Cutting red tape at City Hall

Cutting red tape at City Hall
Originally uploaded by CD-13

We want to make it easier to do business in and bring jobs to Los Angeles. But for some businesses - particularly small businesses - navigating the city's entitlement and permitting process can be a nightmare.

I joined Mayor Villaraigosa and Los Angeles business leaders to announce a program called 12 to 2 that will reduce the number of city departments that business owners and builders will have to visit to receive their entitlements and permits from... you guessed it, 12 to 2. They will go to Planning for entitlements and Building and Safety for permits, and that's it.

Cutting red tape not only helps our economy, it helps us make better use of our city resources. We don't need 12 departments managing paperwork when two departments can coordinate the review of business or construction plans. And by coordinating the efforts of our city departments, we can better ensure that new projects are assets to our neighborhoods.