Weaker of 2 CRA Control Plans Backed

In a compromise with Mayor Tom Bradley, a City Council committee Monday approved the weaker of two plans intended to increase council control over the powerful City Redevelopment Agency, which has raised public ire by offering its top executive a $1.7-million retirement buyout.

Councilwoman Gloria Molina, chair of the Community Redevelopment and Housing Committee, said the compromise was reached because there were too few members on the full council who would vote for the stronger plan.

“It’s the best we could get under the circumstances,” said Molina.

However, both Molina and Councilman Zev Yaroslavsky called for the ouster of CRA Chairman Jim Wood for his role in “engineering” the retirement package for CRA Administrator John Tuite, and they predicted the ouster of commission lawyer Murray Kane, who negotiated the buyout.

Wood, assistant secretary-treasurer for the AFL-CIO, denied engineering the Tuite retirement plan and said the December CRA board decision was unanimous.

“I feel as comfortable with that decision today as I did when I made it in December,” Wood said. Kane, whose yearly contract to provide legal services for the CRA will be up for renewal, could not be reached for comment.

In the aftermath of the Tuite buyout, Bradley said he had not been consulted by his CRA appointees before the “golden parachute” was negotiated.

He proposed an expansion of the council’s limited oversight role, including the right to confirm the appointment of the CRA administrator, approve the administrator’s compensation contract and approve all CRA commission decisions.

The compromise sent to the full council Monday also gives the council the right to hold hearings on the removal of commissioners. A two-thirds vote of the 15 members would be needed to recommend that the mayor remove a commissioner. Committee members Molina and Richard Alatorre voted for the compromise. Yaroslavsky opposed it. The full council is expected to vote on the plan early next month.

“Certainly you can say our office is generally supportive of the action of the committee,” said Bradley press spokesman Bill Chandler. “This is something that our office initiated.”

Yaroslavsky had backed a separate proposal that would have given the council the CRA’s responsibilities and allowed the council to delegate those powers to CRA commissioners. Removal of a commissioner would have required either a majority vote by the council and the concurrence of the mayor or a two-thirds council vote. But council legal advisers said state law allows only the mayor to remove a commissioner.

The CRA, with a $250-million annual budget, is responsible for economic development throughout designated sections of Los Angeles.