our children, love family. We’re all immigrants that came from somewhere, some of us came early, some of us came late, we’re all brothers and sisters and we all want to do one thing, to work hard, to build a good place for our families, and to do it with dignity and pride. I’m honored that many people are actually joining us virtually, many are on the call here. . .

“But I want to share one thing that’s dear to my heart. After 911 the hate against Arab Americans [there was] just so much hate, so much discrimination. In 911 my daughter

was 5 years old, and next month she’s grad-uating from law school, but she was 5 years old at that time. I was at a grocery store and I was attacked by two people. She asked me why and I couldn’t answer. So I know what discrimination means to people and I don’t want that to happen to anyone.”

He then played a video that explained Arab American history and culture.

Commissioner Jessica Caloza said, “I’m here to present the honoree for the Bureau of Engineering. I’m also joined here by Gary Lee Moore, who’s our City Engineer and general manager for BOE. I’m excited to present Nur Malhis as the honoree. Nur is a Senior Civil Engineer with the Bureau of Engineering, he has been with the Bureau for thirteen years. Having worked in three different divisions before moving over to the Architectural Divi-sion in 2015, where he has been for the past six years. He’s responsible for overseeing the infrastructure group which handles projects related to bridges, bikes, recreational facil-ities, master planning projects, as well as street projects. Some of Nur’s most notable career projects at BOE include Riverside Dry Viaduct over L.A. River Widening, Taylor Yard Bikeway/Pedestrian Bridge, L.A. River San Fernando Completion Project, 1st & Broadway Civic Center Park Project, and Hollywood Walk of Fame Renovation Project, all just really tiny projects that Nur likes to work on.

“Since the beginning of his career Nur has had a reputation for having excellent work ethic and is always self motivated to take on complex issues and resolve challenging issues with enthusiasm, as well as taking the extra time to assist his fellow peers. His career background has progressed and his performance has given him the opportunity to be assigned to some of the Bureau’s largest and most complex projects.

“He has been recognized by management, his peers as a top performer in his field. This recognition honors all of Nur’s work. With his leadership and passion for his job and we look forward to his continuing work with the City. And I’m sure your ongoing list of projects that you’ve completed will only continue to grow. So congratulations Nur for this incredible recognition from the City, from the Board and from your team.”

Nur Malhis said, “I am honored and priv-ileged and humbled to be chosen to receive this nomination. However, this nomination is not just for me, it’s for all the Arab Americans in the Bureau of Engineering and how the City as a whole has tried to uphold the highest level of service and are passionate about the award. I want to first thank Commissioner Caloza and all the other Commissioners for giving the presentation and providing this venue for this award and this type of commendation

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ceremony. And also Gary Lee Moore for all his leadership to make this organization what it is today and for allowing the opportunity for BOE staff to work on exciting projects.

“The scope of managing and delivering projects is truly a team effort with many differ-ent entities involved and requires support from every player to make it successful. No project manager or project would be successful with-out the hard work, support and commitment of both City staff and outside agencies.

“I would like to take this moment to thank the following people in BOE for their past and current guidance and support: Gary Lee Moore, City Engineer; Deborah Weintraub, Chief Deputy City Engineer; Mahmood Karimzadeh, Deputy City Engineer with the Civic Center Development Program; Reza Bagherzadeh, Principal Civil Engineer for the Civic Center Development Division; Neil Drucker, he was the division engineer for the Architectural Division before he retired; Ste-ven Fierce, Principal Architect for the Archi-tectural Division; Paul Tseng, Senior Architect with the Architectural Division; Ohaji Abdal-lah, Architect for the Architectural Division; Shirley Lau, Principal Civil Engineering for the Bridge Improvement Division; and Scott Gibson, Senior Civil Engineer with the Bridge Improvement Division. I would also like to thank all my fellow staff at BOE that I worked with over the years on projects. I have many people to name so I’m just going to name them through their divisions: Architectural Di-vision, Bridge Improvement Division, Survey Division, Geotechnical Division, Streets and Storm Drain Division, Development Services Division, Real Estate Division, Project Award and Control Division, Construction Manage-ment Division, Administration Division.

“I would also like to thank the other bureaus and departments that we collabo-rate with to make these projects possible: LA Sanitation, StreetsLA, Bureau of Street Lighting, Bureau of Contract Administration, Department of Recreation & Parks, Los An-geles Department of Transportation, General Services Department, Department of Water & Power, Department of Building & Safety and Department of Cultural Affairs. All these divisions have provided valuable services to projects that we managed and without the hard work and dedication of these people truly no project would be completed.

“I’d also like to thank the City Hall team: Commissioners of the Board of Public Works; the Mayor’s Office, including LA Riverworks; all the Council offices; Office of the CAO; Office of the CLA; the City Attorney, for your support and assistance throughout the years, approvals of reports, execution of agreements, being very solutions oriented in trying to push the project and also working tirelessly to pro-vide funding for the projects.”

He closed by saying, “Without the strong

teamwork and partnering with City staff working cohesively there would truly be no groundbreakings or ribbon cutting ceremo-nies. Thanks again for this nomination and for celebrating and facilitating celebrations of diversity within the City. Thank you.”

Commissioner Caloza said, “Amazing Nur, thank you so much. I think that you just demonstrated why you are the perfect honoree for BOE. In a time when we are choosing to recognize you and shine a spotlight on your work, you are choosing to share the limelight and be such a collaborator and share the love with the team effort that goes into all these projects. So thank you so much, Nur. You see that you have a lot of love on this screen.”

Board of Public Works President Greg Good commented, “That was striking Nur, thank you. I would also add that we see why he is perfectly appropriate. And I feel comfort-able as an Angeleno having him as an engi-neer on projects, because you are a thorough dude. You covered all the bases. As someone who’s written talking points on occasion in my life, you hit them all, well done.”

Good added, “The other thing that is strik-ing looking at the three screens we have here and I haven’t frankly thought about this in the past and I don’t know if it’s particularly Public Works or not. Simply put, the contributions the truly foundational work and leadership of Arab Americans in the Department of Public Works is profound. But for the work and leadership of Arab Americans in the City of Los Angeles and the Department of Public Works, we have a different infrastructure in the City. So thank you to everyone and thank you Adel for your leadership in highlighting and encouraging this recognition, it’s just pretty awesome.”

