CityWatchLA - A Tale of Two Fences

CityWatch, June 21, 2011
Vol 9 Issue 49

RETHINKING LA - Tony and Walter live in Los Angeles, just two and half miles apart, and they both want to live quietly and safely in homes surrounded by security fencing.

Tony has called Windsor Square his home for the last six years and he lives in a lovely house provided by his employer as a condition of his employment.

Walter lives in East Hollywood with his wife and teen-age daughter in a house he bought 14 years ago with money he earns as a painter.

In a city of almost four million people, Tony and Walter live relatively close to each other but they have never met. For all practical purposes, they might as well live in two different countries.

Tony’s neighborhood is very quiet at night. The only sound on Irving Ave. comes from the engine of an idling City of LA Public Safety vehicle which serves as the “guard shack” for the 24 hour city funded security that watches over Tony’s home.

Walter’s street is noisy at night, serving as a popular cut-through between Melrose and Santa Monica. It’s only a short walk to lots of great shops and restaurants but pedestrians are rare in this neighborhood because of fear.

Both gentlemen place a high premium on public safety and Walter agrees with Tony who said "Keeping our City safe is the first responsibility of local government.”

When it comes to results, the men disagree.

Tony recently stood shoulder to shoulder with LAPD Chief Charlie Beck and proudly announced across the board reductions in the city’s crime statistics, “marking the city’s safest point in more than 50 years.”

Walter’s experience contradicts Tony’s claim and to prove it, he simply holds a police report in each hand, representing the two unsolved criminal invasions that took place in his home this past year.

Tony and Walter have both gone public with their experiences.

Tony is often quoted in the press claiming “crime is at historically low levels, gang violence is on the decline, and the City is seeing the fewest homicides in four decades.”

Walter doesn’t get as much media attention but that hasn’t stop him from speaking out about the gang activity, the criminal element, the abandoned homes, the drug and alcohol activity under the freeway overpass, the dumping, the graffiti, and the other signs of a forgotten neighborhood.

In spite of Tony’s “safe city” claims, he apparently agrees with Walter’s personal safety concerns because his office recently submitted paperwork requesting a variance to city bylaws in order to build a security wall around his home.

Tony’s request prompted John Welborne, Windsor Square Association vice president for planning and land use, to say “Should all of Los Angeles, including its historic residential neighborhoods, become a collection of walled compounds?”

Walter has moved more quickly than Tony, building a six foot tall security wall consisting of wrought iron fencing decorated with Asian designs and supported by a series of brick pillars. This defiant act of self-preservation incurred the wrath of the City of LA’s Building and Safety Inspectors who told him his fence exceeded the permitted 42” height. He was fined for building the fence and then fined again for non-compliance and ultimately told to remove his fence.

Meanwhile, Tony is proceeding with a variance request that was prepared by and funded with public funds, after all, his house is provided by his employer which in turns contributes more than $100,000 per year to the foundation that operates and maintains his home.

In spite of the LAPD report indicating that there have been no “calls for service,” Tony knows what it’s like to feel threatened. Just last year, city librarians held a children’s storytelling session on his front lawn to protest his proposed reduction to city library services and staff.

Fortunately for Tony, an LAPD security detail arrives each morning to escort him as he engages in the business of the day, leaving Office of Public Safety officers to guard his home, all at the expense of the City of LA.

Meanwhile, Walter gets up every morning and looks out onto a busy street filled with speeding motorists, littered with shopping carts, host to fresh dumped trash, pocked with the campsites of vagrants and the campers that favor the shade of the freeway overpass. As he locks the gate, he does so knowing that if his family calls for help, there are no neighbors left to hear them. If they call the police, it will take a long time to respond and will simply generate more useless paperwork.

The ongoing debate over walled homes starts with a public safety failure. On the one hand, there is a credible argument for Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design (CPTED) that holds the enhanced safety of open and visible space. Walled environments create hiding places and interfere with “eyes on the street” security.

None of this philosophical debate over walls and their impact on public safety, CPTED, or historic preservation matters much to those who have been victimized and who have failed to receive the support of the Mayor’s office, the Council office, the LAPD, the City Attorney.

Walter has been making the rounds of the neighborhood councils, asking for help making their community safer and in getting relief from the crippling fees, fines, and penalties that the City of LA levies as they simply attempt to protect their homes and families.

East Hollywood has more than 100 languages spoken and the greatest obstacle addressing public safety, city ordinances, permits and variances is simply mastering the most difficult language of all, Bureaucratese.

Walter and his neighbors are struggling to master a system that is Byzantine in nature and unforgiving to the mistakes of the uninitiated.

Tony, on the other hand, is the person in charge. The one responsible for public safety, for the staff who administer and enforce the rules and regulations, who respond to issues on the streets. He even has a staff to help him navigate his request for a variance, one paid for by Walter and his neighbors.

Walter and his neighbors have appealed to the Mayor’s office, to City Council President Garcetti’s office, to the LAPD, to the City Attorney’s office and to the local neighborhood councils.

While on the neighborhood council circuit, they often share space with representatives from the city, including the City Attorney’s office, the City Council office, and the LAPD.

The City Attorney’s office showed up recently to extol the virtues of the Administrative Citation Enforcement (ACE) program that would expedite enforcement of municipal code issues such as over-height fences using a complaint driven process for enforcement that allows the City Attorney to move swiftly with an internal process that fines violators and increases contributions to the City’s General Fund.

Walter and his neighbors looked at each other and realized that this ACE program targeted the residents and small businesses in their community, not the predators who violate their neighborhood, threaten their families, steal their possessions and destroy their peace of mind. From Walter’s perspective, the City Attorney should be focused on pursing the criminals who are mocking the Mayor’s “Safe City” claim.

The LAPD, a billion dollar department, was represented by Captain Bea Girmala who has made the rounds of the local neighborhood councils asking for a share of their $45K annual budget (now $40.5K) in order to buy tactical gear for her officers. The neighbors watch and wonder, a few thousand from Central Hollywood, a few thousand from East Hollywood, when will they have enough tactical gear so they can send a police officer over to our street?

Through it all, Walter and his neighbors encounter the power of the “Department of No!” They call the Mayor’s office but can never get through to anyone who finds their situation worthy of a call or a response. They certainly never bump into a Mayor’s representative on the neighborhood council circuit.

They call City Council President Garcetti’s office and after weeks of communication with a representative, they encounter weeks of silence, only to discover that this representative had transferred into the Mayor’s office.

They call the LAPD and they wait, only to get great advice such as “Build a security fence!” from the officers who arrive at the scene of the crime hours after the call with no greater response than the creation of more paperwork.

Tony and Walter have a lot in common, they both want to build a fence around their homes.

For Tony, his fence represents failure, after all, he has acknowledged that his first responsibility is public safety.

For Walter, his fence is a defiant act that demonstrates his commitment to protecting his home and his family, with or without Tony’s help.

Walter’s front yard has two lawn chairs in the center, decorated with American flags. He hopes to host Tony someday, just the two of them sitting together, watching the street and discussing great neighborhoods and safe communities.

As they say, good fences make good neighbors.

(Stephen Box is a grassroots advocate and writes for CityWatch. He can be reached at: Stephen@thirdeyecreative.net .)

Playing Let’s Pretend: LADOT’s Fake Regime Change

CityWatch, June 10, 2011
Vol 9 Issue 46

RETHINKING LA - Mayor Villaraigosa has responded to the recent spate of controversy at the Department of Transportation by moving his Deputy Mayor of Transportation, Jaime de la Vega, over to the General Manager’s position. Villaraigosa touts de la Vega’s experience as a public policy leader and as a manager with extensive experience working in city government. This begs the question, “Where has de la Vega been for the last six years?”

De la Vega has served the Mayor as the Deputy Mayor of Transportation since 1995, a period of time that has seen the LADOT helmed by a series of short-timers that includes Wayne Tanda, Frances Banerjee, Gloria Jeff, Rita Robinson, and Amir Sedadi.

At each turn of the revolving door, Villaraigosa has had the opportunity to draw on his worldwide contacts and to call up a serious world class change agent capable of taking on the mean streets of Los Angeles and its meaner halls of bureaucracy.

