2 New Agencies Proposed to Set Regional Policy

Two new regional agencies, with far-reaching power to manage growth and improve environmental quality in the Los Angeles area, were proposed Tuesday by the Los Angeles 2000 Committee, a blue-ribbon group that has been studying the city’s problems for 2 1/2 years.

“The goals cannot be achieved without making changes in the way we govern ourselves,” committee President Jane G. Pisano told a news conference at Belmont High School, as the panel’s 96-page report was presented to Mayor Tom Bradley.

The committee--made up of 150 business, community, academic and religious leaders--recommended that the governor and the Legislature create a new growth management agency to set regional policy in such areas as land use, transportation and the relation of jobs to housing.

Jobs and Housing Link

Such an agency would seek, for example, to moderate the trend toward creating more jobs in Los Angeles and Orange counties, while most new housing is being built far from these jobs in Riverside and San Bernardino counties.

The new agency would set policy in many of the same fields now covered by the Southern California Assn. of Governments but, unlike SCAG, the regional growth management agency would have authority to implement its recommendations.

Members of this new “super agency” might be elected or they might be already-elected local officials.

The committee also proposed that the South Coast Air Quality Management District be merged with agencies that manage water quality and solid wastes to form a new regional environmental quality agency. That would have to be done by the Legislature.

“The present agencies responsible for regulating air and water quality standards are unable to coordinate their activities to deal with the problems on a larger scale because each one serves a single purpose,” the report said.

The new environmental agency, if created, would stress a “source reduction” approach, seeking to control pollutants before they enter the air, ground and water.

The cost of these and other committee recommendations would be in the billions of dollars, but Pisano said only “order of magnitude” estimates were available, not precise amounts, because in some areas “the careful analytical work that is needed to produce accurate numbers has not yet been done.”

However, she said, “the money will come from the people of Southern California, who will have to make an investment” in order to have a prosperous or even a livable region in the year 2000 and beyond.

To make it easier for the people to make this investment, the committee recommended that the state Constitution be changed, through a ballot initiative, to allow local voters to increase their property taxes or to impose special new taxes by majority vote, instead of the two-thirds requirement that was written into the Constitution by Proposition 13 in 1978.

But whether taxpayers will agree with Pisano and whether local government will accept the committee’s “super-agency” approach to growth management and environmental quality control will be the subject of intense debate.

Bradley Appointments

James P. Miscoll, a banker who is chairman of the committee, noted that a RAND Corp. survey of Los Angeles area residents, commissioned by the committee, found that 75% said they would be willing to pay higher taxes to solve some of the region’s more perplexing problems.

The Los Angeles 2000 Committee was appointed by Bradley in December, 1985, and began to meet in 1986 to prepare a “strategic plan” for Los Angeles in the new century.

Miscoll told the news conference that the first year was spent gathering information and listening to experts; the second was devoted to analyzing the information, and 1988 has been a “year of synthesis,” in which costs were estimated and agreement was reached on final recommendations.

The original group of 85 committee members was expanded to 150 to include more elements of the community, but the core members are Los Angeles corporate executives such as Miscoll, who is Southern California executive officer for Bank of America; prominent attorneys such as John C. Argue, Warren Christopher and Daniel Garcia, and academic officials such as UCLA Chancellor Charles E. Young and Cornelius J. Pings, provost and senior vice president for academic affairs at USC.

The work cost $1.25 million and was financed from private sources, including Arco, Bank of America, Times Mirror Co. and Rockwell International.

The report was unveiled at Belmont High School because Belmont is one of the nation’s largest high schools, with a racially and ethnically diverse student population that speaks 85 languages and is seen by the committee as a symbol of the city’s future.

Bradley thanked the committee for a report that “lays the groundwork for a long-range strategy for dealing with the problems of the future.”

Bradley said he did not not necessarily agree with all 40 major recommendations contained in the committee report but praised the group for “beginning a dialogue that will lead us to the kind of city we want to be.”

Besides urging formation of the new regional growth management and environmental quality agencies, the committee also gave its blessing to the idea of a new Southern California regional airport authority, which would coordinate operations at all existing airports in the region as well as locate, build and operate several new airports.

To meet a severe shortage of affordable housing in Los Angeles, the committee proposed formation of an affordable housing production trust fund, which would use both public and private money to build at least 10,000 new units of affordable housing each year.

