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Los Angeles Times
03-05-2025
- Business
- Los Angeles Times
Mayor Bass said her office's budget will be cut. The numbers tell a different story
When Mayor Karen Bass spoke about budget cuts during her State of the City address — before she even mentioned laying off city employees — she made clear that her own office would not be spared. It seemed like a solidarity-building pledge — like a captain going down with the ship. 'We reduced funding for the mayor's office,' she said in the April 21 speech. This is my third week covering City Hall for The Times. It's my first budget season (my colleague David Zahniser has been covering L.A. city budgets since I was 6), and it's a doozy. The city is facing a $1-billion shortfall caused in large part by rising personnel costs, soaring legal payouts and a slowdown in the local economy. When I heard the mayor's words, I made a reasonable assumption — that the operating budget for her office would decrease from the year before. I was incorrect. When the mayor released her proposed budget later that day, I turned to the section for her office, only to find, to my confusion, that it had grown — from $10.1 million in fiscal year 2024-2025 to $10.7 million in 2025-2026. The office was also spared from having to lay off a single member of its 94-person team, even while Bass was proposing 1,650 layoffs elsewhere in city government. So by what logic could the mayor's office still have reduced its funding? Zach Seidl, deputy mayor of communications, said the city administrative officer's recalculation of the coming fiscal year's budget actually showed a $1.2-million decrease. Employees in the mayor's office are not getting regularly scheduled cost-of-living raises. The first, coming in June, would have been a 4% increase. The next, in December, would have been another 2% increase. And the final one in June 2026 would have been another 4%. Seidl said that while the proposed budget for the mayor's office is higher than last year, it is reduced from where it could have been if the raises had gone into effect. He called this a 10% cut to the office. Some outside of the mayor's office were less convinced by the what-goes-up-has-gone-down explanation. Roy Samaan, an L.A. city planner and president of the Board of Governors of the Engineers and Architects Assn., said that when he heard the mayor say she would reduce funding for her own office, he thought it was only fair. The City Planning Department where he works saw its proposed operating budget slashed from nearly $72 million this fiscal year to just under $56.5 million next year. 'I thought in the spirit of shared sacrifice that [cutting the mayor's office] made sense,' he said. But he was frustrated when he looked at the numbers. 'I'm sure in the long run, through their budget calculations, they can show that an increase is actually a decrease. ... But I know our members in the Planning Department and throughout the city that are slated to be eliminated have noticed the increase in the mayor's office budget, and it strikes them as hypocritical, frankly.' In the mayor's proposed budget, the City Council's operating budget went up, from $37.2 million to $39.3 million, while the council took a $4.7-million 'one-time salary reduction.' 'The manner in which the elected offices manage their funding reductions is at their discretion,' said Matt Szabo, the city administrative officer. Council President Marqueece Harris-Dawson said the council is exploring options to achieve budget reductions. 'All options are on the table. The whole city is being asked to sacrifice, this includes the council as well,' he said in a statement to The Times. The City Council's budget committee is holding several weeks of hearings, with the full council voting on the final budget by June 1. Bass has said she would take a pay cut herself, answering 'absolutely' when a constituent asked if she would do so. 'The mayor is also taking a personal cut to her paycheck,' Seidl confirmed to The Times. He did not specify the amount. — DEBRIS-BE-GONE: The mayor said Friday that the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has now cleared more than 1,000 properties of the debris left from the Palisades fire. 'Our recovery effort is on track to be the fastest in modern California history,' she said. Nearly 650,000 tons of debris have been removed from the Palisades fire zone, and about 55 properties are being cleared per day, according to her office. ANEMIC RECALL FUNDRAISING: The latest fundraising numbers are in, and the campaign to recall the mayor had a little less than $500,000 in hand at the end of March, after expenses. Nicole Shanahan put in $500,000 and conservative gubernatorial candidate Steve Hilton contributed $25,000. Meanwhile, Bass' anti-recall committee collected $250,000 from the Bass-affiliated Sea Change PAC and $200,000 from former Assembly Speaker and Actum managing partner Fabian Núñez's leftover campaign cash. — STRIKE FORCE: Tens of thousands of Los Angeles County workers represented by Service Employees International Union Local 721 walked off the job this week at libraries, parks, health clinics and other government facilities. Union members want the county to fill vacant positions and say they've been insulted by the pay proposals offered by county negotiators. The 48-hour strike ended Wednesday. — GIMME SHELTER: Animal rescue advocates have been up in arms over the mayor's proposed budget for the Animal Services Department, voicing alarm at