Villaraigosa’s decision to move de la Vega over to the GM’s position calls into question the Mayor’s ability to attract world class transportation experts such as Janette Sadik-Khan and Gil Peñalosa. Either he lacks the contacts or he lacks the commitment to change that they would require. Perhaps it’s a combination of both.

Granted, de la Vega has been a loyal Deputy to the Mayor who has a vested interest in avoiding risk and in staying away from controversy. Most of all Villaraigosa needs to keep the spotlight on America Fast Forward, his last real opportunity to exit office with an accomplishment under his belt.

De la Vega has his work cut out for him, even if his mandate is to quell the audit drama and to keep the LADOT humming quietly with no more trouble.

Even such a low standard for success will prove to be a challenge for three reasons, the politics of transportation in Los Angeles, the culture of contempt within the LADOT, and the antiquated strategies for transportation that contradict LA’s claim as a world class city.

LADOT’s politics would challenge Solomon and transportation improvements make the case. Funding gets cut 15 ways so that every Council District gets its fair share of traffic signals, stop lights, speed humps, Safe Routes to School projects, crosswalks and other traffic improvements. This may seem fair but it prevents fast and innovative work from taking place, and it prevents focused implementation which is more effective.

The fact that King Solomon never split the baby is lost on the LADOT which errs in favor of 15-way diplomacy over inspired funding and implementation. This has resulted in LA accepting third world engineering and traffic control while surrounding cities perform better in funding competition and in implementation.

LADOT’s culture of contempt is palpable, witnessed by a recent email when a local transportation engineer responded to a constituent request by emailing instructions to “Contact the Mayor's office and Council office. This is due to the budget that has been adopted by them. You can let them know that it is an essential city service.”

From top to bottom, the “anywhere but here” response is common, including the following exchange from an Assistant General Manager in response to a California Public Records Act CPRA request: “The process for requesting LADOT documents is shown on our website...go to Contact Us then Documents Request to place your order and submit your payment.”

One would think that a 35-year veteran of public service would be aware of the legal requirement to respond to formal CPRA requests but not at the LADOT.

Truth be told, the LADOT doesn’t play well with the Feds nor the State, resulting in the City of LA having their Safe Routes to School funding “red-flagged” or frozen for failure to perform.

The LADOT doesn’t play well with surrounding cities, actually demanding that the neighbors “dumb down” their traffic control communications to match LA’s antiquated technology.

The LADOT doesn’t even play well within the city family, competing with other departments while surrounding cities outperform at the funding pool.

In fact, the LADOT doesn’t even play well with itself, resulting in a silo environment that saw Operations installing bike lanes on Wilbur Avenue without informing the LADOT’s Bikeways Division, a demonstration of disconnect that comes with a hefty price tag.

LADOT’s culture of caution has resulted in a city that errs in favor of avoidance rather than innovation.

When transportation professionals from around the country gathered in Chicago for a conference last year, they acknowledged that America was a full generation behind in traffic engineering and innovations.

Against that backdrop, a slide was projected that displayed one of LA’s most recent implementations of traffic control and it drew groans and a robust discussion of the ability of local transportation authorities like Los Angeles to misinterpret and misapply simple roadway improvements.

LADOT’s current management argue for the status quo as if LA’s streets and traffic were enviable. They’re not. They’re third world and they’re dangerous.

Jaime de la Vega has the loyalty of the Mayor because of the success of Measure R and the 30/10 plan, now rebranded as America Fast Forward. The Mayor’s exit strategy at this point seems to consist of working to get $40 billion in anticipated tax revenue fronted by the Feds so that 30 years of mass transit projects can be completed in 10 years.

Bold, audacious and a great Swan Song for Mayor Villaraigosa.

If only the LADOT can avoid getting busted for double-dipping on federal funding, if only the LADOT can avoid getting busted for moving Measure R funds from projects to staffing, if only the LADOT can avoid getting kicked out of any more funding pools, if only the LADOT can avoid breaking any more State Laws.

So, it falls on Jaime de la Vega to bring the LADOT in line, an odd assignment since he’s been in charge all along and should be as culpable for the misdeeds of the LADOT over the past 6 years.

Perhaps the Mayor recognizes this and de la Vega’s tour of duty as the GM of the LADOT is his punishment.

(Stephen Box is a grassroots advocate and writes for CityWatch. He can be reached at: Stephen@thirdeyecreative.net .)

CityWatchLA - Please Hold for City Hall!

CityWatch, May 31, 2011
Vol 9 Issue 43

RETHINKING LA - LA’s City Council took another step toward complete irrelevance during the recent budget hearings as it moved from a discussion of city pagers to a robust consideration of the hold music on the city’s 311 phone system.

Faced with a $6.9 billion budget, a half billion dollar shortfall, and impending cuts to city services, LA’s City Council abdicated responsibility and instead continued to engage in a discussion of antiquated communications technology.

In the wilds, this is known as the displacement activity of a cornered animal. At City Hall, it’s simply the Peter Principle coming to life in the Theatre of the Absurd.

To discuss the hold music on the 311 system demonstrates two significant disconnects from reality.

First, the hold music would be somewhat irrelevant if hold times were reasonable. But they’re not. The staff has been cut and the calls for help have escalated.

Reductions in city services, the collapse of a city, and an increase in calls for help as the public realizes that they’re last in line are the symptoms of eviscerated departments and the downward spiral of a city in crisis.

Second, the ongoing discussion of pagers and hold music in City Council Chambers demonstrates a complete disconnect from innovative communication strategies and technologies.

The City of LA is the largest city in the most populated state in the most powerful country in the world and yet its online presence is painfully provincial and disjointed, lacking any sense of center or internal strategy for navigation.

Planning has a “frame” design that prevents visitors from bookmarking or sharing links with others. During the revision of the Housing Element, staff overcame the limitations of the website by simply building their own temporary site for the Housing Element campaign.

LADOT has also employed the “workaround” solution but in their case, they allowed the consultant to build the website, resulting in a Bike Plan site that now belongs to a vendor that is no longer on the job. Oops!

A visit to the Mayor’s website offers a search feature but “Vision for Connectivity” fails to yield any results. For that matter, simply searching for “Vision” only turns up references to gang reduction, Performance Management, and an old, dusty commitment to turn LA into the cleanest and greenest big city in America.

This is one of those moments when everything becomes clear.

There’s no vision for connectivity at City Hall.

To be sure, each City Councilmember has his/her own strategy for connecting with the public and they range from pagers and rotary phones to the web, typically serving as filters rather that open and transparent opportunities for the public to connect.

For all of the talk of social media, there’s no way to find the folks at City Hall unless you already know them.

@MobilityMaven will send you lots of advice on avoiding the 405 in July, but only if you’re already connected.

@Villaraigosa will send you lots of messages announcing the great work being done in schools, parks, libraries, theatres, cultural centers, and churches, but again, only if you’re already connected.

If you’d like to follow the twitter accounts of the Emergency Management Department or the many Deputy Mayors, it’s an insider game, not for the common folk. In fact, simply calling them by phone or visiting them in person is not for the hoi polloi, it’s for those already connected.

The City of Los Angeles is in need of a Communications Czar, someone who can...well...connect the disparate departments and staffers and electeds under one digital roof that allows the people of LA to understand how the City works, what it consists of, and who does what.

The league of Women Voters of Los Angeles put out a great book entitled “Los Angeles: Structure of a City Government” and it serves as a road map that opens the doors of City Hall to the public.

LA’s website could do the same thing, connecting the public with their city and empowering civic engagement, and it all starts with a simple strategy for the Internet that commits to open and transparent connectivity.

The fact that LA’s City Hall is a cell phone dead zone and requests for wi-fi access simply prompt snickers demonstrates how far LA has to go if it expects to take its place as a Great City.

In the meantime, rumors that “Nearer My God To Thee” will be played as the hold music on LA’s 311 system are unconfirmed.

(Stephen Box is a grassroots advocate and writes for CityWatch. He can be reached at: Stephen@thirdeyecreative.net .)

CityWatchLA - City Planning Chief: From ‘Keeper of the Vision’ to ‘Merchant of Exceptions’

CityWatch, May 13, 2011
Vol 9 Issue 38

It was a shotgun wedding, Mayor Villaraigosa stood alongside Michael LoGrande as First Deputy Mayor Austin Beutner officiated, proclaiming “There’s no further need to conduct a search!” and then introducing the happy couple as Mayor and City Planning General Manager.

