This Reform Is Not the City’s Salvation

Proponents of the proposed “unified city charter” hail this document as the instrument that will provide more accountability in government and bring efficiency to City Hall. Or so it claims. However, in drafting a new constitution for a city the size and complexity of Los Angeles, make no mistake that the devil is always in the details. This charter makes great promises to the public. But beware of the fine print. Here’s what the supporters of Charter Measure 1 don’t tell you.

* It will cost taxpayers millions of dollars. The city’s chief legislative analyst and the city administrative officer have estimated the costs of the unified charter to be between $11 million and $26 million, with a significant portion of these costs to be ongoing. These funds would have to come out of the city’s general fund, which is used to pay for the most essential services, such as firefighters, police, recreational facilities, libraries, senior citizen centers and street repairs.

Increasing the cost of running the government does not make it more efficient. If the unified charter were to live up to its promise to streamline city government and make it more efficient, it could have done a lot better than add up to $26 million in costs to the taxpayers.

* It will destroy our system of checks and balances. The main focus of the unified charter is to shift the balance of power from the City Council to the mayor. Part of this redistribution includes giving the mayor’s office the sole authority to appoint and remove city commissioners without City Council approval and to hire and fire department managers. The mayor’s office will have direct oversight over the city’s 33 departments. But who will have oversight over the mayor’s office? This new charter can easily lead us back to a time when cronyism and corruption proliferated.

* It will distance our communities from City Hall. With the new charter, the mayor, instead of the City Council, will have ultimate authority over department heads. Residents in need of assistance in obtaining basic services, such as trash pick-up, pothole repairs and tree-trimming will have to contact a mayor who represents an entire city of 3.5 million people, rather than a local council member responsible for a constituency of 230,000. This unified charter will stretch the distances of local representation in the most harmful ways.

* It will transfer power away from voters. There are significant technical changes in the unified charter that pose potential threats to the welfare of our community. One concern is over the changing of the Proposition 5 authority of the City Council. Currently, if the council believes that a city commission’s agenda item does not best serve the city’s interest, the council can, with a two-thirds vote, substitute its own recommendations. Under the new charter, the council would only be able to veto an unelected city commission’s decision.

* It will diminish the voice of our communities. Under the charter proposal, the council’s authority to hear appeals in local land use and zoning issues has been dropped. Instead of community members having the ability to appeal decisions on land use and zoning issues to the full City Council, the decisions of new local planning commissions will be final. Again, this procedural change affects the ability of council members to act as the voice of their community and limits residents’ opportunities to express their views on planning/zoning issues that affect their community.

The unified charter will limit the representation of local communities, limit the ability of our communities to receive needed public services and will take at least $11 million of taxpayer money away from public services to pay for an expanded bureaucracy. Is this real reform?