In her closing remarks, Commissioner Vil-legas said, “It’s been a big pleasure to be able to honor all of our Angelenos today from Arab American culture. . . . Along with my fellow Commissioners of Public Works we are proud to support and acknowledge the honorees and all of the Arab Americans throughout the Department and throughout the City family that are all doing exemplary work. Each of you has a unique role and skills that play an important and vital role that make up the City of Los Angeles. Here at City Hall we are led by the Mayor who’s been a life long champion of equity and diversity and we as Commissioners will continue to honor our part to support the equity and diversity of our departments and provide the tools and resources to continue doing our jobs and provide the opportunity for growth. The Board is proud to recognize each of you today and remains committed to showcasing the stories of our men and women throughout Public Works and in the future. Thank you again to all the honorees for all your hard work and for joining us today. Let’s give virtual applause. Thank you so much. Shukran.”

Malhis Recognized continued from page 6

Thanks to PCM and Survey StaffThis e-mail was sent regarding the work of Civil Engineer Thein Crocker, Civil Engineer Associate III Michale Soto, Civil Engineer Associate I David Calderon, Principal Clerk Justinea Allen, Senior Admin Clerk Greg Thompson of the Permit Case Management Division and Survey Party Chief I James Kleinbergs, Survey Supervisor Magdi Soliman, Senior Survey Supervisor William Knight of the Survey Division:Date: Thu, Dec 31, 2020 at 8:44 AMSubject: Tract 68095Everyone;This map recorded this year.That would not have happened without the unbelievably great work you all did.

We brought this map to you very (very) late and you all extended yourself in order to expedite processing of the map so that it could record this year, all the while under the limitations imposed by COVID.

I want to thank you all for your respon-siveness and hard work. It was all very much appreciated.

I don’t know all the people that may have worked on this map behind the scenes so I hope I haven’t missed anyone with this email.

Thank you again and best wishes for a Happy New Year, a year that will be better than what all of us went through this year...

Karl M. RiemerDCA Civil Engineering Group

ASCE MLAB Awards Open for NominationsThe American Society for Civil Engineers Met-ropolitan Los Angeles Branch (ASCE MLAB) is now accepting nominations for both Project and Individual Awards for the LA County Area. The application deadline is May 7, 2021. Project Award Criteria:1. Awards are given on the basis of projects

completed between January 1, 2020 to December 31, 2020. Strong projects are those considered to be innovative, serving our communities, involving advanced technology, and/or sustainable in nature.

2. A project can only be nominated once but you can nominate as many projects as you’d like

3. The project must be within the geograph-ical boundaries of the Metropolitan Los Angeles Branch which is defined as LA County.

4. Projects that include Innovative Sustain-able or Advanced Technological approach-es will be given additional points during project awards consideration

For information on the specific criteria for each of the different categories of projects and individual awards, and the nomination forms, please go the ASCE MLAB website: www.ascemlab.org/awards-guidelines


On March 21, 2021, ABC7 featured City En-gineer Gary Lee Moore and the Sixth Street Viaduct Replacement Project on their weekly Localish program.The City of Los Angeles unfurls the new “The Ribbon of Light”LOS ANGELES (Monday, March 22, 2021) - In 1932 the original Sixth Street Viaduct opened in Los Angeles, connecting Downtown L.A. to Boyle Heights. At the time it was the larg-est and longest of all the bridges in the city. Unfortunately, they didn’t test materials back then, and it was unknown at the time that the materials used to build the bridge would cause a chemical reaction called an Alkali Silica Reaction, which is also known as a concrete cancer. In 1952 the bridge began to crack, and after multiple failed attempts to repair it over the years, it ultimately was deemed seismically deficient, and the decision was made to demolish it.

Fast forward to 2012 when the City of Los Angeles decided to not only replace the bridge with a new, better viaduct, but to hold an international design competition for the right to design it.

“I thought, what an opportunity we have here,” said City Engineer Gary Lee Moore. “The community has been incredible. They came with us through the journey. They went to all the community meetings with us. It was, and has been, such a wonderful, wonderful experience working with the two communities.”

Ultimately, the winner was design firm HNTB with its design dubbed The Ribbon of Light. It features ten pairs of arches ranging in size from 30 to 60-feet. The bridge will not only have four lanes of traffic like before, but it will have a bicycle lane on each side, 14-foot-wide sidewalks, and five sets of stairs that let pedestrians exit the bridge at different locations. One of the main highlights of the bridge will be the 3 level helical ramp that pedestrians will be able to walk or bike down from the deck level of the bridge.

“Nothing is like this. We’ve never seen anything like this. I’m very excited to see all this come together,” said Moore.

The bridge will also be a special place at night for Angelenos, as the arches will be lit up with color changing LED lights for different events and celebrations.

“I hope there’s a lot of Dodger blue shining, a lot of Laker purple and gold, Kings black and white. Were just really excited to celebrate this with the community during the day and the night,” said Moore.

Once the Sixth Street Viaduct is com-pleted, the Bureau of Engineering will begin construction on the new 12-acre Sixth Street PARC (Parks, Arts, River and Connectivity Improvements), which will rest at the base of the bridge. It will feature soccer fields,

basketball courts, a dog park, adult fitness areas, children’s playgrounds and splash pads, a skate park, picnic and garden areas, and an amphitheater.

“I’m excited about the acoustics,” Moore told Localish. “I think its going to be one of those special spots in Los Angeles, and I look forward to seeing performances here.”

Of course, any large construction in Los Angeles will have to account for the seismic activity in the area, and the new bridge is no exception. Each column will be equipped with triple friction pendulum bearings, which will

allow the entire bridge to move 30 inches in either direction during a seismic event.

Moore emphasized, If there is a seismic event, if there is an earthquake, this is where you want to be. This is going to be one of the safest spots anywhere.

“This bridge is going to be here for hun-dreds of years. Were just very proud of this innovation, and its going to be beautiful, its going to be a destination, and its going to be very safe.”