the potential for layoffs and shelter closures. As it turns out, the money to avoid those cuts was in the budget all along. — POLICE PLANNING: Los Angeles Police Department Chief Jim McDonnell is contemplating an organizational overhaul of his department — and relying on the think tank RAND for guidance. But his efforts may be complicated by the mayor's proposal to lay off 400 civilian staffers at the department, a move that could force police officers to take on desk jobs and other non-patrol duties. — WORKING OVERTIME: The head of United Firefighters of Los Angeles City Local 112 earned about $540,000 in 2022, in part by racking up serious overtime hours at fire stations, according to a Times investigation. Union President Freddy Escobar collected $198,155 in overtime pay that year. Escobar did not respond to inquiries about his pay. — YOUTH HOSTILE?: The mayor's proposed budget calls for the elimination of the city's Youth Development Department, with some of its duties folded into another agency. Councilmember Monica Rodriguez, who worked to create the agency and is also a frequent Bass critic, has been speaking out against the move. — GONDOLA LEFT HANGING: A state appeals court threw a roadblock in front of the proposed Dodger Stadium gondola this week, overturning the project's environmental impact report. The court said the document failed to properly address construction noise and the effects on nearby parkland. Backers of the project called those issues 'minor, technical matters.' — HALTING HATE SPEECH: The City Council held off on approving a prohibition on two epithets — one targeting Black people, the other disparaging women — after a closed-door meeting on the legal issues. The council then referred the proposal back to the rules committee for more deliberations. 'This thing is very much alive. It's getting stronger by the day,' said Council President Marqueece Harris-Dawson, who authored the proposed ban. — LOSING CONTROL: State Atty. Gen. Rob Bonta is considering placing L.A. County's juvenile halls in receivership, effectively removing them from the county's control. The move comes after years of chaos inside those facilities, including a spate of overdoses inside the newly reopened Los Padrinos Juvenile Hall. — RUNNING SMOOTHLY: Bass announced Friday that she had helped mediate a deadlock between the L.A. Marathon and the Oscars, which were slated to take place on the same day in 2026. The result would have been chaos and 'logistical conflicts such as overlapping routes,' the mayor's office said. The agreement allows both events to take place in March next year. The Oscars will take place March 15. The marathon has not announced its date yet. — (UN)HIDDEN GUNS: City Controller Kenneth Mejia's latest one-minute budget update got some extra attention on Instagram for his wardrobe choice: a sleeveless vest embroidered with the city seal and his name. Several commenters joked that Mejia's 'sleeves budget' had been cut, with the controller responding, 'This budget deficit cutting everything' with a sobbing emoji. Another commenter wrote, 'You are amazing and this is extremely helpful but wearing the city vest raw is wild.' Mejia clarified that he was not, in fact, wearing the vest 'raw' but had 'a muscle shirt (sleeveless) underneath.' That's it for this week! Send your questions, comments and gossip to LAontheRecord@ Did a friend forward you this email? Sign up here to get it in your inbox every Saturday morning.
Los Angeles Times
05-04-2025
- Politics
- Los Angeles Times
Debate over homeless funding leaves L.A. city and county at odds yet again
Good morning, and welcome to L.A. on the Record — our City Hall newsletter. It's David Zahniser, with an assist from Julia Wick, giving you the latest on city and county government. For those who closely follow L.A. politics, it was quite a sight: five members of the City Council walking up the hill to the Kenneth Hahn Hall of Administration to make an 11th hour case to the Board of Supervisors. Those council members were worried about the county's plan to pull more than $300 million out of the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority, a city-county agency that has been under fire in recent months. On Tuesday, at the board's regularly scheduled meeting, they warned the supervisors that a speedy withdrawal from LAHSA could disrupt services and halt progress in helping the region's neediest. 'We want to sit with you. We want to work with you. We want to see a timeline that makes sense,' said Councilmember Tim McOsker, who represents the city's harbor-area district. Councilmember Katy Yaroslavsky, who is the daughter-in-law of a former county supervisor and a former staffer to a second one, said she feared the city's homeless constituents would suffer if the supervisors pulled their funding from LAHSA. 'So please, please, please, let's work together on a sustainable transition plan,' she told the board. The supervisors plowed ahead anyway. For months, they had made clear they had lost patience with LAHSA — the target of two scorching audits and scorn from a federal judge — and wanted more accountability for Measure A, a new half-cent sales tax that pays for homeless services. They voted to pull out their funding and create their own homelessness agency, one that would start out with about 1,000 employees. Supervisor Lindsey Horvath, who backed that effort, told council members that the county has been providing LAHSA with a disproportionate share of its administrative costs — far more than the city — and that it was time to deliver homeless services more efficiently. 