LA County Supervisor … and former LA City Councilmember … Zev Yaroslavsky told a gathering of neighborhood council leaders on Saturday that he smells another revolution brewing. “People want a stake in where they live,” he told the gathering at the Citywide Alliance.
A video summary of Yaroslavsky’s remarks here.
That set the tone for Yaroslavsky’s hour-long perspective before a responsive and appreciative forum. The Supervisor found a ‘choir’ to preach to and he provided a lengthy list of preachments and advice.
“The gulf between what’s happening (with land use and development) at City Hall and what’s happening in the community gets wider every day,” he intoned. “I would not be surprised to see the people go back to the ballot again.”
The real punctuation mark on this theme came when the state bill AB1818, which Yaroslavsky considers an end run law, found its way into the presentation. “They want to play the game,” he said, “of running to Sacramento and running a special interest bill like that through that totally screws every community in the State of California—then let’s screw ‘em back.” Yes, the “choir” provided much applause.
_ “I’ve talked to (LA Planning Director) Gail Goldberg. She hasn’t proven to me yet that she can get control of the planning process.”
_ “He who controls the drafting, controls the outcome.”
_ “Planning is not being done by the city buy by the developer interests.”
_ “There are only two ways to build a project. The ugly … or wrong …way and the right way, that respects community.”
_ “There is no quantity control out of City Hall today.”
_ In LA, “The development community believes they can get anything they want.”
_ “Neighborhood councils have to be involved at the outset, the drafting process.”
_ Neighborhood councils “have no leverage … absolutely no leverage … at City Hall unless they think you can derail what they’re doing.”
_ “As long as (neighborhood councils) are a debating society, (City Hall) will give you $50,000 and tell you to go debate.”