Good morning, and welcome to L.A. on the Record — our City Hall publication. It’s David Zahniser, with an help from Noah Goldberg, supplying you with the newest on metropolis and county authorities.
L.A. City Hall isn’t recognized for making issues easy for actual property builders — particularly these in search of approval of huge, difficult tasks.
Yet earlier this yr, Westwood resident Zach Sokoloff navigated the town’s bureaucratic impediment course, successful City Council approval of a $1-billion plan to redevelop Television City, the historic studio property on Beverly Boulevard.
Now, Sokoloff is hoping to make what some may view as a baffling profession change, leaping from Hackman Capital Partners, the place he’s senior vice chairman for asset administration, to a job as L.A.’s subsequent elected metropolis controller.
For that to occur, Sokoloff would want to defeat City Controller Kenneth Mejia, who’s working for one more four-year time period in June. That’s a tall order, given Mejia’s social media savvy, his standing as an incumbent and his deft use of graphics highlighting the trivia of metropolis authorities — typically that includes hat-wearing corgis.
In 2022, Mejia secured extra votes than another candidate in metropolis historical past, as he and his workforce wish to level out. Former state Sen. Isadore Hall, who can be working in opposition to Mejia, has his personal monitor file of successful elections.
Sokoloff, against this, has by no means run for public workplace. He’s spent the previous seven years at Hackman, which proposed the 25-acre Television City undertaking and owns different studio properties.
A onetime grade faculty algebra instructor, Sokoloff promised to emphasise “management by means of listening” if he’s elected, shining a lightweight on areas the place the town is struggling and dealing collaboratively to seek out options.
Sokoloff gave some credit score to Mejia for in search of to make metropolis authorities extra clear and comprehensible. But he argued that such efforts are solely a place to begin.
Mejia’s audits, he mentioned, “simply aren’t transferring the needle.”
“He’s proven a desire for lobbing criticism after the actual fact, somewhat than getting concerned early on to form the result,” Sokoloff mentioned in an interview.
Mejia spokesperson Jane Nguyen pushed again, saying Mejia has championed an array of coverage modifications, together with the creation of a chief monetary officer place and a transfer to “multi-year budgeting.”
In an e mail, Nguyen mentioned public officers have been responding to Mejia’s audits by working to enhance oversight of rents for reasonably priced housing, purchases of navy tools by the Los Angeles Police Department and housing placements by the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority.
“Despite our small audit employees, this work is ‘transferring the needle’ and making a distinction in metropolis insurance policies and departments whereas bettering the standard of lifetime of Angelenos,” she mentioned.
Nguyen mentioned her boss has listened to 1000’s of constituents at neighborhood occasions and at his city corridor conferences.
“All politicians ‘hear,’” she mentioned. “The distinction between Kenneth Mejia and our opponents is who we take heed to. Our Office listens to the individuals of Los Angeles.”
If Mejia secures a majority of the vote in June, he’ll keep away from a November 2026 runoff. Forcing Mejia right into a spherical two will probably be a troublesome process for Hall and Sokoloff, mentioned political science professor Fernando Guerra, who runs the Center for the Study of Los Angeles at Loyola Marymount University.
Because metropolis controller is a comparatively low-profile place and Mejia is an incumbent, voters will doubtless follow him until there’s severe “unfavourable publicity,” Guerra mentioned.
“While he’s quirky, there’s nothing there that’s in any means scandalous,” Guerra added.
Sokoloff is launching his marketing campaign at an opportune time. Television City is the topic of a number of lawsuits, which have been filed not simply by neighborhood teams but additionally The Grove, the shopping center developed by businessman and former mayoral candidate Rick Caruso. Those plaintiffs have requested a decide to overturn the council’s approval of the undertaking, saying the town did not adjust to CEQA, the state’s environmental regulation.
Shelley Wagers, who lives close by and has been combating the undertaking, mentioned she was shocked by Sokoloff’s choice to run for citywide workplace. Asked whether or not he’s actually good at listening, she replied: “Not in my expertise, no.”
Sokoloff defended his firm’s dealing with of the TVC undertaking, pointing to the unanimous votes solid by the planning fee and the council.
“We constructed a broad and various coalition of supporters,” he mentioned. “Ultimately, the outcomes of the [city’s] entitlement course of communicate for themselves.”
Sokoloff has already picked up one key endorsement: Laura Chick, who was maybe essentially the most confrontational metropolis controller in current historical past. Chick, who served in citywide workplace from 2001 to 2009, took on officers on the metropolis’s harbor, its airport company, the town lawyer’s workplace and lots of others.
