Bridge to justice
Los Angeles man faces five years for firebomb attempt on condos under Colorado Street Bridge & School board agrees to place parcel tax on May ballot
By André Coleman , Jake Armstrong 01/14/2010
Bridge to justice
Los Angeles man faces five years for firebomb attempt on condos under Colorado Street Bridge
Up to five years in federal prison awaits a man who pleaded guilty Monday to a failed attempt at firebombing a multimillion-dollar condominium complex under the Colorado Street Bridge in 2006, authorities said.
Steven James Murphy, 44, entered pleas in a Los Angeles federal court to one count of conspiracy to commit arson. He admitted the firebombing plot — he placed a gas-filled 64-ounce plastic juice bottle rigged with a timer inside an unfinished unit at the Vista del Arroyo Bungalows — was to further the views of the Earth Liberation Front, a loose-knit cadre of radical environmentalists, according to the US Attorney’s Office, which prosecuted the case.
Murphy, a Los Angles-area resident who was arrested in Texas in November after the FBI matched his fingerprint to one lifted from the firebomb, told authorities that an unindicted co-conspirator taught him how to construct the device, which malfunctioned and did not ignite.
He also admitted to disabling the ignition on a tractor at the job site and scrawling “another tractor decommissioned by the E.L.F,” the US Attorney’s Office said. Murphy is scheduled to be sentenced April 5 and faces up to five years for the conspiracy charge.
He is the second person to be convicted of attacks carried out under the banner of the ELF in recent years. William Cottrell, a Caltech grad student, was convicted of conspiracy for his part in a 2003 firebombing and graffiti spree that damaged 72 sport utility vehicles at auto dealerships from Pasadena to West Covina, also at the behest of similarly unindicted co-conspirators.
A taxing decision
School board agrees to place parcel tax on May ballot
Facing a possible $20 million deficit and trying to avoid massive teacher layoffs and program cuts, the Pasadena Board of Education voted Tuesday on the framework of a parcel tax that could generate more than $32 million over the next five years.
The school board voted 6-0 — with Board member Ramon Miramontes abstaining — to set $120 as the amount it would ask from property owners, exempting senior citizens, in a proposed parcel tax. Following a public hearing on Jan. 26, the board will consider putting the tax before voters in a special mail-in May election.
“It was vague,” Miramontes said. “They weren’t specific about where the money is going. I clearly heard the community say, ‘If you are going to ask us for money, we want to know where it is going to go.’ I stood on principle.”
The parcel tax could raise $8.4 million a year, generating revenue needed to keep campus libraries operating and fund advanced math, science, arts and music programs. Tax increases require a two-thirds majority vote to pass. If the parcel tax is not approved, district officials have said they could be forced to lay off up to 100 teachers, increase class sizes in kindergarten through third grade and close schools.
Public schools in California have been devastated by $12 billion in budget cuts, forcing districts around the state to lay off more than 17,000 teachers and eliminate programs in order to make ends meet. And, as in Pasadena, other school districts have been seeking voter-approved tax increases to help minimize the financial damage.
Cutting the district budget now could reverse positive gains made by students in state-mandated tests, district officials say. State test scores in the PUSD have increased 53 points over the past five years — seven points more than the state’s average gain and 10 points higher than the county average.
“I think we need to focus on what is in the best interest of our students,” said School Board President Tom Selinske.
“We need money to make sure we keep improving. We have to keep more adults in kids’ lives. When it comes to success, we have to have a diverse curriculum with arts and music. This will save those programs.”
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