LA politicians plan to build and clean up government
DOWNTOWN — If Los Angeles is ever going to get out of its economic tailspin, billions of dollars must be spent on infrastructure in schools and transportation. But the public has to trust that the money is used honestly and wisely, officials said this week.
That’s what a panel of LA politicians told a group of about 500 people at the Los Angeles Chamber of Commerce’s California State Forum held at the Milken Institute in Santa Monica on Wednesday.
With the equivalent of two entire populations of Chicago expected to move to the region over the next few decades, increasing pressures on traffic, growth, housing and education have officials thinking about future infrastructure for the first time in years.
Panelist and Los Angeles City Councilman Eric Garcetti noted that LA has five of the worst freeway interchanges in the United States, is the murder capital of the country and stands as the “park poorest” city.
“It’s an unprecedented time for infrastructure in selected areas of Los Angeles,” he said.
And up until now, city and state leaders didn’t think much about building an infrastructure that is necessary for LA’s economic success.
“There has been no political will, but now there is,” Garcetti said. “When local leadership steps up on infrastructure, state and federal leaders pay attention. They aren’t looking for us to come hat in hand... we have to be willing to fund this stuff ourselves.”
But Los Angeles City Controller Laura Chick pointed out that the public doesn’t trust government and is hesitant in approving bond measures to pay for the infrastructure.
“There is a crisis on the part of the public and their confidence in government,” she said, adding voters proved that notion by recalling former Gov. Gray Davis because he was perceived to be overly tied to contributors and special interest, and current Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger was voted in because he is perceived as a populist.
LA politics is viewed as full of insider games and uneven playing fields, Chick added.
“We need to regain the public’s trust and confidence and be transparent about how we spend (their money),” she said. “We are the second-largest city in the country and the largest state, and we should be cutting edge, state-of-the-art and using the best practices, but we are far from it.”
“We need to regain the public’s trust and confidence and be transparent about how we spend (their money).” — — LAURA CHICK Los Angeles City Controller
Chick pointed to a drop in business in LA because contractors and companies don’t feel they can get in without “greasing the palms” of politicians.
“It can seriously damage a city,” she said.
Asked by Milken Institute economist Ross DeVol how the perception can be changed, Chick said candidates should disclose full public financing and more audits should be conducted within governmental agencies.
Los Angeles Unified School District Superintendent Roy Romer said since he took over the district three years ago, he has tried to make education spending transparent.
“I’m clean. I’m running this organization and there is absolutely no pay to play...,” he said, adding $13.2 billion will be spent on new schools, translating into 163,000 new seats in the LA school district. “The future of the economy in this town is based on education and job skills.”
Howard Fine, a panelist and writer for the Los Angeles Business Journal, then asked Roy, the former governor of Colorado, to specify where the money will come from to staff those new schools.
“We have to use what we’ve got better,” Roy said, noting that he plans to cut $520 million this year from the district’s budget.
Garcetti said LA also needs to build its human infrastructure — the city has one of the highest illiteracy rates and sends fewer students to college than any other community.
“We are far behind our peer cities,” he said.
Los Angeles County Supervisor Michael Antonovich said beyond the city’s failing schools, congested freeways and skyrocketing home prices, there also is a mass exodus of jobs leaving the area.
That’s because there are excessive government regulations and taxes which create barriers from businesses coming and staying here, he said.
Antonovich also said the state’s budget crisis isn’t helping matters.
“Taxing the rich won’t help, we don’t have to tax people, it’s the spending in California,” he said. “Like an alcoholic, Sacramento turned an $8 billion surplus into a $35 billion deficit.”
Garcetti said the challenges facing LA — like its lack of parks and its already highly-dense neighborhoods — are daunting, but not insurmountable.
“I think we pretend LA isn’t a city,” he said, adding sprawl has hit a wall and more mixed use projects, which include residential and retail in one building, will create more vibrant neighborhoods. “It’s something cities figured out a long time ago.
“If we are a city, let’s act like one.”
Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on March 12, 2004. Read the original PDF.