'Maybe this [proposal] was the important move,' she said. 'Because this is the first time since I've been here that I've seen the council members here on this subject.' Councilmember Nithya Raman pushed back, pointing out from the audience that she had been to the board on homelessness issues. With Raman standing in the front row, Supervisor Kathryn Barger acknowledged that fact. The debate over LAHSA has brought the city and county back to a familiar place: divided over strategies for addressing homelessness and, in at least some government offices, distrustful of each other. The rift comes a little more than two years after Mayor Karen Bass went to the board to mend the fractured relationship between the city and county on homelessness. On that day in December 2022, just a week after taking office, Bass promised to work hand in hand with the supervisors, saying the only way to tackle the crisis would be by 'working in complete partnership.' Bass, who has long touted her ability to bring people together, did not show up for this week's board vote. Instead, she sent a letter, also signed by Raman, accusing the supervisors of 'unilaterally changing' how the city and county work together on homelessness. In that letter, they warned that the county pullout would jeopardize 'life-saving care' for unhoused residents. The sense of instability ramped up even more on Friday, after LAHSA's top executive, Va Lecia Adams Kellum, abruptly announced her resignation. Adams Kellum, who worked closely with Bass, said the supervisors' vote made it 'the right time' for her to step down. Raman and Bass have argued that LAHSA's operations are improving, helping the city secure a double-digit decrease in street homelessness last year. Horvath and Barger portrayed that work as too little, too late, saying it was time to follow through on the recommendations of a blue ribbon commission, which called for a new agency and greater accountability. The dispute threatens to bring both parties full circle. LAHSA came into being in 1993 in the wake of a battle between the city and county over homeless services. Nearly four decades ago, the city sued the county, saying it was not fulfilling its legal obligation to serve the indigent population living on L.A. streets. At the time, then-Councilmember Zev Yaroslavsky bemoaned the lack of collaboration between the two government bodies. 'We have sister-city relationships all over the world, but we can't communicate up the street,' Yaroslavsky said, referring to the supervisors, in 1987. 'Instead we write a letter, rather terse, and they write us a terse letter.' Yaroslavsky, the father-in-law of Councilmember Yaroslavsky, became a county supervisor in 1994. At that point, the city and county had just formed LAHSA, a joint powers authority split between the two entities. Barger, whose district includes northern stretches of the county, has sought to assuage the fears of L.A. councilmembers, telling them that neither she nor her colleagues are looking to dismantle LAHSA. 'We come in peace,' she remarked at one point. At the same time, Barger made clear that she was determined to seize direct oversight of the programs run by LAHSA and funded by the new sales tax. Last month, an audit found that LAHSA had not properly tracked the work of its contractors, leaving its programs vulnerable to waste and fraud. Despite those assurances, this week's proceedings had, at times, a ruthless quality. Adams Kellum, the departing LAHSA executive, received only 90 seconds to defend her agency's work — and had her mic cut off when she went longer. The signs of tension were not limited to Tuesday's board meeting. Bass, while attending a March 28 meeting of LAHSA's oversight commission, got into a back-and-forth with Amy Perkins, Horvath's LAHSA appointee, on the consequences of the county pullout. Bass asked Perkins to clarify whether the city would experience any negative impacts. Perkins replied by saying that, once the transition is finished, an assortment of county homeless programs would be consolidated into a single agency — all with direct oversight from the supervisors. 'The city of Los Angeles will be grateful,' said Perkins, who handles homelessness policy for Horvath. 'Because at the end of the day, we will have more integrated systems of care that include our Department of Mental Health, our Department of Public Health — something I've heard you say on multiple occasions that the county isn't stepping up for.' Bass, chuckling, replied: 'I can't see any way that the city of Los Angeles is grateful.' 'I think in time you will be,' Perkins said. At City Hall, some of the anxiety has been fueled by the threat of a nearly $1-billion budget shortfall, which could require cuts to homelessness initiatives. Council members have also voiced frustration with some of the services provided by the county to the region's unhoused population. Raman, who chairs the council's homelessness committee, said she has sometimes found it easier to obtain data from LAHSA than from county agencies. She voiced particular frustration with the county's Department of Mental Health Services, calling it a major 'pain point' in her fight against homelessness. 'We have found it extremely challenging to get the support that people with mental health issues need,' she said. Still, Raman pushed back on the idea that the city and county face long-term tensions. She said she and Bass regularly sit with county supervisors on government bodies convened to address the crisis. 