Red Tape

WASHINGTON - President Obama said Friday he wanted to put more Americans to work by slashing the amount of time it takes to grant federal approval for big job-creating projects. But Obama's choice of venue for his remarks - a Baltimore company that makes mining and pumping equipment - provided fodder for Republicans. They noted that the company president had, just the day before, testified on Capitol Hill in support of the Keystone XL pipeline, which the Obama administration has delayed for years over environmental concerns.

Here are three things the Obama administration has done that you probably didn't know about: Ever struggle with those accordion-style rubber sleeves on nozzles at the gas station? The sleeve -- technically a "vapor recovery nozzle" -- was required by the Environmental Protection Agency to keep gasoline vapors from leaking into the air. But most cars and trucks now have technology that does the job better, so last year the EPA abolished the nozzle requirement. Because each sleeve-equipped nozzle can cost as much as $300, the change will save gas stations thousands of dollars.

"California Squeeze: The Red-Tape Mummy" (editorial, May 16) was almost on the mark. Your only mistake was to mischaracterize the extent to which red tape is strangling the California economy. We are not just having trouble breathing, we are suffocating. I have to deal with the laws that SB 1082 and SB 919 are intended to fix, and I know something has to be done about the Byzantine system we've burdened ourselves with. Eliminating the duplicative morass in our current system is a good place to start.

Jockeying to gain an edge in the mayoral runoff, Wendy Greuel and Eric Garcetti are highlighting plans to create jobs, cut red tape to help businesses and spur the city's economy. Garcetti on Friday discussed economic revitalization at a gourmet-sausage and craft-beer restaurant in Atwater Village, where the centerpiece of the neighborhood used to be a casket shop. Now it's a hipster haven, with a Bikram yoga studio and the trendy farm-to-table eatery Canele. And Greuel, in her first stop Wednesday after winning a spot in the runoff, dropped by an architectural design firm in the San Fernando Valley that faced a series of problems when it tried to build an innovative facility with features like a permeable parking lot. "I'm not going to hire a job czar, I'm going to be the jobs czar," she said.

With the economy still sputtering more than a year after the official end of the recession, some economists are questioning not only the size and composition of the $787-billion stimulus package that Congress approved in 2009, but also the economic theory behind it. New reports by two California watchdogs, however, suggest another factor in the measure's limited effectiveness: the bureaucratic quicksand that stops local governments from doing anything...

After more than 6,600 people overwhelmed volunteers at a free mobile health clinic in Los Angeles last year, California legislators passed a law making it easier for out-of-state medical personnel to assist with future events. But just over a week before the massive clinic returns, the state has failed to adopt regulations needed for the additional volunteers to participate. As a result, only medical personnel licensed in California will be able to treat patients and some people could be turned away.

Warning that "this storm is not yet over," President Obama vowed that his administration would pull out all the stops to get aid to those hit by Hurricane Sandy. There is "no excuse for inaction,"  Obama said after a brief unscheduled visit to Red Cross headquarters in Washington.  "I want you to cut through red tape; I want you to cut through the bureaucracy. There is no excuse for inaction at this point. " Obama has jumped off the campaign trail to monitor federal response to the massive storm.

I read with interest the commentary "A Life Is Lost in Tangle of Red Tape," (Feb. 4). It was very unfortunate that Dr. Lidia Everett lost her patient, but she should not look to blame Medicare but her own profession for her death. Her statement that a 10-day stay in the hospital put her family in such dire financial straights that they could no longer afford to spend any more, is an indictment of her profession. Medical care does not deteriorate when a national health care program is in force, if you have dedicated health care professionals that consider the patient's welfare before their financial gains.

In wrapping up its report on the Pentagon, the President's Blue Ribbon Commission on Defense Management asserted that the Pentagon was overaudited, overregulated and overoversighted. The military, Chairman David Packard said, must step over so many watchdogs and through so much red tape that it cannot work efficiently. Congress, he said, must stop trying to "micromanage" the Defense Department.

In 1985, my wife and I purchased a new home. In 1987, we received a supplemental tax bill for $31 for 1984. I wrote the assessor's office that it was in error as we did not purchase our home until 1985. Over the next years, we received more bills for this assessment and each time pointed out to the assessor that the bill was in error. When our lender threatened to establish an impound account, in October, 1991, I personally went to the assessor's office to demand that the assessment be removed.

