Los Angeles Government Agencies

The New Los Angeles Marketing Partnership is one of those rarest of rarities: a government-backed entity that has finished its job and is closing down. Established five years ago to burnish the image of a then-troubled Los Angeles before the world, New LAMP--as the organization calls itself--is launching a few final advertising blitzes and then going out of business.

While Mayor Richard Riordan on Wednesday defended his record on persuading contractors, particularly at the airport, to comply with the city's year-old living wage law, a City Council panel was told repeatedly that hundreds of workers--including scores at the airport--are going without the raises and benefits due them. Riordan said he has discussed the controversial living wage law with individual airline chiefs, the U.S.

In a classic example of a bureaucratic fumble, two branches of the Los Angeles city government clashed this week over the repaving of a Fire Department parking lot at Van Nuys Airport. During a visit last month to Fire Station 90 at the airport, Mayor Richard Riordan noted the worn mechanical condition of equipment and the sorry state of a crumbling parking lot where the equipment is kept. So Riordan directed city employees to order a new fire engine and to see that the lot was repaved.

Alarmed by allegations of wrongdoing, the Los Angeles City Council on Tuesday expanded its inquiry into the troubled Community Redevelopment Agency to include the payment of $1.57 million more for properties than the agency's own appraisals showed they were worth. The council set Dec. 15 as the date for a meeting with CRA administrator Jerry Scharlin, at which they also will discuss concerns that he hired a private investigator to look into his own agency.

The Los Angeles City Council on Tuesday expanded its inquiry into the Community Redevelopment Agency to include the payment of $1.57 million more for properties than the agency's own appraisals showed they were worth. The council scheduled a Dec. 15 meeting with CRA head Jerry Scharlin to discuss the issue. City Controller Rick Tuttle's office was highly critical of the apparent overpayment in an audit and turned the matter over to the Los Angeles County district attorney's office.

Alarmed by allegations of financial improprieties in the Los Angeles Community Redevelopment Agency, interim administrator Jerry Scharlin said Wednesday he had hired a private detective firm to investigate agency operations. The private investigators' work has been turned over to the city controller's office, and helped spark a more detailed audit of agency land transactions now underway, Scharlin said.

Breaking up the Los Angeles Fire Department would reduce its flexibility and effectiveness in dealing with major brush fires and high-rise blazes, a top fire official warned at a City Hall hearing on secession Tuesday. Deputy Chief John Callahan said the most logical arrangement to maintain quality would be for any new cities, such as in the San Fernando Valley or the Harbor area, to contract with the Los Angeles city department.

State Sen. Tom Hayden (D-Los Angeles) called Thursday night for the breakup of the city's Department of Water and Power, saying a single agency should not be responsible for monitoring the safety of drinking water while also selling it to consumers. "There is no one in charge of monitoring the water in Los Angeles," he said. "That leaves it to the water agencies to tell us about [the quality of] the water they want to sell us."

Los Angeles is on the verge of a major change in the way development projects are evaluated, and despite assurances from city officials, some fear the transition won't be smooth. Starting July 1, the Board of Zoning Appeals will be abolished and seven new planning commissions are to begin operating throughout Los Angeles, making decisions on local planning issues. A citywide commission, expanded from five to nine members, will take up projects with broader impact.

The Charter Reform Commission held its first public meeting Wednesday, and residents were ready with suggestions on how the 72-year-old charter should be revised. Homeowner groups' representatives, business leaders and academics urged the panel to consider expanding the size of the City Council and creating neighborhood councils to give citizens a larger voice in local government decisions.