LoGrande was tapped to replace Gail Goldberg as the head of City Planning, a move that demonstrated the Mayor’s commitment to moving forward on the 12-2 program in an effort to speed up development.

Critics dismissed the action as a misguided “out with the planner, in with the expeditor” move that confirmed suspicions that City Hall belonged to the developers and the community was up for grabs.

Granted, there were some optimists who held hope that the move would translate into a more efficient department but they were outnumbered by pessimists who expressed fear that a more efficient department meant bad planning done faster, all of which was complemented by insiders who proclaimed “The Fixer is in!”

Nine months later, the City Planning Department has continued down the path of evisceration at the hands of the Mayor’s Budget Hawks and LoGrande has facilitated the move to cost recovery that has resulted in a department that is 75% funded through fees.

While some may look at this “cost recovery” scheme as fiscally responsible, it translates into an abdication of City Charter mandate and concludes the Planning Department’s transition from “keeper of the vision” to “merchant of exceptions.”

Land use and transportation issues are the stuff of legend, fracturing communities and dominating neighborhood civic engagement to the point of absurdity. Case by case debates over variances and exceptions that drag on and destroy trust in the process leave stakeholders distrustful and disenfranchised.

LoGrande had an opportunity and he took it, demonstrating with results that under the current planning process, good projects are nearly impossible and bad projects are highly profitable.

Some of the most active community planning advocates contend that LoGrande missed the real opportunity, one that would have required him to rally his department and fight for the funding necessary to really plan.

Critics refer to the disconnect between the elements of the General Plan and the Community Plans, the Specific Plans, the Master Plans, and the Vision Plans, all of which leave the battlefield of the community open to developers who can write 39,000 page documents as the bulldozers rev their engines and the public watches the circus come to town.

LoGrande had an opportunity to embrace technology and to actually connect real data with the direction that City Planning is headed but that failed to happen.

As the population declines, City Planning is braced to support further density, complete with antiquated code that results in empty lots on major boulevards, open parking lots that live on as protected use, huge developers that thrive while small developers go bankrupt, and a default attitude that allows the CRA to assume de facto Planning authority.

Yesterday’s Planning Commission hearing included a presentation that revealed 70% of the multi-unit development over the last several years consisted of projects that were 10 units or less. Yet the City of LA continues to punish (with codes of absurdity) small developers in favor of large “luxury living” developers who enjoy tax breaks and subsidies that result in housing in excess of demand for a market that doesn’t exist.

All this takes place while the middle class continues to get priced out of neighborhoods that locals refer to as “under siege” by developers who prey on communities by investing based on current zoning and then develop based on exceptions and variances that destroy the community and make a mockery of City Planning.

LoGrande has had nine months to demonstrate his convictions and his intentions. Based on results it appears that Bigger & Faster is his mantra and it is taking place at the expense of our city.

As Zev Yaroslavsky said at last week’s Citywide Alliance meeting, “This is not only a disaster for the people, the environment, and local neighborhoods, it's also a disaster for the builders. If the Rule of Law is gone, there is no stability and everyone suffers except for those who abuse the system.”

(Stephen Box is a grassroots advocate and writes for CityWatch. He can be reached at: Stephen@thirdeyecreative.net.)

Forget the Budget Kabuki, How about City Budgeting Based on Performance?

CityWatch, May 10, 2011
Vol 9 Issue 37

City Council’s Budget & Finance Committee has proven so efficient at rubber-stamping the Mayor’s proposed budget that they recessed early. They apparently made sufficient noise as the City’s department chiefs paraded through council chambers in defense of their departments and their budgets.

Those speaking before the Committee tend to fall into one of three categories; those who completely fold and then overflow with gratitude for the privilege of maintaining their position as the head of an eviscerated department, those who accept the preordained but refuse to give it their blessing, and those who resist and call out the Mayor and City Council for their folly.

City Planning’s GM, Michael LoGrande, gave a category one performance, thanking anybody within thanking range and then accepting his fate, a loss for the people of LA who depend on a strong planning department as LA’s land-use debates continue to fracture communities.

Jon Kirk Mukri, General Manager of Recreation and Parks, represented the second category and came armed for battle and prepared for debate, but made no headway as the Mayor’s “cost-recovery” scheme continues to prey selectively on charter departments that deserve better.

William Carter of the City Attorney’s office, standing in for Carmen Trutanich, gave a fiery performance, calling out the budget as an abdication of responsibility, rejecting the budget cuts as short-sighted, and building a solid case for the value of his department.

On the whole, most department heads showed up ready to discuss departmental headcount, furlough impacts on staffing levels, and empty positions that needed to be filled. Few and far between were the discussions over intended performance, actual performance and proposed performance.

Demonstrating the difference a year can make, BongHwan (BH) Kim of the Department of Neighborhood Empowerment did well in standing out from the crowd as he introduced DONE’s "Performance Dashboard" and spoke affirmatively of the past year and the upcoming year.

On the one hand, as the City of LA wallows in the budget crisis, it’s sad that the Committee spent so much time discussing neighborhood council stakeholder definitions and elections but it serves as a reminder that most people experience the $463 million budget gap on a personal level.

The proposal on the table for neighborhood councils was a 10% cut in funding (to $40,500 from $45,000) and the loss of rollover funds. Councilmen Koretz and Rosendahl made strong cases for protecting the encumbered funds, pointing out that many NC projects take years to complete and that the funding must be protected.

Other issues that came up were NC elections and the options that would allow councils to select boardmembers without having to spend millions of dollars as was the case with the City Clerk elections.

On the subject of elections, stakeholder definitions, by-law revisions, and funding options, Kim made two points; that much work was being performed by DONE in conjunction with NC Task Forces, and that CD2 (Paul Krekorian, Chair of the Education & Neighborhoods Committee) was working on the legislative revisions that are necessary for addressing structural issues.

The Mayor’s proposed budget was released to the City Council on April 20, and the Budget & Finance Committee took a week to review it before commencing with its Budget Hearings, a process that recessed several days early as enthusiasm faded and the opportunity to take on real structural change slipped away.

Budget & Finance is back at it today and tomorrow for a final polish and then presents it to the full City Council on Friday. Council has until June 1 to return the proposed budget with any recommended changes to the Mayor for the final stage of the approval process.

As the budget hearings fade into the sunset, neighborhood councils have a short amount of time to do three very important things; call your City Councilmember and speak up to protect rollover (encumbered but non-invoiced) funds, call DONE and give the GM encouragement if you like the direction he’s going, and start thinking now about which City Councilmember should head up the Education & Neighborhoods Committee when the City Council shuffles committee assignments in July.

Most importantly, speak up if you like the Performance Management style of departmental budget presentation, one where the year starts with projected performance. Department heads would be evaluated based on their goals and their accomplishments, their budgets would be set based on service commitments, not simply protecting headcounts.

(Stephen Box is a grassroots advocate and writes for CityWatch. He can be reached at: Stephen@thirdeyecreative.net.)

CityWatchLA - For LADOT GM the Honeymoon is Way Past Over

CityWatch, May6, 2011
Vol 9 Issue 36

Amir Sedadi, Interim General Manager of LA’s Department of Transportation, demonstrated that the honeymoon is over as he took his turn before the City Council’s Budget and Finance Committee during the ongoing Budget Hearings.

The gloves came off at “Hello!” as Sedadi greeted the Committee by pointing out the late hour, revealing a perceived slight based on his 7pm position on the agenda.

He then took the Committee on a journey of his departmental headcount losses over the last couple of years but neglected to offer up any accountability for his performance and for the performance of his department. This was a huge shortcoming.

City Council’s Budget and Finance Committee reviewed Sedadi’s performance during the
Budget Hearings, finding fault with his creative staffing and budget solutions and taking him to task for moving Measure R funds from the intended infrastructure projects and using them for staffing. Chairman Parks clarified by saying “Measure R funds projects, not people.”

Councilman Smith offered his analysis, digging a little deeper and pointing out that the LADOT paid part-time crossing guards $2.2 million in bonuses on top of $5 million in salaries, causing LADOT staff to scramble for answers, finally resulting in Sedadi explaining “We did it because some of the staff worked weekends and evenings.” Smith called it “Shocking.”