The bridge deck construction is scheduled to be completed in summer 2022.

ABC7 Spotlights Sixth Street Viaduct Replacement Project

Envisioning Sustainable Infrastructure SeminarFor more details about this May 6, 2021 virtual seminar sponsored by the Construction Man-agement Association of America Southern California Chapter (CMAA SoCal) and the U.S. Green Building Council Los Angeles (USGBC-LA), see the listing on page 13. The event features two speakers from the Bureau of Engineering: Nur Malhis, Architectural Division and Lorraine Moreno, Environmental Engineering Division.


1st Row (left to right): Juliet Gagar-Richards, Erika Griffin, Monica Tucker, Yvonne Upton, Dr. Laura Kokinda. 2nd Row: Jessica Domanay, Alejandra Larios, Gary Lee Moore, Antoinette Barrios, Hassena Khan. 3rd Row: Maria Rongavilla, Paul Liles, E. Patricia Zavala, Elizabeth Zelaya, Paulina Lorenzo. Not Pictured: Jacquelyn Salazar, Karen Cundiff, Taneshia Burrell, Tina Robinson, Andrea Haw, Edna Alba, Danielle Jupiter.

On Thursday, April 8, 2021, the Bureau of Engineering celebrated Administrative Pro-fessionals Day as a virtual event, for the first time. This year’s theme was “Thriving in the Future” and focused on the new workplace and coping with life situations. City Engineer Gary Lee Moore, kicked us off with a warm greeting, staff introductions and appreciation, and took a few questions.

Our guest speaker was Dr. Laura Kokinda, Director of Psychology at the Medical Services Division in the Personnel Department. Dr. Ko-kinda shared how this past year her speaking engagements have mainly focused on how to cope with the current work challenges. She found it refreshing and was excited to speak to us on our theme. Dr. Kokinda’s presentation highlighted positive psychology and how to be resilient and thrive; the attendees were provided with useful tools to handle various life and work stressors.

After the presentation, she opened up for a group discussion and questions. We learned that through the challenges of this past year, there were positive outcomes of being able to reset, reflect and find gratitude. In addition to the insightful information she presented, she provided us with resources and contact information. The Bureau of Engineering offers a huge thank you to Dr. Kokinda!

BOE Administrative Professionals Day a SuccessWe concluded the program by playing

a fun conversational game of “Would You Rather.” The players, utilizing Google polling, were presented with a dilemma and asked to choose their answers. One of our questions was: Would you rather live without the internet

or would you rather live without air condition-ing? More than half of the participants chose no internet, which was surprising!

Administrative Professionals Day was a huge success, and thank you to everyone who participated.

You know the Los Angeles Zoo as an oasis in the heart of Los Angeles that is home to thousands of animals, many of them endan-gered. Now, here’s your chance to explore parts of the Zoo that you don’t know, on a virtual walk “around the world” to explore the global conservation impact of the Zoo. Along the way, you’ll learn about efforts to save threatened animal species in far-flung locations, from South Africa to India to Para-guay and beyond. It’s all part of a fundraising adventure benefiting the L.A. Zoo and the Greater Los Angeles Zoo Association (GLA-ZA), the nonprofit organization that supports the Zoo and plays a central role in making its vital, species-saving work possible.

How to Participate - “Walking for the wild” couldn’t be easier! Just follow these simple steps.

Step 1: Register and set up your account anytime between now and May 21. Once you register, you will have your own web page that will track your team’s combined distance and funds you raise together.

Registration: $45/participant (proceeds go toward your overall fundraising goal) includes a T-shirt.

With a $65 registration, receive a T-shirt and a completion medal.

Step 2: Recruit team members from anywhere in the world to join you. Decide together on your goals for distance and fund-raising. Get the most out of your experience by forming a team with friends, family, neighbors, or coworkers and competing with other teams!

Step 3: Use Your Influence and Reap Re-wards. Connect using emails built into your Charity Footprints account and to your social network to help raise awareness and reach your fundraising goals. Share your progress regularly by posting pictures and short vid-eos to spread the word. Remember to tag @LAZoo and include #WalkfortheWild to be a part of the larger social media movement! The more you raise, the more funds for conserva-tion and #WalkfortheWild rewards you earn. Your registration is applied to your fundraising balance.

Step 4: Set Up Your Device and Get Active! Set up your fitness device using the How It Works instructions or download our Charity Footprints Apple or Android app. Consider joining or starting your own team to help motivate activity and healthy competition with other teams. Track your steps/miles during the fitness challenge that and concludes on En-dangered Species Day (May 21) when winners of the Top Fundraising and Longest Distance

awards will be announced, along with the total amount raised.How is This Walk Different?Unlike a traditional walk/run/bike fundraising event, this virtual “race” uses technology and takes social distancing into account. Partici-pants can choose when and where to walk or get active in whatever way you choose, tracking their real-world steps on an integrated virtual map to eight global destinations and unlocking special content at each stop. Don’t walk, run, or bike to stay active? No problem! Maybe you golf, swim, spin, dance, row, box, or even do house or yard work. It all counts! As long as you can move, you can go the extra mile for wildlife and wild places with Walk for the Wild. Collectively, participants are challenged to walk 14,000 miles around the globe to raise awareness for work to save endangered species and funds for the Greater Los Angeles Zoo Association.

For questions visit www.lazoo.org/walk-forthewild

Join the LA Zoo Walk for the Wild through May 21


Already have your ENV SP credential? Don’t let it expire! Be sure to complete any of the online training courses offered before your re-newal period ends. Visit sustainableinfrastruc-ture.org to sign-up for an Envision account and to register for training and upcoming webinars.

The Institute for Sustainable Infrastructure (ISI) is the organization that developed and manages Envision, a framework for sustain-able, resilient, and equitable infrastructure through education, training, and third-party project verification. Credentialing ProcessENV SP candidates are required to complete the official ENV SP training course and pass a comprehensive online exam. The ENV SP training is offered as an online course or a live (virtual) workshop. Online courses are a series of seven one-hour modules that are self-paced and on-demand. Completion of the course is a prerequisite for taking the exam. The ENV SP training is designed to educate candidates on Envision. After completing the training can-didates will understand how Envision works, how it can improve the sustainability of their projects, and be able to successfully apply it to assess project sustainability.

