LAX Receives a New Fire Station

• Date: November 30, 2010
• Source: Admin

A new state-of- the-art fire station has replaced the old fire station at the Los Angeles International Airport (LAX). The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) received funds to the tune of USD 11 million under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA).

About the new fire station

At 27,500 square feet, the new station is twice as big as the older 1985 facility. The present emergency response equipment can be better accommodated in the new facility. It has seven bays to house and maintain fire rescue vehicles. It provides living, training and administration areas for 14 firefighters. The firefighters reported to the station earlier this month. The new station is situated on the airfield midway between the north and south runway complexes. Construction of the facility commenced in the summer of 2009 and ended in October 2010.

ARRA money for airport development

Across the country, a sum of USD 1.3 billion has been disbursed under the ARRA for both airport im-provement projects and air traffic control facility and system upgrades. Grants have been disbursed to airports that serve commercial passengers, cargo and general aviation.

About ARRA

The ARRA came into being in February 2009, as a response to the economic crisis. Its three immediate goals are:
 

• Create new jobs and save the existing ones
• Spur economic activity and invest in long-term growth
• Foster unprecedented levels of accountability and transparency in government spending

The ARRA tries to fulfill the goals by:
 

• Providing USD 288 billion in tax cuts and benefits for millions of working families and businesses
• Increasing federal funds for education and health care as well as entitlement programs (such as extending unemployment benefits) by USD 224 billion
• Making USD 275 billion available for federal contracts, grants and loans
• Requiring recipients to report quarterly on how the money is being used.  All the informa-tion is posted on Recovery.gov.

Amongst other things, it targets infrastructure development and enhancement.

Features of the ARRA

A notable feature of the ARRA is the emphasis it places on accountability and transparency in govern-ment spending.  A case in point is the audit of the Arizona Department of Housing's administration of its ARRA grant.  The audit revealed that the Arizona Department had adequate policies and procedures to ensure that ARRA funds were accounted for separately and reporting requirements were met. However, it did not have adequate policies and procedures to ensure that its subrecipients defined eligibility for program participants and activities and maintained source documents for program expenditures as warranted by Federal grants. Further, the Department's policies and procedures were not adequate to ensure that subrecipients received adequate training and monitoring to ensure compliance with the specific Homelessness Prevention and Rapid Re-Housing Program regulations. Hence the auditors recommended that the Department of Housing & Urban Development (HUD) require the Arizona Housing Department to provide supporting documentation or repay unsupported amounts for USD 75,543 in program expenditures.

Sources:

1.    http://www.faa.gov/news/press_releases/news_story.cfm?newsId=12178.
2.    http://www.hud.gov/offices/oig/reports/az.cfm
3.    http://www.recovery.gov/About/Pages/The_Act.aspx