Sedadi’s high point during his reign was the approval of LA’s Bike Plan and Councilman Rosendahl gave him bragging room with questions about the LADOT Bikeways Department and the implementation of the Bike Plan.

Sedadi pointed out that the Bikeways Department was fully staffed with seven engineers, two project coordinators, four paid interns and four unpaid interns. He spoke glowingly of the support of the community and the partnership between the Department and the public.

If only it were true. If only there were any results to show for the staffing commitment.

From LA Streetsblog to members of the Bike Plan Implementation Team, the criticism from the public and from the media is that the LADOT staff have failed to implement any of the Bike Plan projects and that they continue to show up for meetings unprepared and unwilling to move forward.

Prior to the Budget hearings, City Controller Wendy Greuel had taken Sedadi and the LADOT to task for failing to collect an estimated $15 million in unpaid parking tickets from "scofflaws," or frequent law violators.

Demonstrating leadership skills that cry for evaluation, Sedadi had explained that the LADOT’s centralized unit for scofflaw enforcement has been disbanded because of budget cuts.

This short sighted budget solution resulted in long term revenue losses that could have gone a long way to delivering city services to the people of Los Angeles.

NBC4 has also been critical of Sedadi’s leadership, offering up news that two LADOT employees had participated in shooting a porn while on duty, in uniform, and in a city vehicle.

Most damning is the fact that LADOT management knew of the incident for more than two months in advance of the NBC4 broadcast but failed to initiate action until confronted by the press.

Adding to the well-rounded criticism of Sedadi’s performance came a whistleblower’s call to Greuel’s office that exposed the LADOT’s $2.5 million overpayment on an old contract while leased gear sat in storage accruing charges. Sedadi blamed old management from 2006, failing to mention that he was Assistant GM for four years and either missed the overpayment or failed to act on it.

Amir Sedadi first began working for the City of LA in 1990 and has served in several positions, including as Assistant Deputy Director of Transportation in the Mayor’s office and as the LADOT’s Liaison to the Mayor and City Council. He knows his way around City Hall.

Sedadi took over the reins of the LADOT six months ago, a role he prepared for by serving as the heir apparent to Rita Robinson, the City Hall veteran who capped her 35-year career with a tour of duty at the helm of the Department of Transportation.

When Robinson announced her retirement, transportation advocates from around the city expressed hope that the Mayor would engage in a worldwide search for a leader in transportation innovations and active transportation, one capable of serving as a "change agent."

Common wisdom from the streets held that a promotion from within would result in “more of the same” while hiring from outside would represent a Mayoral commitment to Complete Streets and multi-modal transportation.

Informal surveys advanced candidates such as Long Beach’s Sumi Gant, San Francisco’s Tim Papandreou, Bogota’s Gil Peñalosa, New York’s Janette Sadik-Kahn, and Copenhagen’s Jan Gehl, resulting in a petition generated by Streetsblog that called for a “Game Changer” at the helm of the LADOT.

While Sedadi’s performance as the leader of LA’s Department of Transportation falls far short of minimal acceptable standards, the real call for accountability belongs to the mayor and his staff, past and present.

As the Mayor coasts into the sunset, as former First Deputy Mayor Austin Beutner embarks on his mayoral campaign, and as Deputy Mayor Jaime de la Vega steers $40 billion in Measure R funding down the pike, Sedadi’s failure to perform calls into question any notion of accountability at City Hall.

(Stephen Box is a grassroots advocate and writes for CityWatch. He can be reached at: Stephen@thirdeyecreative.net. )

LA’s CRA turns gold into straw - a view from the street

CityWatch, Feb 1, 2011
Vol 9 Issue 9

When Governor Brown met with Mayor Villaraigosa to debate the future of LA’s Community Redevelopment Agency, the meeting took place in the well-appointed digs of the State Capitol, surrounded by a formidable security force.
When the people in my neighborhood gathered to discuss LA’s CRA, the meeting took place on a busted sidewalk, outside the now empty five-story Gershwin Hotel, across the street from an empty lot surrounded by chain link fencing and graffiti. Security was a courtesy provided by the Department of DIY.

The Governor’s plan to phase out approximately 400 redevelopment agencies throughout the state and to return the revenue stream to local authorities for use in the community has prompted LA’s CRA to scramble in an effort to squirrel away $930 million of public money.

LA’s CRA contends that they have done good work resulting in a catalytic economic and social impact on the community. That may be true in the sense that building a development for $600 million and then selling it for $200 million has a catalytic impact on the CRA’s political cronies.

LA’s CRA argues that the redevelopment projects create jobs and stimulate the economy. That my be true in the sense that bulldozer operators have been busy razing buildings that have fallen victim to the CRA’s “induced-blight” scheme but not for the business owners and employees who have lost jobs through eminent domain.

Jean Ros, founding executive director of the California Budget Project challenges the CRA’s claims saying "The research shows that redevelopment doesn't give us the bang for the buck we need in these economic times."

The Public Policy Institute's study "Subsidizing Redevelopment in California" compared 114 different redevelopment project areas statewide to similar areas without redevelopment. It concluded that redevelopment agencies were not responsible for any net economic growth and that they were being financed at the expense of local schools and public services.

As for local data on the systemic effectiveness of LA’s CRA, Jim Dantana, Deputy to CRA’s CEO Chris Essel, acknowledged that there is no real data to support either side of the argument.

Last week, California State Controller John Chiang launched an audit of 18 redevelopment agencies around the state to get to the bottom of the debate over whether they're "engines of local economic and job growth or are simply scams providing windfalls to political cronies."

While many argue that we simply don’t have the evidence, it’s not quite true. As LA’s City Controller Wendy Greuel warily dips her toe in the audit waters, the simple fact is, she’s late to the game. The audits have been performed, 11 years ago by then-City Controller Rick Tuttle and 5 years ago by then-City Controller Laura Chick.

Meanwhile, on the streets of Hollywood, locals are left with the anecdotal evidence that the CRA’s presence can have a chilling impact on the community, one that results in businesses closing, residents leaving, buildings falling into disrepair, public nuisance abatements and...bulldozers.

The suspicion that the presence of the CRA not only induces blight but actually discourages the investment and participation of long term small business operators was most recently confirmed when Glendale hotel owner Ray Patel refused to sell his property to developer Rick Caruso, only to find himself facing an eminent domain action that will allow the American to expand using his land.

Matt Middlebrook, former Deputy Mayor in LA to then-Mayor Hahn and current frontman for developer Rick Caruso, defended the aggression and explained that Patel had no right to resist the seizure, after all, “Patel (hotel owner) knew a decade ago that he was buying a business inside a redevelopment zone. By that time, the city had already used eminent domain to push out small Glendale property owners and make way for other private owners.”

That’s the skewed logic at the core of LA’s “pennies on the dollar” scheme, one where the CRA spends the public’s dollars on projects that wouldn’t pass muster in the private sector, then sells them to insiders for pennies.

LA’s CRA built the Hollywood & Highland Center for $600 million and then sold it to the CIM Group for $200 million. The City of LA then ponied up an additional $30 million to remodel the Kodak Theatre for the CIM in a move that Curbed LA referred to as “Send in the Clowns!”
Meanwhile, as Hollywood’s Gershwin Hotel continues to decay, the CIM Group stands in the wings with a bag of pennies, ready to feed at the public trough on the land and property that has been secured with our dollars, all while the local children stare through chain link fencing at a building that has more broken windows every day, at a neighborhood that continues to suffer. If only the CRA would get out of the way.

(Stephen Box is a grassroots advocate and writes for CityWatch. He can be reached at: Stephen@thirdeyecreative.net. Disclosure: Box is also a candidate for 4th District Councilman.)

CityWatchLA - LA's CicLAvia Opens Streets to People

Mayor Villaraigosa riding
his bike at CicLAvia

CityWatch, Oct 12, 2010
Vol 8 Issue 81

"Happy Sunday!" was the greeting on the streets of Los Angeles as tens of thousands of Angelenos walked, jogged, rollerbladed, skateboarded, cycled and dodgeballed their way along the 7.5 miles of streets opened to people for LA's inaugural CicLAvia.

LA is no stranger to special events but CicLAvia was unique in many ways. The purpose was simple, to open the streets, providing people with an opportunity to create community and move freely. They did, in ways unexpected and in numbers that exceeded expectations. They greeted each other, they stopped to socialize, they paused to participate in activities along the route, they ate food from local vendors, they smiled and they filled the air with the sound of conversations, greetings and cheers of approval.

