The Los Angeles Community College District on Wednesday abruptly canceled the bidding process for a student housing project after a developer poised to lose out on the contract alleged the district engaged in \u201cunprecedented procedural irregularities\u201d after competitive proposals were submitted. <\/p>\n
In a letter to Chancellor Alberto J. Rom\u00e1n and the Board of Trustees on Monday, an attorney for Michaels Student Living alleged the irregularities included last-minute changes in how the district would evaluate bids \u2014 months after developers submitted proposals to build hundreds of beds at Pierce College and Los Angeles City College.<\/p>\n
After the changes, Rom\u00e1n ranked CTI Housing as the top bidder over four others, including Michaels, according to a letter the district sent to the developers and a board agenda item description. Rom\u00e1n recommended that the Board of Trustees approve opening negotiations to build the housing with CTI, whose executives are Democratic political donors and made past donations to at least two community college district board members.<\/p>\n
In the Monday letter, Benjamin Hanelin, a Paul Hastings attorney representing Michaels, wrote: <\/p>\n
\u201cStated simply, we have deep concerns about the District\u2019s process, and we are evaluating all our options.\u201d Hanelin added that all the developers, taxpayers and students \u201care entitled to answers as to what went wrong and why.\u201d <\/p>\n
The board was scheduled to vote on the issue Wednesday but canceled the meeting Tuesday afternoon, citing issues unrelated to the bidding allegations.<\/p>\n
The meeting cancellation came after The Times inquired with the district about the bidding process. <\/p>\n
On Tuesday evening, Michaels sent a second letter to the district, this time lodging a formal protest, alleging that changing the bidding process was inconsistent with a legal requirement that such public bids are \u201cfair and equitable.\u201d The letter asked for the current process to be canceled and for the district to start a new competition. <\/p>\n
Then, on Wednesday afternoon, the district notified developers in a letter that it was canceling its \u201cRFQ\/P\u201d \u2014 shorthand for Request For Qualifications and Proposals \u2014 and rejecting all bids.<\/p>\n
Juliet Hidalgo, the chancellor\u2019s interim chief of staff, said that district officials believe they acted appropriately but that after inquiries from developers, including objections by Michaels, the district canceled the process \u201cout of an abundance of caution\u201d and will start a new competition to build housing. <\/p>\n
\u201cStudent housing is a new undertaking for LACCD, and the District is learning from each step of this work,\u201d Hidalgo said in an email. <\/p>\n
In a statement, Raoul Amescua, an executive with the parent company of Michaels Student Living, applauded the cancellation and said the company looks \u201cforward to participating in a fair process.\u201d<\/p>\n
Combined, CTI partners Dan Weinstein and Stuart Liner have given at least $11,000 to the political campaigns of at least two board members, Sara Hernandez and Andra Hoffman, since 2024. The executives have also given to Democratic politicians statewide, including current gubernatorial candidate Xavier Becerra and Insurance Commissioner Ricardo Lara, as well as the Democratic fundraising platform ActBlue, state campaign finance records show.<\/p>\n
According to the California Fair Political Practices Commission, state law bars elected officials from \u201ctaking part in an entitlement for use proceeding if the official has received a contribution exceeding $500 from a party or participant in the proceeding within the preceding 12 months.\u201d<\/p>\n
The donations Weinstein and Liner made to Hoffman and Hernandez fall outside the law\u2019s time frame, campaign records show.<\/p>\n
In 2024, Weinstein contributed $2,500 to Hoffman\u2019s 2024 campaign committee, according to campaign finance records. A year later, in March 2025, he donated $1,000 to Hoffman\u2019s campaign for statewide superintendent of public instruction, a race she dropped out of prior to June\u2019s primary, records show.<\/p>\n
Also in 2024, managing partner Stuart Liner donated $2,500 to Sara Hernandez\u2019s Board of Trustees 2022 election committee, in which she won her current term, according to campaign finance records<\/a>. <\/p>\n In June 2025, Liner donated $5,000 to Hernandez\u2019s current campaign for a state Senate seat, records show<\/a>. Hernandez now serves as president of the L.A. Community College District board. <\/p>\n In an email, Hernandez said the donations from Liner were made more than one year ago, before the district launched the bidding process for the student housing competition, and were in \u201cfull compliance\u201d with ethics and campaign finance laws. <\/p>\n \u201cI would never vote on an item that presented a conflict of interest,\u201d she said. \u201cCampaign contributions do not influence how I carry out my responsibilities as a Trustee and I have not made \u2014 and would not make \u2014 decisions regarding District business based on political support or campaign contributions.\u201d<\/p>\n Hoffman said that like most candidates, she raises money when running for office but those contributions don\u2019t influence her votes.<\/p>\n \u201cMy decisions as a Board member are based solely on what I believe is in the best interest of the students, the institution, and the public we serve,\u201d she said in an email.<\/p>\n A Times review of campaign finance records since 2022 found no donations from Michaels\u2019 executives to current board members. <\/p>\n In an email, Weinstein said he has supported Hoffman \u201cbecause of her tireless efforts on behalf of students throughout her career in public education.\u201d<\/p>\n Liner did not respond to requests for comment.<\/p>\n The bidding process<\/p>\n The housing project canceled Wednesday is part of an effort by the district to address housing insecurity among its students, which it has described as \u201cone of the most significant barriers standing between LACCD students and a completed education.