Criminal Procedures

Major transportation improvements were endorsed, including completion of Metro Rail and construction not only of the 150 miles of new rail lines envisioned in the plan approved by county voters in 1980 but new lines as well.

To provide “safe neighborhoods,” the committee urged that criminal court procedures be revised so that “hard-core offenders” are dealt with “quickly and swiftly”; that “alternative sentencing mechanisms” such as electronic monitoring, house arrest and community service be given more consideration than jail terms for less serious offenders; and that after-school child care and education should be provided to help youngsters develop their potential and keep out of trouble.

The report’s environmental suggestions include water conservation, protecting ground water sources, a “water pricing” policy, and completion of new state facilities to bring more water to the Los Angeles region “while respecting Northern (California) water quality objectives.”

The committee urged the Los Angeles Unified School District to provide “basic academic skills, critical thinking and problem solving skills” for all students; to recruit and promote more minority teachers; and to begin a high school apprenticeship program.

The report noted that at least 1 million youngsters and adults in Los Angeles County are functionally illiterate. It urged support for existing programs to increase literacy (which reach only about 4% of that 1 million) and new initiatives such as “community drop-in learning centers, where families can learn together.”

The committee said the city should continue existing arts support and also fund at least five new “multicultural arts providers.”

Pisano said Los Angeles 2000 Committee members now will fan out through the community to discuss the ideas and recommendations contained in the report.

Pisano, a social scientist, also told the news conference, “we are beginning a dialogue with state officials and legislators” about the proposals for new regional growth management and environmental quality agencies “and we’ll just have to see.”

One problem facing the report is that Bradley appointed the committee members and thus many will see it as a pro-Bradley document at a time when the mayor is seeking reelection.

But Bradley said, “This committee’s work was without any consideration for partisan or nonpartisan consequences. . . . They were told to call the shots as they see them.”

Pisano agreed.

“This has been truly an effort independent of City Hall,” she said in an interview. “To the mayor’s great credit, he has honored the commitment he made (in 1985) not to politicize this in any way. My feeling is the report cannot be easily dismissed as a partisan document in an election year--it’s got too much substance.”

L.A. 2000 COMMITTEE RECOMMENDATIONS

Establish regional Growth Management Agency to set policy in such areas as transportation, housing mix and relation of housing to jobs.

Establish regional Environmental Quality Agency to deal with air pollution, water quality, waste disposal and other environmental problems that cut across city and county lines. Agency would replace South Coast Air Quality Management District.

Change state Constitution through ballot initiative so local voters can approve higher property tax rates or impose special taxes by simple majority vote instead of two-thirds.

Establish Affordable Housing Production Trust Fund, using private and public money, to build at least 10,000 affordable units a year in Los Angeles.

Make transportation improvements, including completion of Los Angeles Metro Rail, construction of new light rail lines and areawide High-Occupancy Vehicle (HOV) lanes, adding more lanes to Harbor Freeway/Transitway, extending the El Monte Transitway east, and expanding city’s automatic traffic control network.

Hire and promote more minority teachers in Los Angeles schools, stress “basic academic skills,” and introduce apprenticeship program in high schools.

Increase literacy programs.

Provide after-school education and child care to keep youngsters from committing crimes.

Revise court procedures to expedite serious criminal cases and use more “alternative sentencing” in less serious crimes.

WHO’S ON THE COMMITTEE

The Los Angeles 2000 Committee, appointed by Mayor Tom Bradley in December, 1985, includes representatives of many racial and ethnic groups, neighborhood organizations and social service agencies, as well as prominent business executives, lawyers and academic administrators. The group--originally 85 members but later expanded to about 150--spent its first year hearing from experts in fields such as education, housing and transportation. During the second year, the group divided into committees to concentrate on such topics as environmental quality and how to make Los Angeles a more livable city in the next century. The committee members include:

Jane G. Pisano, president L.A. 2000 Committee

Yvonne B. Burke, partner, Jones, Day, Reavis & Pogue

John C. Cushman III, President, CEO, Cushman Realty Corp.

Antonia Hernandez, president, general counsel, Mexican-American Legal Defense and Educational Fund

Archbishop Roger Mahony

Charles E. Young, chancellor, UCLA