CITY HALL - Rebuffed earlier by neighborhood council opposition, two Los Angeles city councilmen called Monday for reviving their proposal to float a $3 billion bond to pay for repairing city streets.
Councilmen Joe Buscaino and Mitch Englander announced plans for a series of public hearings around the city over the next month, beginning in downtown Los Angeles on Wednesday, and asking the city's 95 neighborhood councils to weigh in on the proposal.
"We can no longer afford to ignore this problem," Buscaino said. "The longer we wait to address it, the more costly it becomes to fix.
"Residents will end up paying indirectly, through increased auto repairs, higher bus fares, increased gas consumption, more traffic and lower property values."
Earlier this year, the two had caught their City Council colleagues and neighborhood councils by surprise when they proposed a $3 billion bond issue and called for a quick vote to place it on the May ballot. After protests from the neighborhood councils and others, they withdrew the proposal for further study. They said the exact amount of the bond this time would be determined after the hearings.
In a letter to the neighborhood councils, Buscaino took note of the opposition and the calls for more information.
"I invite and encourage the neighborhood councils to be an active part of the process...and send your questions, comments and/or recommendations to the Public Works Committee," Buscaino said.
In addition to repairs on the city's 8,700 miles of streets, Englander said the city should try to take advantage of low interest rates.
"There is a critical need to invest in our transportation infrastructure," Englander said. "Everything, from emergency response to trade and commerce is dependent upon well-maintained streets."
Jay Handal, chair of Neighborhood Council Budget Advocates, which had protested the earlier proposal, said he welcomed the new hearings.
"I hope they are waking up that the neighborhood councils and stakeholders need to be involved in the decision-making process," Handal said. "This is a good first step on what they should have been doing all along.
"What they could be doing is building support for this proposal."
NEED TO KNOW: Other hearings planned include: April 8 at 6 p.m., the Port of Los Angeles Building, 425 S. Palos Verdes St., San Pedro; April 16, at 6 p.m., Van Nuys City Hall, 14410 Sylvan St., Van Nuys; and April 23, at 6 p.m., West Los Angeles Municipal Building, 1645 Corinth Ave.
Hearings are being scheduled for April 25 in South Los Angeles and April 30 in East Los Angeles at locations to be determined.
(Rick Orlov covers City Hall for the dailynews.com. where this column first appeared. His Tipoff column appears Mondays. For a daily political fix, go to the Sausage Factory at insidesocal.com/politics. You can contact him at [email protected] ) –cw
CityWatch
Vol 11 Issue 28
Pub: Apr 5, 2013