Bonds for police building get good interest rate

City financial officers said Tuesday that Los Angeles got a good interest rate when it issued $448.5 million in bonds to finance a new police headquarters.

The deal was controversial because the City Council voted to forgo advice by then-city administrative officer Bill Fujioka to sell the bonds on a competitive basis. Instead, the City Council used another financing method while also steering more business to two California-based bond firms. One of them was De La Rosa & Co. of Los Angeles. Edward De La Rosa, the firm’s president, accompanied Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa on his trip to China last year.