FTR International, Inc. is disappointed by the LA Times’s article: “A new complex riddled with ills that are costly to cure” published on March 1st, 2011 in regards to the LACCD project – Allied Health & Science Center at Los Angeles Valley College completed in 2008. This article is inaccurate, one-sided, subjective, and includes statements taken out of context while using sensationalism to willfully mislead its readers. FTR previously furnished the reporter with documents and interviews that confirmed many crucial facts that the LA Times chose to ignore. The article is politically motivated and it came one week prior to LACCD board election to unfairly sway the votes in the Valley. Unfortunately, FTR was chosen to be the pawn.

FTR has delivered and fulfilled all commitments and contractual obligations to the district without delays. Furthermore, FTR is proud of its union workers of all trades who worked day and night on multiple shifts to deliver this project ahead of scheduled completion while ensuring the highest standards of quality. URS Construction Manager Rinaldo Veseliza, in September 2008 stated, “Congratulations on the ENR award and thanks to all of you for working so hard to complete this project in time for September opening. This was a great effort on each of your parts and I appreciate the sacrifices you made on behave of the College. Best wishes for your firm in the future.”

FTR International, Inc. is equally driven by excellence in General Contracting and by our commitment to protect the health and safety of the end-users and the general public of the facilities we build. In a statement released by LAVC President Susan Carleo, she stated, “It’s unfortunate that the Times did not bother to visit the building again prior to publishing the story, as it would have found a building functioning as planned. Faculty, staff, and students certainly don’t recognize the out-of-date descriptions of the building presented in the paper. I applaud all the people who worked to make the building right.” ^[1]

In addition, Chair of the Health Sciences Department, Mary Cox also publicly announced her appreciation of the facility with this statement, “Our nursing students are very fortunate to be able to learn in a hospital-mirrored, state-of-the-art nursing skills/simulation laboratory. In addition to our skills/simulations laboratories, the nursing students have a computer lab with over 300 DVD/CD nursing offerings and a nursing library.” ^[2]

FTR International, Inc. has put thousands of people to work, and provided state of the art facilities for our communities to enjoy higher education at its best. For this reason, FTR is proud to be a contributor to the success of the LACCD Building Program measure. We echo the statement by LACCD Chancellor Daniel J. LaVista “…the Times appears to be more interested in sensationalism than reporting the true facts of this facility and our overall building program. While our construction program is fundamentally transforming our nine colleges into state of the art campuses, the Times stories so far are dispiritingly unbalanced and biased, and leave out crucial facts when they don’t fit the paper’s destructive agenda.”

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^1,2,3 Quotes were referenced from the Build LACCD Website in a public Press Release entitled “LA TIMES ARTICLE ON VALLEY COLLEGE’S ALLIED HEALTH & SCIENCE BUILDING IS INACCURATE AND OUT-OF-DATE” dated March 1.