County keeps tower's seismic report hidden

Whether future government headquarters need retrofit is unclear

- BY RONG-GONG LIN II AND REBECCA ELLIS

MYUNG J. CHUN Los Angeles Times LEADERS of cash-strapped L.A. County suspended retrofit work on the Gas Co. Tower, right, last month.

Ever since the county of Los Angeles purchased one of downtown L.A.'s tallest skyscrapers, questions have mounted over whether the building could be vulnerable to major damage in the event of a massive earthquake.

County officials agreed to study the matter. But officials are now refusing to disclose a preliminary report that could shed light on the seismic safety question of whether the county should embark on costly retrofits to make the building more reliable after a big earthquake.

This leaves the public in the dark — including those who work there and in adjacent buildings — as to what the taxpayer-funded report found. The report could offer more insight into the larger safety of other “steel-moment-frame buildings” that dot the Los Angeles cityscape.

The head of the county's Department of Public Works, Mark Pestrella, said at a public meeting this summer he expects the Gas Co. Tower, at 555 W. 5th St., would survive even the most powerful earthquake, and the supervisors have said they believe it exceeds safety requirements.

But there remain questions from others about whether the skyscraper suffered undiscovered damage during the Northridge earthquake in 1994 and whether another earthquake would render the tower so damaged that it would be unusable as the government headquarters for the nation’s most populous county.

The county counsel on Sept. 5 denied The Times’ request for a seismic report on the Gas Co. Tower, citing exemptions listed under the California Public Records Act. The seismic report was referenced in a Nov. 6 document recommending the county purchase the building, in which officials said they agreed with the report’s findings and recommendations, but didn’t elaborate on what they were.