'I have a lot of hope and faith in my county partners,' she said. 'I have a lot of hope and faith that we can still find something that really works for us.' On Friday, a Horvath aide pointed out that her boss reached out to every council member in July 2023, after becoming chair of LAHSA's 10-member commission. In a statement, Horvath acknowleged that the recent discussions haven't been easy. 'These are hard conversations. But change requires them,' she said. 'We can't afford another day of the status quo.' — A COLOSSAL PAYOUT: Los Angeles County has agreed to pay $4 billion to settle nearly 7,000 claims of childhood sexual abuse, a deal that attorneys say is the largest sex abuse settlement in U.S. history. The mammoth settlement, which still needs the approval of the county's Board of Supervisors, would resolve the deluge of lawsuits from men and women who said they were abused as kids while in foster homes or incarcerated in the county's network of juvenile halls and camps. — TRACKING TRACI: Los Angeles City Councilmember Traci Park has emerged as the face of recovery from this year's devastating Palisades fire. While comforting her constituents and connecting them with services, Park has been an empathetic presence — a contrast to her steely persona at City Hall, where she is known to offer her opinion in blunt terms. — TARIFF TRAUMA: The Port of Los Angeles could soon be hit hard by the tariffs announced this week by President Trump, which have already sent markets tumbling and overseas nations into retaliation mode. L.A.'s harbor, along with the Port of Long Beach, handle about a third of the cargo containers that move in and out of the U.S. — BUSES AND BIKES: The Metropolitan Transportation Authority board recently approved a plan to add dedicated bus lanes to a 12-mile stretch of Vermont Avenue between 120th Street and Sunset Boulevard. Frustrated transit advocates argue the project also should have included bike lanes, saying that's a requirement under voter-approved Measure HLA. Metro, through its lawyers, told those advocates to pound sand. — A CZAR IS BORN? Should a federal judge pick a homelessness czar to oversee L.A.? That was the discussion spicing up a court hearing last week. — MOVING ON UP: L.A.'s Housing Authority is converting the Clarendon Apartments — a 335-unit luxury building in Woodland Hills with poolside cabanas, a fire pit terrace and an eye-catching community room — into affordable housing. The purchase is part of the agency's work to expand its affordable housing portfolio. — MOVING ON OUT: Police Chief Jim McDonnell ousted the head of the LAPD's constitutional policing office, who had drawn the ire of the police union over her role in the release of thousands of headshots of officers. Lizabeth Rhodes, the LAPD's highest-ranking civilian employee, is expected to remain with the department through June, taking leave that she accrued during her tenure. — HEADED TO HUD: Venice community activist and outgoing Venice Neighborhood Council member Soledad Ursúa has been appointed as a policy advisor at the Department of Housing & Urban Development, CityWatch reports. Ursúa has been an outspoken critic of the city's homelessness policies in her coastal neighborhood. — AUTHOR, AUTHOR: By day, she serves as spokesperson for Councilmember Curren D. Price. Outside City Hall, Angelina Valencia-Dumarot is the author of the soon-to-be-published children's book titled 'Franky(sito)'s World,' which tells the story of a young boy with autism growing up in a loving, multi-generational Latino household. The book, which she described as a labor of love, is an homage to her son Frank, who was diagnosed with autism at 3 and graduates high school this year.
Yahoo
24-03-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Los Angeles Health Commission president criticizes mayor for $1-billion budget shortfall
To the editor: In the film version of "All the President's Men," the "Deep Throat" character advises investigative journalist Robert Woodward to "Follow the Money," and so should Times reporter David Zahniser ("L.A. city budget shortfall grows to nearly $1 billion, with layoffs 'nearly inevitable'," March 19). Just four years ago, as part of the American Rescue Plan, the city of Los Angeles received $1.35 billion. Where did it all go? Obviously not to healthcare. Our Health Commission has never been funded one penny in its 10-year existence. We didn't have enough firetrucks operational to handle our needs in January and we don't have a full-time physician in charge of our paramedics. Our city's budget was sound until the current administration; why do budget crises always seem to follow Mayor Karen Bass? During her tenure as Assembly speaker, our state had a budget impasse and drowned in red ink. In June 2009, California's credit rating was lowered and even President Obama wouldn't bail us out. With 80% of the city's expenses labor-related, her agreement less than one year ago to one of the largest general salary increases in the Coalition of L.A. City Unions' history — a 22% increase over a five-year span, including a 6% raise in the first year — obviously was imprudent. In more than two decades of governmental leadership, it appears that our mayor hasn't learned the basics of business math. If you spend more money than you have, you go bankrupt. Dr. Howard C. Mandel, Los AngelesThe writer is president of the Los Angeles City Health Commission .. To the editor: Oh, please! Ever since the COVID epidemic "vanished," parking enforcement has not done its job by ticketing people whose parking meters expired or when cars are parked on street-cleaning days, etc. And police officers have not been ticketing enough people for moving violations. If people would do the jobs they were hired to do, Los Angeles wouldn't be in the mess it's in. While I'm not saying the budget would be fixed, at least money would be coming in from people who break the law. Liz Brown, West Hills This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