Chick, who now lives within the San Francisco Bay Area, mentioned L.A. wants a controller who will discover methods to make the town extra environment friendly and efficient.
“[Sokoloff] understands that L.A. wants an lively drawback solver as its chief auditor,” she mentioned.
State of play
— CREATING A RECORD: Mayor Karen Bass, Councilmember Eunisses Hernandez and an assortment of elected officers, clergy and neighborhood activists went to a four-hour listening to this week that targeted on the affect — and alleged abuses — of Trump’s immigration crackdown. “We wish to set up a file, as a result of when the political winds change, we wish to maintain these accountable,” Bass mentioned.
— THANKSGIVING TEXTS: Caruso, the actual property developer now weighing a second run for mayor, supplied his personal message on the immigration raids this week, sending a textual content message blast asking for donations to assist households whose lives have been upended by crackdown.
“As we prepare to take a seat down with household tomorrow, I’m fascinated with the households throughout our metropolis whose Thanksgiving will look a bit totally different,” Caruso wrote on Wednesday. “Many are afraid to return to work after the current office raids, leaving households quick on meals, hire, and fundamental requirements.”
— CONCEPT OF A PLAN: Mayoral candidate Austin Beutner mentioned he helps “the idea” of mountaineering L.A.’s gross sales tax by a half-cent to pay for added firefighters and hearth stations. Beutner supplied his take just a few days after the firefighters union confirmed it’s getting ready poll language for the tax, which might increase $9.8 billion by 2050. The union needs voters to take up the measure in November 2026.
— FIRE FUNDING: Even with out the tax, Fire Chief Jaime Moore is asking for greater than $1 billion for his division’s subsequent annual finances, a 15% hike over the present yr. Moore mentioned the extra funds are wanted to make sure the town is ready for emergencies just like the Palisades hearth.
— DIALING 9-1-1: Sticking with the firefighting theme, Beutner posted an interactive graphic on his web site exhibiting how a lot paramedic response occasions have elevated in most zip codes within the metropolis. Beutner mentioned firefighters are being requested to answer too many non-emergency calls.
— DELAYED RESPONSE: Residents in neighborhoods close to the Port of Los Angeles weren’t informed to shelter in place till practically six hours after an enormous hazardous supplies hearth broke out aboard a cargo ship within the harbor. The dealing with of the alert, which urged residents to go inside instantly and shut their doorways and home windows, follows deep considerations concerning the area’s alert system and the way it labored in the course of the Eaton hearth in January.
— KATZ OUT THE BAG: The five-member board that oversees the Department of Water and Power has misplaced its third commissioner in as many months. Richard Katz, a former state lawmaker and a Bass appointee, had his closing assembly on Nov. 18. In his resignation letter, he mentioned he’s stepping apart to concentrate on two upcoming surgical procedures.
— LACKING A QUORUM: Because the DWP board wants three members to carry a gathering, it gained’t be capable to conduct any enterprise till the council confirms the mayor’s latest appointee: Benny Tran, who’s slated to interchange Mia Lehrer. Tran is a principal with Baobab Global Consulting, in accordance with his nomination paperwork.
— IN HOT WATER: A high-ranking DWP worker has been accused of creating staffers run private errands for her on metropolis time, together with buying tickets to a Snoop Dogg live performance, in accordance with a submitting lodged by the Los Angeles City Ethics Commission’s director of enforcement. The worker’s lawyer mentioned the claims had been the product of a disgruntled subordinate.
— MONEY TROUBLES: L.A. County’s Department of Homeless Services and Housing faces a $230-million monetary hole within the upcoming finances yr, setting the stage for cuts to key providers. Officials are taking a look at scaling again an array of packages, together with providers to assist homeless residents discover residences.
— BOLSTERING THE BUDGET: The council’s new Budget and Finance Advisory Committee, a five-member citizen panel taking a look at methods to strengthen the town’s funds, held its first assembly this week, deciding on former City Controller Ron Galperin as its chairman. The committee plans to have a look at the town’s funding methods, actual property portfolio, authorized obligations and total strategy to annual budgets.
QUICK HITS
- Where is Inside Safe? The mayor’s signature program to fight homelessness didn’t launch new operations this week.
- On the docket subsequent week: The Charter Reform Commission is about to carry an outside city corridor Saturday at Echo Park Lake. The occasion, which runs from 10 a.m. to 1:30 p.m., will happen on the northeast garden at Echo Park and Park avenues.
Stay in contact
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