ISI is offering the following cours-es and webinars:

New ENV SP & Credential Maintenance OrientationsISI has started quarterly 30-minute Welcome Orientations for new ENV SPs and 30-minute Credential Maintenance Orientations for any-one needing to renew.

The Orientation program serves a dual purpose of not only setting ENV SPs on the right track but also allowing them a chance to meet and get to know ISI staff members.

The overall purpose is to build stronger re-lationships, stay connected, and collaborate more to transform civil infrastructure for the better. If you would like to attend a future Credential Maintenance Orientation or New ENV SP Orientation, please e-mail [email protected].

Envision Training Course - VirtualMonday, June 14 & Thursday, June 17, 2021 1:00 pm - 5:00 pm - Virtual, California

Eight-hour training (over two separated half-day sessions, a Monday afternoon and a Thursday afternoon) provides instruction on the Envision framework through presentations, group exercises, and case studies. Who should attend? Professionals in planning, public en-gagement, communications, project manage-ment, engineering, environmental services, procurement, construction, and operations/ maintenance.

Important: Participants must attend both half-day sessions to be eligible to take the open-book, online exam to earn their En-vision Sustainability Professional (ENV SP) credential. This course is offered by LA Metro and Partners.

Fee: $250 (Pricing for Public Sector/Gov-ernment Agency)

To register scan the QR code below.

New Training for Project Teams! Get Verifi-cation Training for Project TeamsAre you considering Envision verification for your project? If so, ISI’s new Envision Verifica-tion Applicant’s Course will lead you through the process of submitting your project for verification. By completing this course, you’ll understand the ins and outs of the verification process, including timelines, necessary deliv-erables, and reasonable expectations of the project team. ISI’s expert verification staff will provide insights into earning higher levels of achievement on Envision credits.

Course participants will walk away from this training with the skills necessary to improve the quality of Envision project sub-mittals for a streamlined third-party review. This course is for project teams and anyone wanting to better understand what it takes to succeed with verification. An active ENV SP is a recommended prerequisite for this course.

Envision Verification Applicant’s Course

June 9-10, 2021 Noon - 5:00 pm (Eastern)Delivered virtually via Zoom. Registrants

will receive pre-course information a few weeks before the live event.

Fee: $250 (Pricing for Public Sector/Gov-ernment Agency)

To register scan the QR code.

Upcoming WebinarsMay Webinar - Using Envision to Drive Im-pact Investments in Infrastructure

Wednesday, May 12, 202110:00 am - 11:00 am Pacific

Presented by John Lenti, Greeley and HansenTo register scan the QR code.

Impact investing is surging in popularity as private and institutional investors seek mea-surable social and environmental outcomes along with their financial return. Indeed, assets under management with a focus on sustainability grew by 42% since 2018 and account for a third of all investments today. At the same time, increased urbanization requires infrastructure funding beyond what many governments can provide. As such, there is a growing interest in connecting impact investors to infrastructure investment opportunities, using private capital to close the funding gap. By demonstrating the tri-ple-bottom line value of an infrastructure project - especially around issues of social equity and climate change – new sources of capital may be realized. This presentation will discuss the growth of impact investing and how ISI’s Envision framework and third-party verification process could be used to attract new capital sources.

June Webinar - ILFI and ISI: Supporting Envision Implementation with International Living Future Institute’s Programs

Wednesday, June 2, 202110:00 am - 11:00 am Pacific

Become an Envision Sustainability Professional! Join the 83 BOE employees that are credentialed Envision Sustainability Professionals!

continued on page 11


Mayor’s press release:LOS ANGELES (April 8, 2021) - Mayor Eric Garcetti today announced that the Metro Board of Directors voted to appoint Steph-anie Wiggins to be the next Metro Chief Executive Office. Wiggins, currently the CEO of Metrolink, will be the first woman, and first Black woman, to serve in this role at Metro. She will succeed retiring CEO Phil Washington.

“Metro is in the midst of a generational transformation that will mean more jobs for local workers, more growth for our economy, and more ways for Angelenos to move around our region - and nobody is better prepared to carry the torch of progress than Stephanie Wiggins,” said Metro Board Chair and Los An-geles Mayor Eric Garcetti. “Stephanie’s career makes her ideally suited to lead this agency at this moment: she’s experienced, determined, committed to equity, and steeped in L.A.’s transportation history, and she is the perfect candidate to carry Metro into its next chapter.”

As Metro’s CEO, Wiggins will manage a budget of nearly $7 billion, oversee up to $20 billion in capital construction projects, and oversee an agency with 11,000 employ-ees that transports more than a half-million boarding passengers daily on a fleet of 2,200 buses and six rail lines.

Wiggins started her tenure as CEO of Metrolink in December 2018, directing an agency that operates a regional passenger rail network that connects riders across a six-county, 538 route-mile system. Prior to taking on that post, Wiggins served as Deputy CEO of Metro, where she assisted the CEO in advancing the agency’s primary objectives, including the implementation of projects made possible by Measure M.

Wiggins has a Master of Business Adminis-tration degree from the USC Marshall School of Business. She is the recipient of a wide range of awards, including the Conference of Minority Transportation Officials’ 2018 Women Who Move the Nation Award and League of Railway Women’s 2020 Railway Woman of the Year Award.

“I am honored by the opportunity to return to LA Metro as its CEO and am grateful to Mayor Garcetti and the LA Metro Board for the faith they have placed in me for this important role. I am thankful to my team at Metrolink for all of our successes together - and those that are still to come throughout this transition and as we work together in the future,” said Stephanie Wiggins, Chief Executive Officer of Metrolink and incoming LA Metro CEO. “LA County has great mobility needs that we must develop with goals of achieving better health, opportunity and equity for all of the region’s residents, and I look forward to bringing transformative leadership and collaboration with the region’s transportation authorities to make this vision a reality.”

Wiggins replaces outgoing Metro CEO Phil Washington, who served the agency for six years. She is expected to assume the role in May.