Los Angeles Times
22-02-2025
- Politics
- Los Angeles Times
Karen Bass has faced tough questions. The city is making her answers hard to find
Good morning, and welcome to L.A. on the Record — our City Hall newsletter. It's David Zahniser, with an assist from my colleague Rebecca Ellis, giving you the latest on city and county government. The reporter from CBS delivered a stinging question — one that got under the skin of Mayor Karen Bass. Bass had flown home from Ghana the day before to a city engulfed in crisis, with firefighters battling out-of-control wildfires, hydrants that were dry and residents reeling from a chaotic evacuation. Standing in the city's Emergency Operations Center, the reporter wanted to know: What did Bass have to say to critics who were demanding she step down? Bass, standing with a clutch of city and county officials, promised a 'deep dive' into everything that had gone wrong. With the fires still raging, she made clear she was done with the question. 'I answered it in the morning. I answered it now. Won't answer it again,' she told the room full of reporters. That testy exchange — and the entire news conference — can be found on the Facebook page for Los Angeles County government, which has uploaded more than two dozen wildfire media briefings since the Palisades and Eaton fires broke out. On the mayor's Facebook page, however, the Q and A is nowhere to be found. Video from that Jan. 9 news conference does appear on Bass' Facebook platform. But it cuts off the moment the questions begin. The last thing the viewer hears is a reporter asking, 'What is it going to take to stop this fire?' That wasn't an isolated case. On the mayor's Facebook page, video from a Jan. 8 evening wildfire news conference also excludes the Q and A segment. The same is true of the wildfire media briefing video posted from the morning of Jan. 10. Over on the county website, you can see the full version of both, with Bass fielding questions about low water pressure, the fire department budget and her trip back from Ghana. 'I was on the phone, on the plane, almost every hour of the flight,' she said at one point. (The Q and As add about 10 to 12 minutes to each video.) In the days after the Palisades fire, those Q and A segments were occasionally treacherous for Bass. At one session, she bristled at a question about the city's emergency reserve and whether L.A. would have enough money to weather the crisis. At another, she struggled to answer a question about the county's continually malfunctioning emergency alerts and whether Angelenos should stop using them — an issue that is not even the city's responsibility. 'We are not going to allow people to divide us for political gain,' she responded. The omission of the Q and A — not just from social media but, on at least some occasions, the live feed watched by the public in real time — in some ways sanitizes the mayor's image, removing the messy back-and-forth that takes place between politicians and the news media. Without the Q and A, viewers get to hear only the 'propaganda' — prepared remarks from politicians and government officials, not the explanations that come afterward, said Rob Quan, an organizer with Unrig LA, a City Hall watchdog group. 'They're going out of their way to deprive people of the full picture,' he said. Quan said the Q and A is 'the juiciest part' of any press briefing — and frequently the only reason he tunes in. During those segments, he said, politicians are forced to clarify, explain and defend their decisions. They also can give the public additional information to understand an ongoing crisis. The Times asked the mayor's team on Thursday why the Q and A has gone missing from so many of the mayor's video clips and livestreams. They did not respond to that question. On Friday, the day Bass took the remarkable step of ousting Fire Chief Kristin Crowley, the mayor's team posted the full news conference, including the Q and A, on Bass' Facebook page. Bass spokesperson Clara Karger, in a text message to The Times, pointed out that fact. 'The Mayor's Office works to keep Angelenos informed in a variety of different ways and we will continue to do so,' she said. For Bass, the omission of the Q and A was not limited to the first days after the Palisades fire. On Feb. 7, she held a news conference marking the one-month anniversary of the fire, announcing her decision to award a major contract to an Illinois-based disaster recovery firm. During that segment, Bass answered questions about the salary and job duties of Steve Soboroff, her recovery czar — topics that quickly became political issues for her. But the mayor's Youtube and Facebook pages cut off that part. Those who have wanted to hear the Q and As have found other outlets, such as KNX radio and local television stations. But even then, there are limits. In the early days of the crisis, when wildfire emergency briefings were happening twice a day, L.A. city and county government traded off hosting duties. At the county's Kenneth Hahn Hall of Administration, staffers placed a microphone in front of reporters the moment they posed a question. During the city versions, microphones weren't available, sometimes leaving the public unable to hear what was asked. That has spurred some complaints in recent weeks. 