\u201d<\/p>\n In March, the district asked developers to apply for the chance to build housing at the two campuses.<\/p>\n The district said it anticipated it would spend up to $150 million in Measure LA bond money to help build between 800 and 1,600 beds across the two sites. It asked developers to formulate a plan for how to raise the remainder of the money needed, either through private equity, tax exempt bonds or other mechanisms. <\/p>\n The winning developer would make its money on development and management fees, which are typically paid by the project\u2019s overall budget and rent collected.<\/p>\n In the original March public request for proposals, the district said an evaluation panel would rank the applicants on a point system, based on metrics including company history, the developer\u2019s financial footing and the overall project proposal. The district would then \u201chave the option to immediately accept the proposal submitted by the highest ranked\u201d developer or to enter negotiations with the developer to attain the best deal. <\/p>\n The original request for proposals also said the district retained the right to change evaluation criteria at any time and that developers \u201care advised that the Evaluation Panel\u2019s scores are intended to inform but not control, the District\u2019s final selection.\u201d <\/p>\n On Aug. 20 \u2014 months after developers submitted proposals and weeks after the district interviewed finalists and those finalists gave what they were told was an informational presentation to the board \u2014 developers, including CTI and Michaels, received notice the process was changing. <\/p>\n Chancellor Rom\u00e1n would now rank developers himself and recommend to the Board of Trustees that the district enter into negotiations with the highest-ranking developer. Rom\u00e1n would make the decision \u201cbased on\u201d a point system that differed from what was laid out in the original request for proposals, according to an addendum<\/a> sent to the bidders.<\/p>\n Rom\u00e1n would now factor into his decision the finalists\u2019 presentations to the board, even though the district previously told developers those presentations were \u201cinformation only\u201d and not part of the scoring process, according to a Times review of the history of changes to the request for proposal contained in a database<\/a> the district uses to manage its procurement process.<\/p>\n \u201cThe Chancellor may, in his sole and absolute discretion, be informed in whole or in part, by the scores developed by the Evaluation Panel, but the final scoring and recommendation to the Board shall be done by the Chancellor,\u201d the amended request for proposals read. <\/p>\n Six days later, the district informed developers that Rom\u00e1n had picked CTI Housing as the highest-ranking proposal and would recommend the board vote to start negotiations with the firm on a pre-development agreement to lay the groundwork for construction.<\/p>\n In its letter<\/a> to developers, the district did not say how the chancellor came to his decision, but said he determined CTI\u2019s proposal was \u201cthe most advantageous to the District.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThe District wishes to thank all the proposers and their teams for their time and effort participating in this procurement,\u201d David Travers, director of contracts for the district\u2019s capital improvement program, wrote in the letter.<\/p>\n Hidalgo said the changes to the evaluation process \u201cwere intended to support a comprehensive review and identify the proposal that would best serve the District and its students.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cAt the same time, we recognize that the evaluation approach and the reasons for these additional measures could have been communicated more clearly,\u201d she said. <\/p>\n The company Rom\u00e1n had selected<\/p>\n Weinstein, a longtime Democratic Party activist and political fundraiser, \u201cspent the better part of two decades working in various capacities as a senior advisor to former California Governor Gray Davis\u201d and has also served on the California Coastal Commission and on the Board of Trustees for the California State University system, according to his bio<\/a> on CTI\u2019s website. <\/p>\n Liner has donated to Xavier Becerra\u2019s current campaign for governor, as well as Atty. Gen. Rob Bonta\u2019s reelection campaign, records show.<\/p>\n Hidalgo said the district hasn\u2019t set a date yet to restart the bidding process to build student housing, but \u201cwe will move forward deliberately while recognizing the urgency of providing high-quality, affordable housing for LACCD students.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Los Angeles Community College District on Wednesday abruptly canceled the bidding process for a student housing project…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":453254,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[179087,1581,22092,115876,179085,3021,4579,48,52,51,1838,165920,47,50,49,170145,11473,179086,179088,4574,96393],"class_list":["post-453253","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-los-angeles","tag-andra-hoffman","tag-board","tag-chancellor","tag-competitive-proposal","tag-cti-housing","tag-developer","tag-district","tag-la","tag-la-headlines","tag-la-news","tag-letter","tag-liner","tag-los-angeles","tag-los-angeles-headlines","tag-los-angeles-news","tag-michaels","tag-roman","tag-sara-hernandez","tag-state-campaign-finance-record","tag-student","tag-trustees"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/453253","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=453253"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/453253\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/453254"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=453253"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=453253"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=453253"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}