“Phil Washington has been a visionary leader, a force for trailblazing growth and lasting progress across our transit network,” added Mayor Garcetti. “Phil leaves this agency better off than he found it - a legacy of an expanding public transportation system that gets Angelenos where they need to go and remains a force for sustainability, equity, jobs, workforce development, and shared prosper-ity across the L.A. area.”

“I have worked closely with Stephanie for many years and she has earned my trust and respect with her leadership, intellect, and dedication to mobility and to the people of Los Angeles County and Southern California,” said Metro CEO Phillip A. Washington. “I am thrilled with the Metro Board’s selection, and I know Stephanie is the right person to lead the agency into the future.”

Mayor Announces Next Metro CEO

Municipal Green Building ConferenceThe 20th Anniversary Municipal Green Building Conference and Expo will be held May 21-22, 2021 as a virtual event. The 2021 theme The Time is Now! is a recognition that our actions to combat climate change, while strengthening our adaptive capacity, must be immediate, must be accelerated, and must be intersectional. Among the speakers are Mayor Eric Garcetti, Lauren Faber O’Connor, Chief Sustainability Officer, City of L.A. and Nancy Sutley, Chief Sustainability & Economic Development Officer, DWP. For more infor-mation go to mgbce.online

The Time is Now! for Climate Action & Rapid Decarbonization.

The Time is Now! for Adaptation & Re-silience.

The Time is Now! for Equity & Environ-mental Justice.

The Time is Now! for Racial Healing & Building Community Power.

The Time is Now! for a Healthy Post-COVID Future.

Since its inception in 2001, MGBCE has become the longest-running and largest gathering of leading sustainability and green building advocates within both the public and private sectors in Southern California.

Attended by over 1300 people last year, this conference and trade show provides cutting-edge thought leadership, education, and networking opportunities to inform local government agencies, building industry pro-fessionals, and the general public about the principles, practices, and products associated with green building.

Presented by: Shawn Hesse, International Living Future Institute, and Anthony Kane, ISI President and CEO


During this webinar, experts will provide an overview of ILFI’s programs including JUST, Declare, Living Product Challenge, and the Living Building Challenge, and show how these programs can be leveraged to implement Envision. Webinar participants will under-stand the ILFI resources that may be used by project teams to enhance their infrastructure projects and support Envision verification.

June Webinar - Light is Beautiful: Contri-butions of Manufactured Lightweight Aggre-gates to Sustainable Infrastructure

Wednesday, June 23, 20211:00 - 2:30 pm EasternPresented by Fariborz Tehrani, Expanded

Shale, Clay and Slate Institute and Archie Filshill, Aero Aggregates of North America, LLC


Performance of structural and non-struc-tural materials contributes to the sustainability and resilience of infrastructures through pres-ervation of natural resources and reduction of environmental footprints. This presentation provides an overview of two classes of man-ufactured lightweight aggregates, including expanded shale, clay and slate (ESCS) and ultra-lightweight foamed glass aggregates (UL-FGA), and their applications in civil in-frastructure. The focus will be on how these materials fit within the 5 categories of Envision and discuss their benefits from environmental, social, economic and technical perspectives. The outcome of this presentation facilitates decision-making for project managers, pro-gram advisors, and planners.

Envision SP continued from page 10

Remember - The latest letterhead is always available on the Engineering Forms Library under the category “Correspondence” on the Bureau of Engineering intranet.


The Construction Network - Connecting Owners to AEC and CFM Industries. To RSVP: www.construction-network.net

Construction Network Seminars

LADOT Project Updates on Tuesday, May 11, 2021, 8:30 am, Zoom Meeting. Guest speaker: Marco Arroyo, Transportation Engineer, Active Mobility and Safety Imple-mentation.

Cost: $89/person until noon, 5/7/21.LA Metro Construction - Outlook on Up-

coming Metro Capital Projects on Wednes-day, May 12, 2021, 8:30 am, Zoom Meeting. Speaker: Timothy Lindholm, Senior Executive Officer, Program Management & Capital Projects.

Cost is $89/person until noon, 5/7/21.Caltrans D7 Project Updates on Wednes-

day, May 12, 2021, Zoom Meeting, 8:30 am Presentation. Speakers: Tony Tavares, District Director; Gloria Roberts, Chief Deputy Direc-tor; Mark Archuleta, Deputy District Director, Construction; John Yang, I-5 Construction Manager

Cost: $89/person until 5/7/21.Los Angeles Community College District

Project Updates on Tuesday, May 18, 2021, 8:30 am, Zoom Meeting. Guest speaker: Dr. Rueben Smith, Chief Facilities Executive, LACCD.

Cost: $89/person until noon, 5/14/21.Disaster Recovery - Insurance Claims

& Lessons Learned - How to be prepared for fire, flood, winter storm, COVID-19 on Wednesday, May 19, 2021, 10:30 am, Zoom Meeting. Guest speakers: Doug Farrow, Part-ner, HKA; Terry Orr, Partner, HKA; Ashley Jordan, Partner, Insurance Recovery Group, Reed Smith LLP.

Cost: $89/person until noon, 5/14/21.Los Angeles County Capital Program

Update on Wednesday, May 19, 2021, 8:30 am, Zoom Meeting. Guest speakers: Vincent Yu, Assistant Deputy Director, Department of Public Works; Timothy Ralston, Division Manager, Program and Project Management, Internal Services Department.

Cost is $89/person until noon, 5/14/21.Metrolink Climate Action Plan - The Link

to a Zero Emissions Future on Wednesday, May 19, 2021, 10:30 am Zoom Meeting. Guest speaker: Lisa Colicchio, Director Spe-cial Projects (Sustainability Initiatives).

Cost: $89/person until noon, 5/14/21.California Prevailing Wage Law on Thurs-

day, May 20, 2021, 8:30 am, Zoom Meeting. Learn how to protect yourself against fines, penalties and interest. A must for owners, estimators, project managers and office ad-ministrators who are involved in public works projects. Discussion topics:• New state AB 5 – The practical end of

independent contractors• Critical updates and hot topics• Compliance 101

• Know the differences between prevailing wage and Davis Bacon requirements

• Projects covered by state and/or federal prevailing wages

• Apprentice requirements• Determining the correct rate/classification• Recordkeeping requirements, include CPR• Enforcement and PenaltiesInstructors: Larry Lubka, Esq. and Jeffrey Ep-stein, Esq. of Lubka & White LLP.