Ciclovía originated in Bogotá, Columbia and they now take place around the world, typically on Sunday and featuring car-free streets and great accessible public space for activities that range from yoga and theatre to music and aerobics.

Bogotá's Jaime Ortiz, creator of the Ciclovía concept, rode alongside Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa on a ride that started in Boyle Heights and headed to City Hall. This was the Mayor's first time on a bike since his tumble in the Bike Lane on Venice Blvd … an incident that has stirred significant conversations about how our street work and where people walk, ride or simply hang out.

Along the route, Brazilian Capoeira fans took over Central Ave., outdoor Yoga mellowed the crowd on 1st Street, a Comedian worked the crowd on Spring Street, the East Side Bike Club previewed Día de los Muertos, CrossFit Mean Streets turned Main Street into an outdoor gym, the Eagle Rock Yacht Club hosted a Dodgeball tournament and Chalk4Peace turned 7th Street into a mile of public participant art.

The LA Times estimated the attendance at 100,000 while other media estimated a more conservative 50,000. Either way, it appears that participants showed up in huge, happy, conflict-free numbers that exceeded the Mayor's anticipated crowd of 35,000 and demonstrated that the streets of LA really are for people.

The CicLAvia route went from Boyle Heights to East Hollywood, favoring park-poor communities, areas with merchants who would benefit from the crowds, streets that were pothole-free, and major routes that would not disrupt local residential neighborhoods. The "street-opening" strategy was modified from typical event street closure protocol, incorporating 14 "crossing" at key locations. Vast sections of street were car-free while motorists still had opportunities to pass through, eliminating the traditional confusion and frustration that often comes with major events.

LA's CicLAvia took a couple of years of planning, requiring the concerted efforts of advocates, event planners, engineers, and community organizers along with LA's Transportation, Sanitation, Street Services, and Police Departments.

Once the Mayor's team got behind it, CicLAvia moved forward, strategies were refined, streets were repaired, wayfinding was designed and volunteers were trained.

CicLAvia organizers say that the tremendous success of LA's inaugural event provides momentum that will assist in their goal to host CicLAvias every two months in 2011, every month in 2012, and eventually bringing CicLAvia to the streets of LA every Sunday.

CicLAvia Boardmember Stephen Villavaso summed up his take on the event saying "We presented the pilot project to thousands of smiling faces on people who came from all over the city to enjoy the streets of a wide variety of neighborhoods. Most of all, we had huge amounts of interaction on the streets with barriers taken down and we created a common shared experience."

(Stephen Box is a grassroots advocate and writes for CityWatch. He can be reached at: Stephen@thirdeyecreative.net. Disclosure: Box is also a candidate for 4th District Councilman.)

CityWatchLA - CicLAvia: Putting People Back On the Streets

CityWatch, Sept 24, 2010
Vol 8 Issue 76

LA's CicLAvia is scheduled for Sunday, October 10, 2010 (aka 10/10/10) at 10 am and will result in 7.5 miles (it should have been 10!) of LA's streets opened to people and closed to motor vehicles, all in an effort to create vibrant public space for pedestrians, cyclists, skaters, and community members who long for the days when streets were for people.

LA's CicLAvia (a Southland twist on the Columbian Ciclovia) has been in the works for almost two years, requiring the coordination of City Council offices, City Departments, the Mayor's office and an army of volunteers. Long under wraps, the announcement was finally made this past week on the steps of City Hall.

"CicLAvia started over thirty years in Bogota, Colombia as a response to the congestion and pollution of city streets," said Mayor Villaraigosa. "Now does that sound familiar?"

CicLAvia will begin in HelMel, an area in East Hollywood that is a popular location for street festivals, and continue to MacArthur Park, Koreatown, Little Tokyo, and through downtown to Hollenbeck Park on the Eastside. (Conversely, CicLAvia will begin in Boyle Heights on the Eastside and continue to East Hollywood!)

Restricting motor vehicle traffic is traditionally referred to as "closing a street" and that is the paradigm that is being reversed. CicLAvia is an opportunity to "open the streets" by restricting motor vehicle traffic and filling them with people, positioning the street as a "zipper" that draws people together by creating vibrant open space that anchors the neighborhood.

The original Ciclovia concept was based on the Spanish word for "bike path" and originated in Columbia with the main streets of Bogatá, Cali, and Medillín closed to motor vehicles and opened to runners, skaters, and cyclists.

Over the years the event has grown to include events staged by aerobics instructors, yoga teachers, and musicians who lead people through various performances. It is estimated that 2 million people (30% of the population) take part in activities on the 120 km of Ciclovia streets in Columbia.

Ciclovia events take place around the world, in Australia, in Canada, in New Zealand and in Mexico. They also take place in cities around the United States such as San Francisco, Chicago, Portland, Miami, and Tuscon.

Los Angeles actually has some experience with an LA version of CicLAvia, having hosted a nine mile long annual History Walk (http://www.lospobladores.org/history-walk.htm#Willard) that started in 1981 as part of LA Bicentennial celebration.

LA's History Walk (or Birthday Walk) commemorates the establishment of El Pueblo la Reina de Los Angeles by Los Pobladores, the settlers who made the trek from the San Gabriel Mission to what is now known as Olvera Street.

This year would have been the 29th annual History Walk, an event that sees the streets from San Gabriel to Los Angeles closed to motor vehicle traffic and filled with birthday celebrants, but the event was cancelled due to LA's budget crisis.

(Who knew it took so much money to let people walk the streets!)

(Stephen Box is a grassroots advocate and writes for CityWatch. He can be reached at: Stephen@thirdeyecreative.net. Disclosure: Box is also a candidate for 4th District Councilman.)

CityWatchLA - Mayor Hits Ground, Misses Opportunity

Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa's bike crash has generated press around the country, prompting well wishes from around the globe, but somehow failing to elicit the most basic of the appropriate post-crash behavior from the highest ranking member of LA's cycling community.

The New York Times recounts the details of the Mayor's recent bike ride that ended quickly when a taxi operator pulled out in front of him and caused him to fall, resulting in a broken elbow that required surgery. It also references the Mayor's Copenhagen revelation of last year when he declared "In the area of bicycling I’ve got to do a better job and the city’s got to do a better job" and his new Huffington Post declaration “It’s time to recognize that bicycles also belong on L.A.’s streets.”

Grist refers to the incident as "a prime teachable moment to deflate the myth that collisions between military-sized vehicles and cyclists are no big deal. Instead, he reinforced the notion that public streets are for autos -- and anyone else enters at their own risk."

The Mayor has an opportunity to build on his "Biking in Los Angeles should be a natural" declaration, but it requires action, not just talk and YouTube video thanking the public for their concern. While promises of a Bike Summit play nicely to the cyclists of LA, unless the attendees are the General Managers of the many city departments who have a piece of the streets, it will simply be another opportunity to commiserate over the mean streets of LA as the audience bestows "One of us!" street cred on the Mayor.

I propose that the Mayor's real opportunity is to use the specifics of his bicycle crash on Venice Blvd. as an opportunity to improve the streets of LA for everybody and to do it by engaging in some simple and yet effective solutions.

1) Collect the data. Immediately following an incident on the streets of LA, go to LABikeMap.org and enter the data. (collision, near-miss, road conditions, harassment, etc.) No change will take place without good data and while the City of LA deliberates with Google over cloud computing, Bikeside has simply created a crowd sourcing process that allows the public to collect the data that drives the funding for improving the streets of LA for everybody.

2) Endorse the Cyclists' Bill of Rights. The right to travel safely and free of fear is supported by basic law, municipal code, and departmental policy. All that's missing is for the Mayor of Los Angeles to endorse it, communicating to the cycling community that he supports them in word and in action.

3) Implement the Backbone Bikeway Network. Now is the time for the Mayor to commit to connectivity, bringing the full City Family (LAPD, BOSS, Public Works, Planning, DWP, RAP...) together to support the implementation of the Backbone Network, supporting connectivity with Education, Encouragement, Enforcement, Evaluation and Human Infrastructure that goes beyond simple paint on the street. The Mayor has an opportunity to demonstrate leadership by bringing inter-agency leadership (Caltrans, CHP, Metro, LASD, LAUSD, CRA, SCAG...) together to make the Backbone Network an integral element of the Mayor's 30-10 plan.

