ENCINO : Firm to Report on Quake Recovery

With federal emergency funds in shrinking supply and recovery still far from complete, the Los Angeles City Council commissioned a private firm Tuesday to assess how much must still be done to get businesses back on their feet more than a year after the devastating Northridge earthquake.

The council unanimously agreed to ask the Encino-based Natelson Co. to conduct a study of businesses citywide and to report on recovery needs still unmet.

Councilman Hal Bernson, who heads a city panel on earthquake relief, said many shops in his district remain shuttered and are in danger of staying shut indefinitely when Federal Emergency Management Agency funds run out.

“If you go through my district and the neighborhood shopping centers, half of them are empty,” Bernson said. “When the FEMA money runs out, there’ll be difficulty.”

Many of the businesses also did not qualify for loans from the Small Business Administration, Bernson said.

The council allocated $120,000 for the study, which the Natelson Co. is to complete within nine months. Funding for the study will come out of a special grant for economic development.