Cost is $89/person until noon, 5/14/21.San Diego MTS XIP Update and Working

in the New World after COVID19 on Tuesday, May 25, 2021, 8:30 am Zoom Meeting. Guest speaker: Heather Milne Furey, P.E., Director of Capital Projects.

Cost: $89/person until noon, 5/21/21.Community College Districts Capital

Construction/Bond Program Updates on Wednesday, May 26, 2021, 8:30 am, Zoom Meeting. Guest speakers: Joel Peterson, Direc-tor of Facilities, Glendale Community College District; Ynez Delgado Canela, Local Business Outreach Administrator, Measure CC, San Bernardino Community College District; Troy Ament, Executive Director, Construction & Facilities, Chaffey College; Hakim Cham-bers, Deputy Program Director, Los Angeles Community College District. Moderator: Fred Parker, Director of Operations, GAFCON.

Cost is $89/person until noon, 5/21/21.LA Metro - Alternative Delivery Projects

on Wednesday, May 26, 2021, 8:30 am, Zoom Meeting. Guest speakers: Tim Lindholm, Se-nior Executive Officer, Program Management; Brad Owen, Executive Officer, Program Man-agement to discuss progressive Design-Build on the Orange Line; James Wei, Deputy Executive Officer, Program Management to discuss CMGC for a highway tolling project on the i105.

Cost is $89/person until noon, 5/21/21.Construction Law Update on Wednesday,

June 2, 2021, 8:30 am Zoom Meeting. The Annual Construction Law Update will discuss new laws, statues and court decisions that impact the construction industry, The webinar is for owners, contractors, design professionals and construction managers.• Contractor/Subcontractor Payment Issues• Mechanics Lien Issues• Contractor Licensing and Disgorgement

Limitations• Statue of Limitations for Latent Defects and

Substantial Completion• COVID-19 & CalOSHA Requirements• Public Works & Prevailing Wages• Force Majeure Clauses Looking Forward• And Other Legislative Developments

Presented by Mary A. Salamone, Esq., Partner, Procopia.

Cost: $89/person until noon, 5/28/21.Water Districts Project Updates on Tues-

day, June 8, 2021, 8:00 am, Zoom Meeting. Guest speakers: Marc Serna, Chief Engineer,

South Coast Water District; Michael Thomas, P.E., Capital Program Management, Unit Man-ager Engineering, Metropolitan Water District of Southern California; John Torroledo, P.E., Manager of Operation Next, LA DWP; Louis Rubalcaba, Manager of the Project Manage-ment Office, LA DWP.

Cost: $89/person until noon, 6/4/21.LA Metro Transit Oriented Community

(TOC) Development Programs on Wednes-day, June 9, 2021, 8:30 am, Zoom Meeting. Metro is redefining the role of the transit agen-cy by expanding mobility options, promoting sustainable urban design, and helping trans-form communities throughout Los Angeles County. At the forefront of this effort is Metro’s vision to create transit oriented communities (TOCs). TOCs include land use planning and community development policies that maxi-mize access to transit as a key organizing prin-ciple and acknowledge mobility as an integral part of the urban fabric. TOCs promote equity and sustainable living by offering a mix of uses close to transit to support households at all income levels, as well as building densities, parking policies, urban design elements, and first/last mile facilities that support ridership and reduce auto dependency. Guest speaker: Nick Saponara, Executive Officer, Transit Ori-ented Communities.

Cost is $89/person until noon, 6/4/21.Hollywood Burbank Airport Capital

Program Update on Tuesday, June 22, 2021, 10:00 am, Zoom Meeting. Guest speaker: Pat-rick Lammerding, Deputy Executive Director of Planning & Development.

Cost: $89/person until noon, 6/18/21.Cadiz Water Project Program Update

on Tuesday, June 22, 2021, 8:30 am, Zoom Meeting. The Cadiz Water Project is an in-novative public-private partnership that will create a new water supply that can annually serve 400,000 people in need. It is designed to capture and conserve billions of gallons of groundwater lost to salinity and evaporation in the Mojave Desert and make new water and storage available for Southern California com-munities. Guest speaker: Courtney Degener, Vice President of External Affairs.

Cost: $89/person until noon, 6/18/21.County of Los Angeles Department of Pub-

lic Works Capital Program Update for Large Projects on Wednesday, June 23, 2021, 8:30 am, Zoom Meeting. Speaker: Andrew Moey, Assistant Deputy Director.

Cost is $89/person until noon, 6/18/21.Eastern Municipal Water District Capital

Program Update on Thursday, June 24, 2021, 10:00 am Zoom Meeting. Guest speaker: Shaun J. Stone, P.E., Director of Engineering.

Cost: $89/person until noon, 6/18/21.City of Riverside Municipal Airport on

Tuesday, July 13, 2021, 10:00 am Zoom Meet-ing. Guest speaker: Kim Ellis, Airport Manager.

Cost: $89/person until noon, 7/9/21.


Envisioning Sustainable Infrastructure - The Process & The Proof on Thursday, May 6, 2021, 4:00 pm, virtual link to be provided. With the Federal Government planning to invest stimulus funding into the infrastructure serving our Cities and buildings, the focus will be on ensuring our infrastructure is sustainable and resilient and able to support the econom-ic growth of our Cities and the businesses within them. The Envision rating system is one framework that can be used to assess sustainability and resilience performance in our infrastructure systems. This system is now being used by agencies and other orga-nizations to guide their infrastructure proj-ects and set performance goals that exceed minimum requirements. During this CMAA Sustainability Committee Webinar, attendees will receive an overview of the Envision rating system before learning about the application of Envision through infrastructure case studies from projects within the Southern California region. We will then take a closer look at the City of LA’s First and Broadway (FAB) 2 acre planned park within Downtown Los Angeles. This project is seeking triple certification from ENVISION, SITES and LEED. Join this webinar to learn:• Envision Rating System overview and a

case study of First and Broadway Park Project.

