Riordan Names Soboroff as Senior Policy Advisor

Reaching once again into a tight circle of trusted foot soldiers, Los Angeles Mayor Richard Riordan on Friday announced that he has appointed Westside businessman and parks commission leader Steven Soboroff as a volunteer senior policy advisor.

Soboroff, 47, one of the mayor’s frequently called-upon people for high-priority projects, will occupy the mayoral suite office once assigned to Riordan’s former chief of staff, UCLA business professor and management guru Bill Ouchi.

Soboroff takes over for Ted Stein, who recently resigned to run for city attorney. Like Stein, Soboroff will work for free. While Stein concentrated largely on legal and financial battles over airport revenues, Soboroff will focus on sports-related issues, development projects and special assignments. A real estate consultant whose firm specializes in finding local sites for national retail chains, Soboroff is president of the Recreation and Parks Commission and a co-leader of Football LA, a Riordan-appointed task force seeking to bring a professional football franchise to the region. Soboroff also led the city’s successful right-of-way negotiations for the Alameda Corridor, which is to be a truck and rail corridor between Downtown and the Los Angeles Harbor.