The Los Angeles Times from Los Angeles, California • Page 78

2003:06:06:23:44:02 B18 CALIFORNIA LOSANGELESTIMES plex under construction at West Cesar E. ChavezAvenue and Figueroa Street. His best-known downtown development, the Medici, has more than 600 units at 7th Street and the Harbor Freeway. A 481- square-foot studio apartment there was recently advertised for $1,479 a month. Fans credit the Medici with demonstrating to the investment and development community the fresh demand for downtown living.

The Medici one of the first residential projects to be built without a nickel of said Carl senior vice president at Cushman Realty Corp. nothing short of a building boom that has followed right behind Palmer a tremendous amount of credit for helping to turn downtown said David downtown real estate specialist. Palmer, who grew up in Mar Vista and graduated from the University of Colorado and Pepperdine University School of Law, declined requests by The Times for an interview. In some ways, Palmer, known as a methodical, hands-on developer with an analytical bent, is a fish out of water as a Republican dealing with a city government dominated by Democrats. The 53-year-old developer has chafed at social housing rules imposed on builders by City Hall and has described some supporters of such measures as a businessman.

I want to build what the market Palmer said in a 2001 interview with The Times. tell me who we should build AConundrum for City His unyielding position has given rise to a growing number of detractors and created a conundrum for housing-hungry Los Angeles officials. you look at where his parcels are located and look at the view from them into downtown, a tremendous said Councilman Ed Reyes, who has wrangled with Palmer over low- income housing rules. is behind them is going to be blocked. maximized heights and maximized density, but he want to allow affordable has to house people at less income than market rate, going to get less said Tony Salazar, president of the West Coast office of McCormack Baron Salazar, a real estate development firm that specializes in redeveloping urban neighborhoods.

that detrimental to the development? Probably not. If he wanted to get there, he Low-income-housing activists have been loudest critics since he opened the Medici in the summer of 2000. He attracted their attention after city officials negotiated a deal with his firm that resulted in 65 of the 658 units being set aside for moderate-income tenants. That was a departure from the so-called rules that require of new housing to be earmarked for low-income tenants in lieu of paying a hefty fee. The deal upset activists, who picketed outside the Medici in 2001 the same year Palmer bought a $21-million spread in Beverly Hills.

They pushed city officials to apply the more stringent standard to the Visconti, a 300-unit apartment complex proposed by company for 3rd and Bixelstreets just west of downtown. The firm challenged in court a city decision to enforce the housing rules, prompting settlement talks that appear to be wrapping up. Palmer will soon expand his collection of Italian Renais- sance-themed downtown developments with groundbreaking for the Piero, a 220-unit, market- rate apartment complex on St. Paul Avenue near the Medici. House Demolished Palmer, whose company owns and operates more than 6,000 apartments in Southern California the majority of them in the Santa Clarita Valley landed back in the hot seat.

He provoked preservationists and city officials in April when a contractor hired by his firm demolished the Giese house. Palmer is scheduled to be arraigned June 26 on the misdemeanor counts, which carry a maximum penalty of six months in jail a $1,000 fine, Mateljan said. Ben Reznik, an attorney for Palmer, contends that the house, which the Board of Building and Safety Commissioners declared a public nuisance in December, had become asafety hazard and that his client received conflicting messages from city officials about demolition or preservation. Reznik also said applying the ordinance would be inappropriate because the demolition was an accident that Palmer regrets. Reznik denied the contention of housing activists that in building theMedici, Palmer undermined inclusionary-housing rules with the deal he negotiated with the city.

got away with Reznik said. was what the city accepted to get him to the Medici. The housing rules are part of the Central City West plan, which property owners in an area west of downtown agreed to more than a decade ago amid visions of new skyscrapers and high-rise apartments that never materialized after the real estate market fell. thought have 25 million square feet of commercial office space. Then you would have to have safeguards for housing for all income said Carol Schatz, president and chief executive of the Central City Assn.

here we are in 2003 and not one square foot of high-rise commercial space has been built. from a practical point of view forgetting about the personalities involved is it fair to impose these housing restrictions when the development it was based on never took An irony, according to Reznik, is that Palmer envisioned the Medici where others saw only a patch of land worthy of commercial development. he sees things that others Reznik said. Affordable housing proponents led by the Assn. of Community Organizations for Reform Now or ACORN say the city has an obligation to provide housing opportunities for all of its residents and that developers who build in Los Angeles should help fill the need.

They used the Medici as the backdrop for a recent news conference at which they called for a mandatory, citywide inclusion- ary housing law. The idea is expected to be debated at City Hall in coming weeks. have all these rich developers coming in doing these luxurious apartments, condos and lofts all downtown, but building nothing for affordable said Alvivon Hurd, who heads the housing committee for the Los Angeles chapter of ACORN. In Sacramento, meanwhile, a measure that would clarify a state law that bars cities and counties from enforcing certain rent-control restrictions cleared the Senate on Wednesday. Supporters say the measure was inspired in part by Palmer and his legal wranglings with the city.