• Understand how Envision and other frame-works can form the basis of a project’s sustainability strategy.

• Understand synergies and areas of overlap between Envision, LEED and SITES.

• Evaluate the importance of early and ro-bust collaboration between project stake-holders to promote sustainable outcomes.

Emcee: Farrah Farzaneh, Director, Facilities Planning, Emergency Management & Con-struction, San Bernardino CCD.

Moderator: Ben Stapleton, Executive Di-rector, USGBC-LA.

Speakers: Nur Malhis, Project Manager/Senior Civil Engineer, Bureau of Engineering, Department of Public Works, City of Los Angeles.; Lorraine Moreno, Civil Engineer-ing Associate IV, Bureau of Engineering, Department of Public Works, City of Los Angeles; Seth Strongin, Senior Sustainability Consultant, ARUP.

Cost: $45/member, $75/non-member, Free to owner members.

Avoiding Common Mishaps During the Interactive and Reasonable Accommodation Process on Friday, May 7, 2021, 8:30 am, virtual link to be provided. The interactive and reasonable accommodation process is rife

The Construction Management Association of America Southern California Chapter is offering the following seminars. For additional information please go to www.cmaasc.org.

For Zoom meetings log in/access informa-tion will be sent with the confirmation.

with potential legal landmines, and employers can incur significant liability when they fail to recognize or avoid them. This session will address common mistakes made by employers when managing workplace accommodations and provide practical strategies to reduce risk.

Emcee: Anthony Niccoli, Partner, Atkinson, Andelson, Loya, Ruud & Romo.

Speaker: Sonia Salinas, Atkinson, Andel-son, Loya, Ruud & Romo.

Cost: $45/member, $75/non-member.Innovation and Technology in Construc-

tion on Tuesday, May 11, 2021, 8:30 am, virtual link to be provided. Closing the gap between construction and long term facili-ties management. Emergent technologies are being deployed by organizations who seek better information for informed decisions, easier collaboration, and reliable transfer of knowledge between stakeholders. A discus-sion about deploying the right technology at the appropriate time to deliver critical information faster, more accurate, and make important intelligence more accessible.

Emcee: Heather King, Program Controls Manager, SAFEWORKCM.

Moderator: Alex Ivascu, President, CIPO Cloud.

Speakers: Makenzie Eden, Regional Sales Manager, Multivista; Louis Galvan, Regional Director, Southern California, Multivista; Scott M. Lopian, Sr. Construction Administrator, Field Engineering Department, Eastern Mu-nicipal Water District.

Cost: $45/member, $75/non-member.Meet the Owners/Primes Speed Network-

ing: One-on-One on Thursday, May 13, 2021, 2:00 pm, virtual link to be provided. This is a virtual networking event, with an added one-on-one speed networking component, to pro-vide opportunities for the Owners and Prime Companies to meet small, diverse, minority, and women-owned firms for future projects and teaming opportunities. Emcee: Ryan Gales, CEO, Jenkins/Gales & Martinez, Inc.

Cost: $45/member, $75/non-member.Save the Drama - Managing Challenging

Employee Situations on Friday, May 14, 2021, 8:30 am, virtual link to be provided. Employers often face legal exposure arising out of challenging employee situations, such as political speech and gossip in the work-place, bullying and chronic absenteeism. This session will examine these difficult situations and offer tips and strategies to address them, including management training and effective documentation.

Emcee: Anthony Niccoli, Partner, Atkinson, Andelson, Loya, Ruud & Romo.

Speaker: Eric Ross, Atkinson, Andelson, Loya, Ruud & Romo.

Cost: $45/member, $75/non-member.Mindful Leadership in a World of Virtual

Relationships on Tuesday, May 18, 2021, 8:30

am, virtual link to be provided. John Scherck will interview industry experts in mindful leadership, Dan Stover and Jules Elving, on becoming maximally effective as managers in the hybrid work environment. Under nor-mal conditions, leaders are challenged with balancing results and relationships, which is more complex in the digital meetings many of us are hosting. Dan and Jules will address how to strike this balance of accountability and relating in a practical way that is applicable to engineers, project managers and senior lead-ers. Emcee: David Pintar, Director or Project Development, C.W. Driver. Moderator: John Scherck, Area Manager, Arcadis. Speakers: Daniel L. Stover, CEO, Ensight Partners; Jule Elving, Executive Coach, Ensight Partners.

Cost: $45/member, $75/non-member.Design Build and Progressive Design-Build

Procurement: Featuring Chaffey College on Tuesday, May 25, 2021, 8:30 am, virtual link to be provided. This seminar will discuss the dynamics of Design Build and the variations of that delivery method. There will be discus-sion on advances in progressive Design Build and the panel will provide insights on Design Build, and benefits of these different Design Build delivery methods. Chaffey College will provide an update on upcoming Design Build projects and their decision/process to choose this method.


Moderator: Michael Villegas, Vice Presi-dent, SAFEWORKCM.

Speakers: J. Brandon Dekker, M.S., DBIA, Principal, CannonDesign, CMAA So. Cal Chapter President; Samir Shah,CCM, LEED AP BD+C, Assoc., DBIA, Bond Program Manager, Chaffey College.

Cost: $45/member, $75/non-member.Risk Management: A deep dive into Sched-

uling and Delay Analysis on Thursday, June 3, 2021, 8:30am, virtual link to be provided. Construction disputes involving schedule delay and time impact claims can be highly stressful, time consuming and financially damaging. This webinar will offer insight and best practice strategies from the perspective of an owner, litigation counsel, and consul-tant on how effectively manage risk, mitigate claims and delays, steps to effectively prepare, analyze and present a claim when necessary, and strategies to resolve the claim.


Moderator: Anthony Niccoli, Partner, At-kinson, Andelson, Loya, Ruud & Romo.

Speakers: Jesus Schuldes, Vice President, Peritia Partners; Keith E. Smith, Partner, Wood, Smith, Henning & Berman LLP; Kevin Laut, Director, Construction Management, CSU, Office of the Chancellor.

Cost: $45/member, $75/non-member.