'Roving microphones are a great technique to help the public hear the questions asked by the press, because the press is an extension of the public,' said Helen Chavez Garcia, spokesperson for County Supervisor Kathryn Barger, who oversees the county media briefings. 'Many times, the press is going to ask a question that the community wants answered.' Chavez Garcia said she makes sure the county uploads the full video, not just the prepared remarks. As time progresses, the public may be interested in going back to those videos to understand what was being asked, she said. 'It's part of a transparent record-keeping process,' she said. — UNDER THE BUS: As we mentioned earlier, Bass ousted the fire chief, a little more than six weeks after the fires broke out. The move came one day after Bass issued a statement to The Times criticizing Crowley, saying the fire chief did not contact her about the dangerous Santa Ana winds until after the fire broke out Jan. 7. Crowley, you may recall, put Bass on the defensive last month, telling FOX 11 that the city had failed her department. — NOT-SO-LOCKED ARMS: Mayor Karen Bass has long touted her ability to work collaboratively with officials at the city, county, state and federal levels. But those skills have not quelled the behind-the-scenes tensions between her and County Supervisor Lindsey Horvath, whose district includes the Palisades fire burn area. A trove of text messages obtained by The Times revealed conflicts between the two powerful politicians in the days since the wildfires broke out. As Horvath put it in one message: 'Doesn't feel very 'locked arms' to me.' — RUNNING AGAIN: It took him a bit longer than L.A.'s other citywide elected officials, but City Controller Kenneth Mejia has begun raising money for his 2026 reelection campaign. Mejia, who filed the paperwork on Valentine's Day, went so long without forming his reelection committee that some had begun to wonder if he was weighing a challenge to Bass. Mejia has not been shy about pointing out the city's budget woes, particularly overspending by certain agencies. — MORE ON MEJIA: Meanwhile, one of Mejia's top deputies, Chief of Accountability and Oversight Sergio Perez, has landed a new gig after two years in the controller's office. Perez, who also did a brief stint as the Department of Water and Power's inspector general, is now executive director of the L.A.-based Center for Human Rights and Constitutional Law, which provides legal advocacy for immigrants, refugees and other marginalized people in Southern California. — VALLEY LEGAL VICTORIES: Four San Fernando Valley affordable housing projects — all approved as part of the mayor's Executive Directive 1 program — have survived legal challenges and are now moving forward. All four of those projects ran into trouble because they were planned on land reserved for single-family homes. Bass later revised the program to exclude such areas from her affordable housing initiative. Real estate developer and former L.A. mayoral candidate Rick Caruso is continuing his barnstorming tour of contrarian media. He already talked to podcaster Joe Rogan and television personality Bill Maher. Now he's spent an hour with Bari Weiss of the Free Press, who pressed him during her podcast to provide A-to-F assessments of several political figures, including L.A.'s mayor. Caruso, whose family lost two homes in Pacific Palisades, gave Bass a 'D' grade, expressing outrage over the city's handling of the Palisades fire. He was more generous to Gov. Gavin Newsom, giving him a 'B.' At one point, Caruso said he had met with Newsom and found that the governor is 'working very hard to try to do the right thing.' He gave another 'B' to former Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, who served from 2003 to 2011. Still, Caruso reserved his most lavish praise for billionaire Elon Musk, who has spent the past month seeking massive job cuts in the federal government, halting global relief programs provided by USAID and disputing claims that he gave Nazi salutes at a Trump inaugural event. Caruso called the Tesla founder 'one of the most brilliant entrepreneurs and innovators we've had in our country and our world.' 'I admire him greatly,' the developer continued. 'And quite frankly, I like the fact that he's donating his time to help our country. So I give him somewhere between an 'A' and a 'B.' I like Elon.' — WILDFIRE RELIEF (PART 1): Caruso's new foundation, Steadfast L.A., announced a $15-million pledge to pay for pre-fab homes in the wildfire burn areas. The money is coming from Airbnb co-founder Joe Gebbia, who also sits on the board of Tesla. — WILDFIRE RELIEF (PART 2): The L.A. County Board of Supervisors took the first step toward a prohibition on evictions for renters reeling financially from last month's wildfires. The supervisors took that step on the same day that the City Council delayed a vote on a similar proposal. — WILDFIRE RELIEF (PART 3): Four new resource centers were opened this week to help residents who have lost income because of last month's wildfires. The centers, operated by the city and county, will allow residents to seek relief funds, get help with job placement, search for temporary employment and apply for small-business loans, among other things.