L.A. Builder Attracts Praise and Criticism Builder, from Page B1 velopment certificates, earned while in custody. For some, it was the first significant step away from crime. Family and friends wore outfits adorned with neatly tucked handkerchiefs and polished shoes. They cheered and clapped, whistled and wept.

At times, camera flashes blinded the graduates as parents strained to get a glimpse of their sauntering across the stage. Like most students in public and private schools, June is graduation month for the estimated 700 students in the California Youth Authority, which spends $48 million a year on education for criminal offenders under age 25. The agency includes schooling as part of its treatment and rehabilitation, and refuses to grant parole to wards without a diploma. estimated 900 inmates have the opportunity to earn an associate in arts degree through the University of La Verne. Theprogram has thousands of graduates, most of whom have not returned to the criminal justice system, university and state officials said.

The educational success a gleeful superintendent of education, told the nearly packed auditorium Friday. is a positive It was a day on which Riley first in his family to earn a high school diploma honor to his mother and sister. The women sat in the audience, clutching wadded tissue to wipe the tears thatstreameddown their faces. so proud of said mother, Leticia Hurtado of Rialto. so His 17-year-old sister called her big brother a role model.

had some trouble, and he feels bad because supposed to set an example for MichelleHurtado said. he has. Look at him. Ilove him no matter rap sheet includes car theft, resisting arrest and assault with a deadly weapon a screwdriver. couple of years back, three guys tried to steal my little bike and he got the former gang member recalled.

have done it. paid for He believes his degree will help him set his life straight. time for me to grow said Hurtado, who entered Stark in 1999 and is eligible for parole next month. hurts the most is disappointing my family. I want to make my mom proud.

I want to make sure my little sister get in trouble like I did. I want to make them Former Stark inmate Andrew Hua, keynote speaker, reassured graduates that if they embrace education and hard work, and believe in themselves, they will succeed. Hua, 32, earned an associate in arts degree in 1991 while incarcerated for robbery. When he got out, he earned a in economics from UCLA and an MBA from USC. He married, had a child, and worked for the Times Mirror Toyota Motors Corp.

and, currently, Kaiser-Permanente Health Organization. made it through gangs, violence, poverty, drugs, and you made it through said Hua, whose speech wasreceived with hearty applause. is there in life that you For the first time in his 20 years, LlyodStaffordof Rialto felt smart when he passed the test for his GED. thought maybe I could do something with said the former gang member, whose crimes include using drugs, robbery, vandalism and assault with a deadly weapon. do know a lot of stuff.

It made me slow down, being a bad boy think of all the time I wasted on the Chris Long, 20, of Apple Valley, earned his associate in arts degree Friday. He eligible for parole until October 2004, but while at Stark he plans to work toward a bach- elor of science degree through the University of La Verne. He already is taking a high level of calculus and, ultimately, hopes to earna PhD in engineering. in here because of a bad choice, a bad thing that Long said, declining to discuss his crime. I have a lot that I can Jack Rancudo, 22, said studying for the associate in arts degree he receivedFriday helped him to be self-reflective.

With little to do in his small room, Rancudo thought about the man he tried to murder during a 1998 drive-by shooting in San Diego. He concluded that the victim has feelings, a mother who probably loves him, and a right to live. Rancudo realized that the person who turned him in to the police five years ago, the guy he originally wanted to kill, did him a favor and for that, he is grateful. He understands that he was angry, unhappy and responsible for creating his lonely, crime-ridden, gang- banging lifestyle, one that he believes would have taken his life. learned about history and at Stark, Rancudo said, without an education, I think I would have seen this stuff in Photographs by Irfan Khan Los Angeles Times SPECIAL LINEUP: The graduates walk toward the auditorium at Herman G.

Stark Youth Correctional Facility in Chino. Inmates Strive to Graduate to New Lives Without Crime PRIDE ABOUNDS: Riley Hurtado, 20, waits with graduates for ceremony to begin. As his mother and sister watched, he became the first in his family to earn a high school diploma. Graduation, from Page B1 hurts the most is disappointing my family. I want to make my mom proud.

I want to make sure my little sister get in trouble like I did. I want to make them Riley Hurtado, who is eligible for parole next month Order at 1-800-246-4042 or latimes.com/bookstore 02BK010 Your purchase helps needy children. The Los Angeles Times will donate all profits from the sale of Los Angeles Times books to the Los Angeles Times Holiday disadvantaged children and youth throughout Southern California.The Holiday Campaign is part of the Los Angeles Times Family fund of the McCormick Tribune Foundation.This corporate donation byThe Times will be matched at 50 cents on the dollar by the McCormick Tribune Foundation. IT TAKES ONE TO KNOW ONE. Mickey Jordan, Muhammad Hogan, Tiger Woods.You know each of these legendary you'll know the other 95 men and women the Jim Murray has profiled in his and inimitable way.

24 45 includes sales tax, shipping and handling).