Ken Rakusin is frustrated. You would be too. Since 2009, the owner of Gordon Brush Manufacturing Co. has been trying to expand his 51,000-square-foot City of Commerce factory by 20,000 square feet. That would mean a larger factory floor, more office space for the engineers who work with customers to design new products, conference rooms, a spacious cafeteria. It would mean room to expand beyond Rakusin's current workforce of 85. More sales. Higher payroll. More property tax, sales tax, income tax. A $1.5-million investment in construction alone.

Warning that "this storm is not yet over," President Obama vowed that his administration would pull out all the stops to get aid to those hit by Hurricane Sandy. There is "no excuse for inaction,"  Obama said after a brief unscheduled visit to Red Cross headquarters in Washington.  "I want you to cut through red tape; I want you to cut through the bureaucracy. There is no excuse for inaction at this point. " Obama has jumped off the campaign trail to monitor federal response to the massive storm.

A reporter at the Mustang Daily — the student newspaper at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo — wanted a copy of an email for a story. He filed a California Public Records Act request with the chancellor's office in Long Beach but he didn't get it. Why? University officials said that although Sean McMinn's request fell under the law, he would have to pay 20 cents — by check — to have the email forwarded to him. McMinn was working on a story about the university system reminding professors that it was inappropriate and, in some cases, illegal to inform students about how politics, specifically Gov. Jerry Brown's Proposition 30 tax measure, would affect the Cal State system.

Like lots of people, Peter Griswold of Marina del Rey was flabbergasted when he read that City Hall wanted to spend $10 million on a three-year survey of cracked and crumbling sidewalks in Los Angeles. He sent me an email titled: "VOLUNTEERS FOR SIDEWALK BRIGADES. " "There are so many community and social organizations" that could do the survey "for nearly no costs," Griswold wrote. But judging by his neighborhood, he said, something needed to happen. Griswold suggested I meet up with him on the 800 block of Coeur D'Alene Avenue in Venice to check out some of the bad pavement that the city should be dealing with.

The fireworks at Disneyland had ended. It was past closing time and the crowds were pouring out the gates, but we lingered. Layla Alshawi, the 63-year-old mother of our friends, didn't want to leave. She hugged a light pole, joking that we would have to drag her out. We'd spent three days at the Disneyland Resort in Anaheim with my friend, Saif Alnasseri, his wife, mother and 5-year-old daughter. Like my husband, whose name is also Saif, he was an Iraqi translator I met in 2007 during my rotations in the Los Angeles Times' Baghdad bureau.

Additional signs are fine, balloons are not and trees are still up in the air as Glendale officials work to revamp restrictions on car dealerships along South Brand Boulevard. The reappraisal of rules is an attempt to create a more business-friendly environment for the city's second-biggest tax revenue source. Autos and transportation companies brought $6 million to Glendale last year, with car dealers leading the pack, said city Finance Director Bob Elliot. "We have to do everything we can to try to help them increase their sales," Councilman Frank Quintero said as planning officials mapped out the proposed zoning changes this week.

There's a wryness to John Kerr that flatters him. Good thing, because life has not been particularly generous in recent years, dealing him a package of illnesses with long names and ugly intentions. In such moments, wry works well. "I'm metal all over," he says, referring to various titanium inserts for bones that are dying, including a total shoulder replacement. But even that isn't what he means when he refers to "my catastrophe."

Here was a contest no Mexican bureaucrat wanted to win. A months-long quest to identify the most nightmarish examples of Mexico's famously nightmarish red tape ended Thursday with a verdict: The nation's social security agency reigns supreme among government bureaucracies that drive Mexicans nuts. President Felipe Calderon bestowed the dubious honor on the agency as part of a contest to find the country's most useless tramite, or bureaucratic process.

M.C. Kim had four heart attacks in as many years. Each time, he left the hospital not knowing why his heart had failed. When he tried to enter a cardiac rehabilitation program to learn how to reduce the odds of having more heart trouble, the Medicare office told him to call Medicaid. The Medicaid office told him to call Medicare. In the end, he said, both denied coverage. "I was like a pingpong ball," said Kim , 51, who lives in Los Angeles. "Nobody wanted to take responsibility.

I am an Iraqi citizen who worked as an interpreter with the U.S. military for two years. It was an honor to serve, and I did it because I believed that bringing freedom to Iraq required brave people to stand up and try to make a difference. Now, as a result of my service, I find myself in a dangerous limbo. Before 2003, I thought of the U.S. primarily as the home of Bruce Willis, Hollywood and Las Vegas. But it was also a dream, a dream of freedom. Then, a bit of America came to my country.