Los Angeles Times
15-02-2025
- Business
- Los Angeles Times
Rick Caruso sues to stop Television City project, using a law he once disparaged
Good morning, and welcome to L.A. on the Record — our City Hall newsletter. It's David Zahniser, with an assist from Rebecca Ellis, Dakota Smith and Julia Wick, giving you the latest out of L.A.'s city and county government. Real estate developer Rick Caruso has had some choice words over the years for CEQA, the state's much-maligned, 55-year-old environmental law. When he ran for mayor in 2022, he made clear that he viewed CEQA — pronounced see-quah — as an impediment to the construction of much-needed housing in L.A. He called for new measures to crack down on 'frivolous' CEQA lawsuits — including a $15,000 filing fee — while urging greater transparency for unions and environmental groups who use the law 'unfairly.' A year later, Caruso told the Onward podcast that the law also had been heavily used by opponents of his shopping malls. 'Every project we were building, we were being sued by the adjacent indoor mall to stop us,' he said. 'And they were using CEQA, which is the California environmental [law], as a reason to stop us.' Now, The Grove LLC — the shopping mall that is owned by Caruso and made him a household name in L.A. — has filed an environmental lawsuit of its own, targeting one of its neighbors. The lawsuit seeks to overturn the city's approval of the TVC project, the $1-billion expansion and renovation of the former CBS Television City studio. In the 43-page lawsuit, lawyers for The Grove said city leaders showed a 'stunning disregard' for CEQA when they approved the project, which is planned for a 25-acre site at Beverly Boulevard and Fairfax Avenue. The Grove's legal team called the project 'frustratingly undefined,' making it impossible for the public to figure out its size and environmental impacts. It seems like Caruso has been everywhere over the past month, denouncing the city's preparation for, and response to, the wildfire that tore through Pacific Palisades, destroying thousands of homes — including two owned by his family. On the first night of the Palisades fire, Caruso lashed out against Mayor Karen Bass on Fox 11 over the lack of water flowing from L.A. fire hydrants and the fact that she was in Ghana when the blaze broke out. On Joe Rogan's podcast weeks later, he demanded the ouster of the Department of Water and Power's top executive. The City Council approved the TVC project on Jan. 7, the first day of the Palisades fire. Backers said it would provide a much-needed boost to film and television production in a city where many in the industry are out of work. Opponents said it would flood neighborhoods with traffic while doing little to address the decline of the industry in L.A. On Feb. 3, four days before The Grove filed its lawsuit against the city and TVC's developer, Caruso downplayed his participation in the legal battle, saying he's 'not directly involved.' 'I own The Grove. That doesn't mean I'm involved day to day in a lawsuit with our neighbor. We've got a great team of people that handle that,' he said in an interview with The Times. (The Grove LLC does business in California as GFM LLC, according to its lawsuit. Caruso is GFM's chief executive, according to state business records.) Caruso, in his interview, insisted he's not looking to torpedo the TVC development, saying his company's objections are 'all about truck traffic and loading.' 'We've never opposed the project,' he said. 'We just opposed how they were bringing in their trucks.' The Grove lawsuit does, in fact, call for a judge to block construction of the TVC project and overturn the city's various approvals, including the environmental impact report. It alleges the city violated not just CEQA but also state housing law and even Measure HLA, which requires the installation of bus and bike lanes on designated corridors. Lawyers for The Grove, a regional shopping attraction, also said the TVC development would result in an increase in traffic congestion, 'increasing the risk of pedestrian injury or death.' The Grove lawsuit is now one of at least four seeking to overturn the approval of TVC, which is being developed by Hackman Capital Partners. The Beverly Wilshire Homes Assn., which has been filing environmental lawsuits for decades, assailed the project in its filing, saying Hackman received 'massive increases in height and density.' Save Beverly Fairfax, in another lawsuit, said the TVC project 'fails to address the real issues plaguing Los Angeles production.' A.F. Gilmore Co., owner of the Original Farmer's Market next to The Grove, said in its filing that the city had 'run roughshod over CEQA.' Zach Sokoloff, Hackman's senior vice president, called the quartet of lawsuits an 'unfortunate but predictable abuse of CEQA.' In a statement, he said that Hackman, which owns and operates nearly two dozen studio properties, went through a lengthy review process and won support from neighbors, business groups, historic preservationists and thousands of people who work in film and television production. 'Despite these continued efforts to block this investment into the entertainment industry, we remain steadfast in our commitment to keeping Hollywood in Hollywood,' he said. Catherine Clinch, a longtime television writer who worked on such shows as 'The Love Boat' and 'Hart to Hart,' described Caruso's actions as hypocritical, given his previous statements. She fears the new legal challenges could delay or even doom the TVC project at a critical time for the industry. 