Auditor Says Planners Must Resist Pressure From City Council Members

The Los Angeles Planning Department must be more willing to resist pressure from the City Council, the author of a report on the department told a council committee Tuesday.

The department must “stand up a bit stronger to the council,” consultant Paul Zucker said, delivering an abbreviated, oral version of his highly critical audit of the Planning Department.

In his first public comment on the audit since it was unveiled two weeks ago, Zucker told the council Planning Committee that politicians too often shape the advice and workload of the city’s professional planners.

Councilman Hal Bernson, chairman of the committee and perhaps the council’s most influential land-use legislator, said he would see to it that the audit’s recommendations are implemented, vowing that the report is “not going to be shoved under a corner of the rug.”

In his own review of the audit, Bernson said it should lead to a major reduction in the two to three years required for projects to be processed at City Hall.

Projects should be processed in 12 to 15 months to “reduce appreciably” the cost of doing business in Los Angeles, he said.

Developers pay “a heck of a lot” in interest during the delay, increasing the ultimate cost consumers pay for shelter, Bernson said.

In his overview of the audit, Zucker blamed the politicization of the city’s professional planning advice on the inadequacy of the city’s outdated General Plan. Most elements of that plan, which serves as a kind of planning constitution for the city, are 20 years old, Zucker said.

If they have no clear and relevant framework for their decisions, professional planners are more susceptible to the political concerns of elected officials, Zucker said.

Community activist Leonard Shapiro called on Bernson to appoint homeowner representatives to a special panel Bernson has named to review the Zucker audit in detail and oversee its implementation.

But Bernson refused to change the makeup of the panel, which consists of top city officials, including Bernson and Mayor Tom Bradley.

Shapiro also challenged Bernson to hold all the panel’s meetings in public. “I don’t have to answer that,” Bernson replied sharply. Bernson has said previously that he believes the panel will be able to work more efficiently if its sessions are private.