CALIFORNIA BRIEFING / LOS ANGELES
The City Council voted Wednesday to approve Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa’s pick to replace Jane Usher, the planning commissioner who became something of a folk hero to homeowner associations for her outspoken views on billboards and high-density development.
Sean Burton, president and chief operating officer of the investment fund known as CityView, will replace Usher on the powerful, nine-member Planning Commission.
Burton was plugged in at City Hall well before the council’s unanimous vote. A resident of Bel Air Crest, he served as treasurer of Proposition H, the $1-billion affordable housing bond that failed to win passage in 2006. He was co-chairman of council President Eric Garcetti’s 2005 reelection campaign. And earlier this month, he spoke at the wedding when Garcetti married his longtime partner, Amy Wakeland.
Burton has been serving on the West Los Angeles Area Planning Commission. He is the son-in-law of Henry Cisneros, the former secretary of the U.S. Housing and Urban Development Department who is chairman of CityView. Since Villaraigosa’s election, two city pension funds have committed up to $50 million to CityView, which invests in “workforce housing” -- homes for families who earn just below or just above the median income.
-- David Zahniser
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