Construction Management Association of America, So Cal Chapter Seminars

Los Angeles City Department of Public WorksBureau of Engineering1149 South Broadway, Suite 700

Los Angeles, CA 90015http://eng.lacity.org

http://www.facebook.com/LABureauofEngineeringThe Engineering Newsletter is published monthly by the Administration Division for employees of the Bureau of Engineering.

We’d Like to Hear from YouIf you have any articles for the Newsletter, please e-mail them to [email protected]. Deadline for the next issue is Thursday, May 27, 2021.

PromotionsDanny Morales, Structural Eng Assoc II, CEN.

Internal TransfersBilly Ho, Environmental Specialist III, from CSD to EMG.

DeparturesCarl Mills, Sr. Civil Engineer, CEN - Deceased; Miranoush Chigani, Office Eng Technician, VAL, Promoted to DWP; Claudia Haskett, Environmental Engineer, WCE - Retired.

SIP RetirementsShahram Farzan, Bldg Mechanical Engineer II, ARC; Doris McLaurin, Reprographic Operator I, PAC; Kenneth Montgomery, Reprographic Operator I, PAC; Gloria Romo, Administrative Clerk, ADM; Gregory Thompson, Adminis-trative Clerk, PCM; Harry Tso, Reprographic Operator II, PAC.

CertificatesICCGregory Arbuckle, Mechanical Eng Assoc III, EED; Amber Elton, Civil Engineer, SWD; Jo-anne Zhang, Civil Engineer, ARC; Kyaw Linn, Environmental Engrg Assoc III, WCC; Terry Phan, Civil Eng Assoc III, CEN.

EITPrimitivo Gomez, Civil Eng Assoc I, CEN; Morgan Lytle, Electrical Eng Assoc I, ARC; Bobby Pasos, Civil Eng Assoc I, WCC; Julie Yin, Civil Eng Assoc I, SSC.

Memorial Day HolidayMonday, May 31, 2021, is a City holiday. Re-member to mark your timesheet for that day as HO 8.0. Since the holiday is only for eight hours, those of you on the 9/80 schedule must adjust your hours accordingly within the same pay period. (Non-FLSA exempt employees can only adjust their hours within their defined work week.) Check with your division time-keeper if you have any questions.

Passing of MillsWe are very sorry to report that Senior Civil Engineer Carl Mills, Central Dis-trict Office, passed away on April 23, 2021. Carl began his City career in 1982 with the Street & Stormwater Division, eventually ascending the ranks and attaining the position of Senior Civil Engineer in 2018 with the Harbor District office, and subsequently as the Assistant Central District Engineer manag-ing the public counter. Carl provided immea-surable guidance and an unparalleled amount of knowledge gained over almost 40 years of service. Our deepest condolences go to his wife Teresa and his children Christian, Kaitie, and Torrie. There are currently no immediate plans for a service due to the ongoing pan-demic, however updates will be provided as soon as they become available.

Donations can be made to The Ramona Fund in memory of Carl to support the edu-cation of young women so they may develop their talents and share their gifts with the world.

Passing of DotyIt is with major sadness that we report retired Environmental Affairs Officer James (Jim) Doty passed away on March 19, 2021. Jim retired from the Bureau in May 2014 after 35 years of dedicated service to the City of Los Angeles. Our deepest condolences go to his wife Kathleen, his son John and daughter Alice, and grand-children Malcolm, Adeline and Isaac. There will be no service at this time, though the family may hold memorial service sometime in the future.

Public Works press release:LOS ANGELES, CA (April 21, 2021) - The Los An-geles City Council today confirmed the appoint-ment of Miguel Sangalang as the new Director of the Bureau of Street Lighting (LA Lights).

“Miguel is a proven leader with an innovative approach and the exper-tise to make our communities safer, more livable and more equitable through our street lighting infrastructure,” said Los Angeles Board of Public Works Vice President Aura Garcia. “As the new director of LA Lights, Miguel will continue to passionately serve Angelenos and guide the future of street lighting and emerging technologies.”

As Director of LA Lights, Sangalang will take a lead role in the upkeep and improve-ment of the city’s 220,000 street lighting infrastructure assets, closing the digital divide and the adoption of new tools and practices to ensure the city meets the needs of its residents now and into the future.

Sangalang previously served as Deputy Mayor for Budget & Innovation for Mayor Eric Garcetti. He directly oversaw the annu-al city budget, performance management, personnel, risk management, procurement reform, technology infrastructure, as well as sustainability, equity in service, gender equity, data, emerging technologies and the local implementation of Census 2020.

“Working to make Los Angeles a better place to live has been both humbling and a great joy and I am deeply honored by Mayor Garcetti’s and City Council’s confidence in my abilities to do more in this new role,” said Sangalang. “I am excited to work with the women and men of Street Lighting to make our lights not just infrastructure, but neighbor-hood assets that are essential components of quality of life and a shining reflection of our communities.”

With more than 13 years in public ser-vice, Sangalang has been instrumental in shepherding high priority initiatives. Some of his earlier work for Mayor Garcetti includes CleanStat, which changed the approach to illegal dumping cleaning from a reactive, request-drive process, to a proactive, da-ta-driven model, and MyVoiceLA, the city’s first centralized reporting tool for harassment and discrimination.

He led the creation of the city’s open data portal early on in the administration and helped lead the City to certification as Plati-num for ISO37120 (indicators for a sustain-able city and quality of life), Gold certification for What Works Cities, and three recognitions as the #1 digital city by Govtech.

He has also been an ardent champion of

transformative technologies for city operations and helped prepare Los Angeles’ pandemic re-sponse by investing in strategic technologies, such as backbone server and network infra-structure, the new mobile worker program, and most recently, the Angeleno Account and Connect.

Sangalang is Street Lighting Director

Career Paths of Civil EngineersThe National Society of Black Engineers (NSBE) and American Society of Civil Engi-neers Los Angeles Younger Member Forum have partnered to present a Zoom webinar Oh the Places You’ll Go - Career Paths of Civil En-gineers at 11:00 am, Saturday, May 8, 2021. It will look at civil engineering through the lens of entrepreneurs, employees, and students. To register, go to mlab-ymf.org/events

Documents

NEWSLETTER - Los Angeles