4) Prioritize Human Infrastructure. Now is the time for the Mayor to set a good example by taking "Confident City Cycling Course" taught by Sustainable Streets. This is also the time to have the City Family participate in bicycle awareness training on the rights of cyclists on the streets of Los Angeles. At Chief Beck's direction, the LAPD developed an online program that sets a standard for effective communication and education. Let's use it!

5) Supervise the Professionals. LA's Department of Transportation licenses and regulates more than 2300 taxi cab operators and if pulling out in front of a cyclist and causing significant bodily injury doesn't warrant some response or trigger some call for education, what does? The motorist who pulled out into traffic and caused the Mayor to hit the ground must be held accountable for his actions, regardless of intent which is rarely an issue. Careless, inattentive, and distracted driving are the more common causes of injury but, regardless, if a Taxi Cab Operator fails to drive safely, he must be held accountable.

6) Empathize with the Public. As the City Council considers enhanced collection strategies for LAFD Ambulance services, it is imperative that the Mayor acknowledge the fact that the average Angeleno would not get emergency surgery on a weekend for an injury suffered on the streets of Los Angeles. If the Taxi Cab Operator caused the Mayor's injury, did the Taxi Cab Operator's auto insurance cover the bills? Surely the Mayor's health insurance, paid for by the public, is not covering an injury caused by a professional motorist licensed and regulated by the City of Los Angeles! The Mayor must clarify legal and financial responsibility, not simply brush it off.

These simple steps don't require scheduling a Bike Summit or gathering cyclists together to hear how tough it is on the streets of Los Angeles. They simply require the Mayor to take care of a few details and in doing so, he will get to proclaim "Los Angeles, the City with a Backbone!"

CityWatchLA - Distracting from Bigger Issues

CityWatch, Aug 3, 2010
Vol 8 Issue 61

LA's City Council is poised to approve two contracts that will allow the LA Fire Department to outsource the Emergency Medical Services Billing and Collection System (EMSS) while implementing the Fire Department Field Data Capture System (FDCS). This will allow the LAFD to manage patient history data, communicate emergency information and initiate billing data collection on scene.

The anticipated approval of these contracts will mark the end of a journey that began eight years ago, addressing the issue of uncollected debts that was highlighted by the City Controller and the City Council during the recent budget debates.

While the $10 million contract with Scanhealth for a digital data transfer system promises to improve the delivery of services using digital data transfer, it is the contract with Advanced Data Processing Inc. that is positioned as an opportunity to improve billing collections and contribute to the City's General Fund.

In the 2009 fiscal year, the LAFD billed $151 million for emergency medical services but collected only $58 million. The outsourcing of the billing and the increase in ambulance fees are both positioned by the Mayor and the Controller as important steps that will allow the LA to deliver on the LAFD's mission while efficiently recovering the costs of the service. In addition, the proposal is designed to protect the City from exposure to Federal, State and HIPAA liability.

While there is some controversy over these proposals … unions want city workers trained to do the work and there is the charge that it constitutes double billing, once when the taxpayers fund the LAFD and again when they pay for the services as rendered … but by the end of Tuesday, it's expected that the contracts will be approved, the vendors will go to work on implementation, and the LAFD will continue providing world class service to the people of Los Angeles.

As for the Mayor and the City Council, now is the time for them to initiate a larger discussion on the issues that have been overshadowed by the current emphasis on increasing the LAFD's General Fund contribution through an improved data and billing collection process.

1) The Los Angeles Fire Department's PIO, Brian Humphreys refers to the LAFD as "The tip of the spear for an ailing health care system, providing primary medical care to a sizable portion of LA's population."

Statistically, it seems simple, increase the collection rate and increase contribution to the General Fund. But another way to approach this is to ask "Who is calling the LAFD and why are they going to the LAFD for primary health care?"

People with no money or with no connection to medical services are hardly in a position to respond to a more efficient billing process. They're symptoms of a larger broken system.

2) The Los Angeles Fire Department is a Social Services agency in communities such as Hollywood, addressing the mental, substance abuse, social, and medical needs of the homeless population.

One of Hollywood's LAFD Captains estimated that as much as 40% of their resources was dedicated to the task. An increase in the efficiency of the billing process will not address the fact that the LAFD has become the de facto caretaker of LA's invisible population.

3) The Los Angeles Fire Department spends an inordinate amount of time responding to traffic collisions, responding to approximately 100 per day and taking responsibility for emergency medical services as well as transportation of victims.

By contrast, the County Fire Department also responds but then relies on private ambulances to transport victims.

Increasing the efficiency of the billing process doesn't address the fact that the service itself might be better privatized in the case of traffic collisions and that unlicensed and/or uninsured motorists are not likely to respond to a more efficient billing process.

The City Council's pursuit of efficiencies in data management and in billing collections are commendable but these motions fail to address the larger issue of causality and of responsibility.

Whether it's the poor without health insurance or the means to pay for an ambulance, motorists or passengers without auto insurance, or indigent without MediCal/Medicare coverage, the fact remains that the City is quickly ending a conversation that should be taking place with the County, the State, and the Federal providers of medical services and support.

The Los Angeles Fire Department is a world class organization and offers everything from emergency medical care to the supervision of movie set pyrotechnic stunts.

The LAFD is also a leader in the training of community members for emergency preparedness in the Community Emergency Response Teams and Urban Search & Rescue Teams, an investment for the times that the LAFD needs support.

This ongoing work has resulted in a citywide full service Life Safety Network, a system that has proven its value during incidents such as the Griffith Park fire, the Station fire, and the Metrolink Train crash.

The first opportunity here is to move beyond simple data and billing collection and to fully support the LAFD by looking for systemic solutions that address homelessness, traffic collisions, and patients who lack medical services and support, all of whom currently rely on the LAFD for high quality and unconditional medical services and transport.

While the idea of reducing homelessness, traffic collisions and poverty may seem unrealistic, the opportunity for City Family efficiencies in the delivery of services is certainly worth exploring, not ignoring.

The second opportunity here is for the Mayor and the City Council to look beyond the LAFD as a simple General Fund contributor and to rally the city departments who are responsible for traffic safety on the streets, for social services, for connecting Angelenos with the County, State and Fed medical services, and for Emergency Preparedness and to work together to make sure that Los Angeles is pursuing maximum outside funding for the great work that the LAFD does.

(Stephen Box is a grassroots advocate and writes for CityWatch. He can be reached at Stephen@thirdeyecreative.net. Disclosure: Box is also a candidate for 4th District Councilman.)

LA’s Backbone in 10 Steps

Stephen Box calls on Mayor Villaraigosa 

to support cyclists by implementing 

"LA’s Backbone in 10 Steps"

Hollywood, CA - Stephen Box, candidate for City Council District 4, calls on Mayor Villaraigosa to act decisively in implementing "LA’s Backbone in 10 Steps," active solutions that will yield immediate results in his campaign to make the streets of LA safer for everybody.

>The New York Times recounts the details of the Mayor's recent bike ride that ended quickly when a taxi operator pulled out in front of him and caused him to fall, resulting in a broken elbow that required surgery. It also references the Mayor's Copenhagen revelation of last year when he declared LA "In the area of bicycling I’ve got to do a better job and the city’s got to do a better job" and his new Huffington Post declaration “It’s time to recognize that bicycles also belong on L.A.’s streets.”

Grist refers to the incident as "a prime teachable moment to deflate the myth that collisions between military-sized vehicles and cyclists are no big deal. Instead, he reinforced the notion that public streets are for autos -- and anyone else enters at their own risk.

The Mayor has an opportunity to build on his "Biking in Los Angeles should be a natural" declaration, but it requires action, not just talk and a YouTube video thanking the public for their concern. Attached is a list of 10 things the Mayor can do immediately to support cyclists and improve the quality of life for Angelinos on the streets of LA:

LA’s Backbone in 10 Steps

1 - Collect the Data
Immediately following an incident on the streets of LA go to LABikeMap.org and enter the data. (collision, near-miss, road conditions, harassment, etc.)

2 - Cyclists’ Bill of Rights
Take a stand - endorse the Cyclists’ Bill of Rights as a document that articulates the law of the land, the rights of cyclists, and our relationship on the road.