'We need studios. There's new studios in New Mexico. There's new studios in Buffalo, New York, for crying out loud,' said Clinch, who lives nearby. Chris Robertson, senior vice president for Caruso — the company, not the man — said in a statement that The Grove 'strongly supports the entertainment industry.' 'But we all need to be good neighbors, and without changes, this project will create additional traffic, parking problems, pollution and other harmful impacts in our community,' she said. Others in the neighborhood applauded Caruso's involvement. Shelley Wagers, who co-chairs Neighbors for a Responsible TVC Development, said she has 'grave concerns' about traffic, emergency response times and the city's approval process. 'I'm very glad that there are four suits that have been filed, Caruso among them of course,' she said. 'And I'm frankly grateful that there are groups with the commitment and the wherewithal and the means to challenge something that is very troubling.' Caruso, during his unsuccessful campaign for mayor, spoke of the need to keep Hollywood production in Los Angeles. But that message was undermined by his company's fight against TVC. For now, Caruso has mostly sidestepped questions about his political future, telling The Times last week that he's not thinking about whether to run for public office a second time — either mayor or governor. If the lawsuits drag on, and he launches another campaign, the future of Television City could become a potent issue. — CZAR WARS: Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass reversed course last week on her plan to pay her disaster recovery czar, Steve Soboroff, $500,000 for 90 days of work — compensation that would have been covered by private philanthropy. After The Times reported on the arrangement, Soboroff defended the amount, saying his specialized expertise was worth the fee. But then critics began speaking out against the deal, which Councilmember Monica Rodriguez called 'obscene.' Soboroff will now work for free, according to Bass. — WHO'S ON FIRST: The struggle over Soboroff is part of a larger issue that has confused the public since the outbreak of the Palisades fire: Who's in charge? Soboroff was initially tasked with developing a comprehensive rebuilding strategy. Then Bass announced she had selected Hagerty Consulting, a disaster recovery firm, to help do that work. Hagerty, in turn, was told to report to Jim Featherstone, the No. 2 in the city's Emergency Management Department. Bass said she remains at the top of the org chart. 'The person that's in charge is here: Me,' she told reporters last week. —CONVENE THE CONVENERS: Meanwhile, it's not clear how the private-sector groups looking to assist fire rebuilding will work together, if at all. At last count, four separate groups had launched, with a long list of civic leaders at their helms. Soboroff said Friday that he has invited some of those leaders — Casey Wasserman, Magic Johnson, Miguel Santana, Evan Spiegel, Rick Caruso and Times owner Patrick Soon-Shiong — to a Zoom meeting next week to learn about the work each group is doing. — RACIST RECRUITMENT? Four LAPD officers are under investigation for allegedly making racist and sexist remarks while working with new recruits — accusations that Mayor Karen Bass called 'especially outrageous and unacceptable.' — L.A. LAW: Faced with a deluge of litigation from the Palisades fire, the Department of Water and Power approved a three-year, $10-million contract with a top law firm to defend the utility. Munger, Tolles & Olson will investigate claims and respond to lawsuits from residents whose homes were destroyed or damaged, with the firm's partners charging up to $1,975 per hour. — TESTING TOSSED: Federal cleanup crews confirmed they will not test the soil of properties ravaged by last month's wildfires once debris removal is finished. That decision marks a break with a long-standing strategy used by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers after other major wildfires. Army Corps officials still intend to remove six inches of topsoil from each site, which they described as enough to rid properties of hazardous pollution. — YIMBYS POUNCE: Two pro-development groups have sued the city, alleging that a recently approved plan for boosting home building is inadequate and fails to comply with state law. Yes In My Back Yard and Californians for Homeownership contend that city officials have not shown that their plan for growth can accommodate an additional 255,000 homes, as required under state law. — WHOLE LOTTA LAWSUITS: Here's even more litigation news: L.A. County agencies have been hit with a record number of lawsuits — 2,675 in the last fiscal year, about 400 more than the prior year. — READY FOR RAIDS: Federal law enforcement agents are planning to carry out a 'large scale' immigration enforcement action in L.A. before the end of the month, according to internal documents reviewed by The Times. Meantime, immigrant rights activists are vowing to disrupt any raids. — PREPPING FOR '26: The Department of Recreation and Parks has begun laying the groundwork for a bond measure in 2026 to generate funding for its facilities. Meanwhile, two council members — Rodriguez and Traci Park — say the council is not moving fast enough in preparing another 2026 bond measure to build or repair fire stations. The effort to assess the fire department's needs was the subject of a lengthy debate on the council floor this week.
