Land Use LA
Connect with us
  • Home
  • Our Services
  • About Us
  • Blog
  • Our Projects
  • Our Partner Firms
  • Make a Payment

UPDATE: Garcetti vows to stop Planning, LADBS merger

10/15/2013

0 Comments

 
Mayor Eric Garcetti will stop the highly controversial proposed merger between the city's Planning and Building & Safety departments, he told the Los Angeles Times editorial board this afternoon.

“I think that’s just rearranging the bureaucracy and not the systems,” Garcetti said.

The proposal was already running into strong opposition within the City Council. Last week, the council's Planning and Land Use Management Committee recommended that the idea be tabled until at least July while options were studied other than a merger. Nearly 30 people spoke in favor of postponing the merger during the PLUM Committee hearing.

Proponents of the merger say that consolidation will result in lower costs and quicker processing times. They point out that managers of both departments are publicly on board. They also say that the city has spent $850,000 to study and prepare for this merger and doesn't need to spend more money to study it further until July.

Opponents of the merger say there is no proof of either lower costs or quicker processing times, and they question whether a merger of two departments with different and sometimes conflicting roles should be under one banner. Building & Safety is a policing agency that guarantees residents' safety, they say. Planning is a development agency that is judged by the amount and types of projects that get built. They also say that most employees of the two departments are quietly opposed to the merger.

The merger was first proposed under then-Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa and was endorsed by then-councilman Eric Garcetti. Garcetti's announcment today was his first public comments on the merger since taking office.

“I liked it in the abstract, but in the concrete, I don’t think it’s ready to go,” Garcetti told the Times.

LA Times: Garcetti says he'll stop merger of Los Angeles building agencies
http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-garcetti-blocks-planning-building-merger-20131015,0,2023322.story

LandUseLA:  Departments' merger won't occur Jan. 1 - if at all
http://www.landusela.com/1/post/2013/10/departments-merger-wont-occur-jan-1-if-at-all.html

0 Comments

Your comment will be posted after it is approved.


Leave a Reply.

      Subscribe
      Receive our posts.

    Subscribe

    RSS Feed

    Tweets by @LandUseLA

    Client Disclosure

    The stories posted on LandUseLA.com are about interesting or controversial developments in Los.Angeles. They are not promotional pieces about my clients. If any story involves a current or former client, that fact will be disclosed prominently on that story's page or within the story itself.
    - Chris Parker, publisher

    Archives

    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    March 2014
    February 2014
    December 2013
    November 2013
    October 2013
    September 2013
    August 2013
    July 2013
    June 2013
    December 2012

    Categories

    All
    Bel Air
    Bel-air
    Beverly Grove
    Bho
    Bmo
    Building & Safety
    Cd1
    Cd10
    Cd11
    Cd12
    Cd13
    Cd14
    Cd15
    Cd2
    Cd3
    Cd4
    Cd5
    Cd7
    Cd8
    Cd9
    Charter School
    City Council
    City Planning Commission
    Community Design Overlay
    Conditional Use Permit
    Conservation
    Cultural Heritage Commission
    Draft Mnd
    Drive-through Restaurant
    Eir
    Elder Care
    El Sereno
    General Plan Amendment
    Granada Hills
    Greater Wilshire Neighborhood Council
    Harbor
    Highland Park
    Hillside
    Historic
    Historic-Cultural Monument
    Hollywood
    Koreatown
    La Brea
    Land Use
    Little Tokyo
    Macarthur Park
    Mansionization
    Master Plan
    Merger
    Mid City
    Mid-City
    Mixed Use
    Mixed-use
    Mural Ordinance
    Northeast La
    Northridge
    Nvapc
    Plan Approval
    Planning Department
    Plum
    Plum Committee
    R1
    Residential Floor Area
    Rfa
    San Pedro
    Sherman Oaks
    Small Lot Subdivision
    Svapc
    Sylmar
    Valley Village
    Van Nuys
    West Adams
    Westlake
    Westlake South Neighborhood Council
    Wilmington
    Wilshire
    Winnetka
    Zone Change

    RSS Feed