3 - Commit to Connectivity by implementing the Backbone Bikeway Network (30-10)
Endorse the Backbone Bikeway Network as a citywide physical commitment to destinations. The Los Angeles Bicycle Advisory Committee has endorsed the Backbone Bikeway Network as a Measure R 30-10 project.

4 - Commit to Connectivity by implementing the Backbone Bikeway Network (City Family)
Synchronize the city family so that all departments work together to support cyclists on the street (LAPD, BOSS, Public Works, Planning, DWP...)

5 - Commit to Connectivity by implementing the Backbone Bikeway Network (Inter-Agency)
Synchronize agencies and authorities so that all powers work together to support cyclists on the street (Caltrans, CHP, Metro, LASD, LAUSD, CRA, SCAG...)

6 - Educate the City Family
Implement bicycle awareness education for the entire city family on the rights of cyclists on the streets of Los Angeles. (Employees, operators of city vehicles, and contractors. See Sgt. Krumer for LAPD education program)

7 - Educate the Cyclists
Support bicycle education for the entire spectrum of the cycling community focusing on adults and workforce cyclists. (Sign the mayor up to Confident City Cycling Course.)

8 - Educate the Community
Position cyclists as a constituent group with all community development and planning processes from the beginning not as an afterthought.

9 - Parking, Parking, Parking!
Welcome cyclists to the community with bike racks, bike corrals and the effective enforcement of the LAMC bike parking policy. (Professional bike parking standards must be included for contractors with installation and operation instructions)

10 - Communicate Clearly
From traffic signals that recognize cyclists to wayfinding that directs cyclists, all roads lead to LA.

LA Needs a Budget that Sustains

CityWatch, July 20, 2010
Vol 8 Issus 57

BUDGET CRISIS FESTIVAL

Festivals offer an insightful glimpse into the traditions of a culture, revealing much about the people and their character. In Spain, the brave gather in Pamplona for the Running of the Bulls while in Japan the Cherry Blossom Festival brings families together. Munich's Oktoberfest offers celebrants massive amounts of beer, food, and song while the Pushkar Festival in India provides participants the opportunity to wash their sins away in the holy lake. Festivals vary in length, ranging from single day events such as the Waikiki Spam Jam to week long events such as the Snake River Stampede  to the Taste of Chicago which spans two weeks and includes the Independence Day Celebration. There are some sporting events such as the World Cup, the Tour de France and the Olympics  that last for weeks but they all pale in comparison to Los Angeles and its Budget Crisis, a festival that is celebrated year after year with the same faithful crowd filling City Council Chambers for the ceremonial evisceration of the future of Los Angeles.

LA's annual Budget Crisis Festival begins with the release of the Mayor's proposed budget. Neighborhood Council representatives are invited to City Hall for a ceremonial selection of Budget Advocates and then the Mayor convenes a meeting of Department Heads, Commissioners, Diplomats, and Donors, where City Officials explain the City Budget in ancient languages that may include Bureaucrat, Politico, Non Sequitur, Fortran, and Sanskrit.

The supplicants murmur amongst themselves at the somber moments and applaud vigorously at the moments of optimism and confidence. Then everybody congratulates anyone within backslapping reach before heading back to the office where resumes are updated, bad news is Tweeted, and Facebook profiles are updated.

The City's Budget Crisis Festival of 2010 was the biggest in the Villaraigosa's era. City Council Budget Committee members donned the official Budget Crisis "casual wear" to signify their willingness to grapple with the big numbers, meetings went long and for a couple of months, there was nothing else to talk about.

The Budget Crisis affected everybody, from the city staff who trim the trees to the senior citizens who gather for lunch at the rec centers. Members of the public turned out day after day to defend City Departments ranging from Cultural Affairs to Disability.

Through it all, the Mayor and the CAO kept reminding the public that the choice was between  "Public Safety and Public Service" and the public accepted the false dichotomy.

City Staff were sacrificed on the ERIP altar, City Departments were offered up as offerings to the Budget Gods, City Services were jettisoned, all in a last-ditch attempt to keep the largest city in the most populated state in the most powerful country in the world afloat for another year. All this excitement plus the public enjoyed increases in fees, fines, and penalties!

Unlike the Mud Festival, LA Tomatina, Burning Man, and other Festivals that feature climactic endings, LA's Budget Crisis Festival is best known for ending with a whimper. By the end of the City Council Budget Committee hearings, only the intrepid continued to participate, most people having given up on the charade of public participation and having long ago set off for the fire sale.

Somehow the dire predictions of bankruptcy and the debates over the layoffs of thousands have fallen by the wayside and those in charge of the coffers have cobbled together a budget that enabled the City Council and the Mayor to abide by the Charter. This may satisfy the letter of the law but it falls short of their mandate to improve the quality of life for the people of LA and to lead the City of LA into the future as a Great City.

This must change.

LA needs a Budget that Sustains, one that is based on a long-term commitment to a vision of connectivity and a plan that endures. LA must break the reactive Budget Crisis cycle by embarking on the budget journey and it must start now.

1) Connectivity - The City of LA has many departments that play a powerful role in the development and implementation of an effective city budget yet they work independently. The current budget strategy encourages silo behavior and has allowed the Proprietaries (DWP-Port-LAX) to develop their own gravitational pull while the Charter Departments struggle to maintain their autonomy and Ordinance Departments compete for staffing, funding, and relevance.

Any promise of a Vision and of a Plan will become a reality when the Budget process supports active solutions. Departmental competition must stop and the Mayor's Budget must be developed with a commitment to connectivity of purpose, of process, and of procedure. LA will do more with less if the budget is developed with connectivity as the driving force.

2) Durability - City Planning is a marathon endeavor, not a sprint, and yet each year the Budget Crisis stirs a mad dash as sofas are searched and nickels are rubbed, all in an effort to stave off the inevitable. Los Angeles will take its place as a Great City when the budget process supports long term planning with a financial commitment that keeps the focus on the future.

The City's General Plan will be a meaningful document only when it is supported by a City Budget that funds the city services and infrastructure improvements based on the priorities in articulated in the Plan. When cultural affairs, urban forestry, parks, libraries, social services, and neighborhood councils go up on the chopping block, the quality of life in the community is threatened and the downward spiral continues, budget crisis after budget crisis.

3) Sustainability - Budget solutions that consist of raising fees for basic municipal services such as water and power and garbage collection are short sighted and regressive. Increasing fees, fines, and penalties will aid in postponing the inevitable but they are not sustainable budget solutions.

Los Angeles goes to the same funding sources as other local cities but comes home with less than the others and then fails to implement. From Emergency Preparedness funding to Transportation funding to Safe Routes to School grants, the City of LA competes with itself, performs poorly and then blames the system.

A long-term commitment to the implementation of funded programs would put the city staff to work, invigorate the economy, and fulfill a long-term commitment to improving the quality of life in the community.

4) Accountability - Several months ago, I was honored to be selected as one of the 14 (2 per Planning Area) Neighborhood Council Budget Advocates. We met with the Mayor, we offered our insight and recommendations and we enjoyed access to the Mayor's office.

We met twice a month at City Hall, we met in the community to grapple with the details. We wrangled and we wrestled and we asked the hard questions. But most of all we waited. Some of the simplest answers are still "on the way!"

A budget that even the CAO's office and Mayor's staff can't explain is simply a haystack, neatly bound and ready for the shelf. That must change so that the people of LA can hold on to the City Budget as a tool for improving efficiency and effectiveness and performance in the City of Los Angeles.

LA's City Budget is more than a simple accounting task that enables the city bureaucracy to pass Go, it's a living breathing contract between the people of LA and City Hall. It's a plan for bringing LA's vision to life, for improving the quality of life, for engaging in the business of operating a Great City.

To that end, the process must be open, it must be ongoing, it must include the public and it must result in a living, breathing document that the people of LA can rely on as a roadmap to the future.

(Stephen Box is a grassroots advocate and writes for CityWatch. He can be reached at   Stephen@thirdeyecreative.net.This email address is being protected from spam bots, you need Javascript enabled to view it Disclosure: Box is also a candidate for 4th District Councilman.)

