Plans to incorporate may or may not include West LA
KEN EDWARDS CENTER — The bureaucrats have found themselves mired in bureaucracy.
Government officials on the Westside have failed for the last three years to formally incorporate an entity to tackle one of the region’s most pressing problems, homelessness. That’s because a vital section of the region, West Los Angeles, has failed to sign on.
Members from the Westside Cities Council of Governments (COG) met on Thursday to discuss the most recent projects being undertaken in the area to help the homeless secure roofs over their heads. They also discussed their hope to become a legally recognized government association by the end of the year, in order to more effectively lobby on behalf of mutual concerns.
Santa Monica City Councilman Richard Bloom, who chaired the meeting, announced that “Bring LA Home,” a comprehensive county plan to fight homelessness for the next 10 years, will not be released until February because newly elected Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa wants to be certain the plan is comprehensive enough to ensure success, he said.
Meanwhile, officials expressed concern that a proposal they support to convert some of the Veteran Administration’s under-utilized buildings at its West LA campus into a full-service homeless shelter could fall on deaf in ears in Washington, perhaps because their group has no legal clout to endorse the plan.
“How are we best going to deal with Washington, so we’re not ignored?” Culver City Councilwoman Carol Gross asked the COG on Thursday.
The VA is re-evaluating the use of its facilities nationwide in order to modernize its health care system, according to officials. They are concerned the VA leadership in Washington may be tempted by developers to put the West LA campus on the auction block as a way to create revenue for the VA’s struggling health care system.
However, hundreds of concerned citizens, veterans and elected leaders from across Southern California showed up at Wadsworth Theatre earlier this month to express their hopes that the VA’s sprawling 387-acre campus be used for veteran services. In particular, a vast majority of participants at the meeting urged local VA officials to endorse a plan by Santa Monica City Councilman Bobby Shriver, who is calling for the VA’s abandoned buildings to house 300 to 500 homeless veterans.
COG members asked Santa Monica city staff, which organizes the meetings, to look at ways the informal group may be able to promote the Shriver plan in Washington.
Also, while indicating they would prefer West LA to join their organization, COG members said steps needed to be taken to incorporate by their next meeting. West LA has taken years to make its decision on whether to join the group, and officials said this delay has been limiting the organization’s efforts as a result.
“Technically, we’re not able to act as a group, and to some extent that’s to LA’s benefit,” said West Hollywood Mayor Pro Tempore John Heilman. “We are powerful Westside cities and must continue on the path (to incorporate), otherwise we will not be effective.”
Representatives for West LA, speaking on behalf of officials including Los Angeles Fifth District Councilman Jack Weiss and 11th District Councilman Bill Rosendahl, said they wanted to join the COG, but the size of the city to which they belonged required a level of bureaucracy that made the process leading to their participation seem slow.
“We’re the big elephant,” said Debbie Dyner, Weiss’ district director.
The explanation wasn’t sufficient for other COG members, who decided to have legal paperwork prepared in time for their next meeting. At that point, they plan to proceed with incorporation with or without West Los Angeles.
West Hollywood Mayor Abbe Land also asked Santa Monica city staff to investigate how the COG can focus less on re-hashing reports and more on developing a work plan that will make the group more action-oriented.
Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on October 3, 2005. Read the original PDF.