Stephen Box urges Mayor Villaraigosa to partner in making our streets safer for all users

Hollywood, CA - Stephen Box, candidate for City Council District 4, joins Angelenos in wishing Mayor Villaraigosa a speedy recovery from the injuries he sustained on Saturday evening as he rode his bike in the bike lane on Venice Boulevard. News reports varied in their version of the events but the LAPD report indicates that a taxi cab operator pulled out from a parking space without looking, causing the Mayor to lose control of his bike and resulting in a broken elbow.

"News of the unfortunate incident resonated throughout the community and cyclists cringed because this type of incident is all too common, unique in this instance only because of the stature of the victim. I'm pleased to hear that the Mayor was able to walk away and that he is healing after surgery." said Box.

California Vehicle Code 21804. (a) addresses this situation stating "The driver of any vehicle about to enter or cross a highway from any public or private property, or from an alley, shall yield the right-of-way to all traffic, as defined in Section 620, approaching on the highway close enough to constitute an immediate hazard, and shall continue to yield the right-of-way to that traffic until he or she can proceed with reasonable safety."

Initial reports that the motorist responsible for causing the mishap left the scene without exchanging information were incorrect. This stirred much discussion over the nature of a "fleeing the scene" violation. Motorists have long operated under the misconception that "no-contact" incidents are not their responsibility.

The LAPD's Chief Beck recently addressed the issue of "fleeing the scene" and issued an LAPD directive that clarified any incident resulting in injury, regardless of contact, is a reportable traffic collision and subject to California Vehicle Code 20001. (a) "The driver of a vehicle involved in an accident resulting in injury to a person, other than himself or herself, or in the death of a person shall immediately stop the vehicle at the scene of the accident and shall fulfill the requirements of Sections 20003 and 20004."

Through it all, Box expresses hope. "I'm hopeful that the Mayor will mend quickly and that he will soon be back on his bike and back on the streets. I also am hopeful that he will work with me to make our streets safer for all users."

Box believes that this unfortunate incident puts the spotlight on the real opportunities for advancing Education, Enforcement, and Encouragement as tools for supporting pedestrians, cyclists, mass transit passengers and motorists as they cooperate in getting to their respective destinations.

"Ultimately, the steps we take to make our streets safer for cyclists also benefit other road users along with the merchants and residents in the neighborhood."

Box says "Our streets are the new 'public space' and our ability to share that space is one of our greatest opportunities for revitalizing and redefining our communities."

For more information,

Contact: Stephen Box, Candidate for District 4
Box4CityCouncil@gmail.com

www.StephenBox4CityCouncil.com

twitter.com/Box4CC - facebook.com/Box4CC - youtube.com/Box4CC

CityWatchLA - When Nature Calls...at City Hall

CityWatch, June 8, 2010
Vol 8 Issue 45

City Hall’s best shot for survival consists of heeding the call of the wild and looking to the natural world for inspiration, a strategy that will position LA to not only survive the current budget crisis but to emerge from the battle ready to take its place as a Great City.

LA’s Mayor and City Council would do well to look at the unbending rules of nature and to imitate the time-tested sustainable behavior of the those who have gone through worse and have still prevailed.

*Nature thrives on diversity. LA’s City Hall is filled with fruit from the “yes” tree and rubber stamping commissions, reinforcing incestuous behavior and the magnification of weakness.

LA must embrace its human infrastructure and celebrate the rich and vibrant wealth of talent that makes LA the richest city in the world.

*Nature rewards specialization. LA’s Mayor touts LA as the “cultural capital,” the “Greenest Big City,” the “Undisputed Creative City,” the “Biotech Capital,” the “Eco-Fashion Capital,” the “Solar Capital,” and the “Green Technology Capital.” Along the way, the titles that LA actually accumulated are in Homelessness, Foreclosures, Unemployment, Traffic Congestion, Failing Infrastructure, Budget Shortfall and Disappointment.

LA must pick something, stick with it, and become the Capital of (insert something BIG that draws on LA’s unique challenges) setting a Great City standard and charting the long-term course for comprehensive municipal recovery and dominance.

*Nature loves transparency. LA’s Predators share the same watering holes as LA’s Prey, artfully seducing them with promises of immense comfort, protection, and long careers. They look alike, they sound alike, they smile and act professionally. They’re not here to serve the people of LA. They’re the Predators.

Lobbyists, Developers, Fixers, Handlers, Consultants, and Contractors alike must be required to conduct their business while wearing the appropriate stripes, spots,  patterns, plumage or rattlers, so that there is no mistake when a Predator is in vicinity.

*Nature operates systemically. LA’s unique balance of power is “provincial” at best and the Mayor and the City Council squabble just enough to set the tone for the 45 City Departments and Bureaus who go along to get along, all the while building silos for protection.

LA must attack its problems systemically and stop addressing homelessness, housing, employment, crime, traffic congestion and infrastructure as local community based issues. Metrolink’s new CEO, John E. Fenton explains “Real systemic improvement of performance comes when you manage by exception. I’m always going to manage the bottom quartile in every case.”

*Nature rewards groups. LA’s community infrastructure is its greatest asset and yet the notion that communities should be supported and that regional organizations should be embraced is still treated as a novelty. Constituents groups in packs, swarms, mobs, and prides indicate health, not a threat to the Lords of the Manor.

LA’s Neighborhood Council system must be supported with the full force of the Mayor and the City Council. Connecting the people of LA with their City and with their neighbors will only edify Los Angeles. Resistance comes from those who thrive on the status quo and who fear progress.

*Nature loves information. LA’s data infrastructure is sorely outdated and in dire need of an overhaul. 45 Departments and Bureaus each have their own protocols, collectively unique enough to isolate us from our neighboring municipalities, from the County, and from the State. Los Angeles actually asks its partners to “dumb down” their communications in order to connect to LA.

Smart Cities react in real time to data that announces predictable events and everything including emergencies is predictable. Know what to monitor, pay attention, act accordingly. Soon!

*Nature keeps improving. LA’s legacy is the ability to commit the same mistakes over and over, never learning from them but always hoping that the sheer size of LA will allow for the rules to be bent. Sometimes it works, temporarily, but it often fails.

LA’s ability to take its place as a Great City depends wholly on its ability to commit to a long-term plan for survival that demands consistent evaluation and improvement, not simply the continuing avoidance and postponement of catastrophe or collapse.

*Nature right-sizes. LA’s ability to rationalize failure is exceeded only by its ability to fail. When funding presents itself in bulk, LA’s leaders have actually sat at the table and explained that “We didn’t have the staff in place to spend the money and we didn’t notice for two years.” LA is lean when it should be fat, LA is fat when it should be lean.

LA must look to other larger cities to determine an effective strategy for matching the needs of the city with the size of City Hall. Larger cities thrive so its not simply size, its the right size at the right time in the right place. LA must get it right.

*Nature thinks long term. LA’s Mayor and City Council plan for the duration of their terms and for their next campaign. They are currently very busy consuming LA, exploring every means possible to increase fees, raise rates, bump penalties, add licenses, and otherwise extract more money from the people of Los Angeles. At the same time, the city’s physical infrastructure decays as maintenance and repairs are further curtailed while anything of value has already been appraised and buyers are being courted.

LA’s course must be charted by those who are committed to LA’s future, not those who are already packed and ready to head off to political office elsewhere, leaving LA to pay off their debts.

*Nature rewards good stewardship.  LA’s City Hall is where is starts, literally. The people of LA must grab City Hall by the recycling bin and address the gross inefficiencies and underutilization of its resources, establishing a standard for the City Departments and for the City of LA.

LA will take its place as a Great City when it is led by good stewards, people who are committed to being resourceful, productive, and faithful as they turn waste into wealth.

Last week, Enci and I spent a few days in Yosemite National Park, a familiar experience that is always daunting and overwhelming, as if for the first time. At every turn, we were reminded by park management of our responsibilities as guests and as stewards. Most of all, we were impressed by the hugeness and awesomeness of nature as we walked along the waterfalls, as we hiked through the woods, and as we stood quietly under a star-filled sky and experienced millions of years of balance and perfection.

Los Angeles is no different. It is a huge and awesome city that is bigger than any one person but totally dependent on our collective service and good stewardship. LA exists for our benefit and it is our responsibility to serve the City as good stewards; anything less would be unnatural.

(Stephen Box writes for CityWatch. He can be reached at Stephen@thirdeyecreative.net)