Honoring Congresswoman Watson

Today, I had the privilege to honor Congresswoman Diane Watson in Council Chambers. Her notable career started in 1975, when she became the first African-American woman to be elected to the Los Angeles Unified School District Board of Education. In 1978, she was elected to the California State Senate, where she chaired the Senate Health and Human Services Committee from 1981 to 1998. In 1999, President Clinton appointed her to serve as the United States Ambassador to the Federated States of Micronesia—understanding, as we do, that Congresswoman Watson would represent our country with poise, compassion, and savvy.

In 2001, she was elected to California’s 33rd Congressional District, where she has lived all her life. Watson’s roots are deep in Los Angeles, with her father serving as a LAPD officer, and on the staff of Councilmember Gil Lindsay.

Blueprint for Reform of City Collections Unveiled

On Monday, I received a “Blueprint for Reform of City Collections” from the Ad Hoc Commission on Revenue Efficiency (CORE). The detailed, 90 page report offers analysis and recommendations to help ensure money owed to the people of Los Angeles is collected and can be used to support police, fire, library, traffic and other key services.

It is unacceptable for bureaucracy and inefficiency to stand in the way of the people of Los Angeles collecting money that is owed to them. It is time to clear away the red tape.

I created CORE to evaluate and recommend improvements in revenue collections. In the course of four months, the Commission has assessed revenue, billing, and collections practices – with a focus on specific recommendations for reform.

Among the Blueprint’s Recommendations:

• Centralization: Create clearer and stronger authority for the Office of Finance; invest in the technology needed to centralize – not just collection – but billing as well.

• Accountability, Incentives & Budgeting: L.A.’s elected officials must hold departments and managers accountable for compliance with directives, guidelines, and Controller audits. Create incentives for departments to make revenue a priority.

• Inspector General: CORE recommends establishing an Inspector General for Revenue & Collections to independently report on, and aid in compliance and reform.

• Intensify consequences for delinquencies: Standardize and boost interest, penalties and fees; increase use of liens and public reporting.

• Ease of payment and collection: Expand and improve payment options.


Among the Blueprint’s Findings:

• 76.6% of the City’s $541.1 million in non-tax receivables are more than 120 days past due – with 42.5% more than 2 years past due.

• City departments are collecting just over half of what they bill.

• Less than half of City departments apply interest or penalties to past due accounts.

• Computer systems and software for accounts receivable are woefully outdated.

• The City has no real centralized billing and collection process

Yerevan, Sister City

Yerevan, Sister City
Originally uploaded by CD-13

Yerevan has long been a sister city in our hearts. Now it's on our sign.

New Jobs Committee

I had the pleasure to welcome businesses from across Los Angeles to council chambers as the LA Area Chamber of Commerce sponsored the 10th annual Access City Hall. In those ten years, participants have visited three different mayors and have seen the name above every council district’s office door change (and one change back).

When I first came to office, I decided that the time had come to get real business tax reform done. I was greeted by ten years of shelved reports and big ideas that had fallen by the wayside. nonetheless, I pushed with Councilmember Wendy Greuel to pass the Greuel-Garcetti business tax reform. That legislation has seen taxes fall and receipts rise as Los Angeles officially nailed its “Open for Business” sign to the door.

Our next step to bring economic prosperity to Los Angeles begins October 1st, when Councilmember Greig Smith will officially be appointed chair of the Jobs, Business Growth, and Tax Reform committee. As Council President, I created this committee to give the issues critical to business a single, focused home. The committee and the chair will champion the middle-class jobs that have made Los Angeles great, bringing together government, industry, and community groups to explore new enterprises such as the exploding renewable energy market.

Los Angeles has the raw material of a 21st century city. The challenge before all of us to transform our city into an economic hub for the entire world.

Chief Barry

Firefighters and a new chief
Originally uploaded by CD-13

I joined the mayor and my colleagues on the council for the swearing in of interim Fire Chief Douglas Barry as the permanent chief of the Los Angeles Fire Department. Congratulations, Chief. It's an awesome task, to keep a city safe and reform a department at the same time. I know you're up to the job.

Fran Drescher

Fran Drescher
Originally uploaded by CD-13

“I feel like I got famous, I got cancer, and I lived to talk about it,” Fran Drescher said to the City Council this morning.

Years ago, Drescher was misdiagnosed with a perimenopausal condition. After a two-year, eight doctor odyssey, she was finally told she had uterine cancer. She turned that experience into a bestselling book, Cancer Schmancer, and now leads the Cancer Schmancer Movement.

Drescher also was a leader in the effort to pass "Johanna's Law" (aka The Gynecologic Education and Awareness Act), signed into law in January 2007. The U.S. Department of State recently appointed her "Special Envoy for Women's Health Issues",

The Cancer Schmancer Movement is working to ensure that all women's cancers are diagnosed in Stage 1, when they are most curable. Her unique gift combines compassion, experience, personal outreach, legislative savvy and a very recognizable laugh. She's just begun to save lives.

Posted without comment

Thank you.

The Council Retreat

council retreat w CLA CAO
Originally uploaded by CD-13

Each year, the Los Angeles City Council takes action on almost 10,000 agenda item. For two days, my colleagues and I gathered at a hotel near the Port of Los Angeles and focused on only one: "Dialogue and discussion concerning issues attendant to Council's information sharing, partnership in city government, policy direction and operational improvements." We too often in government replace the important with the urgent. We don't dedicate time to take stock of the issues that matter to Angelenos the most, or to find the long-range vision and policy tools needed to address them. The retreat was our way of changing that.

In a 36-hour span, we heard about each council district, the opportunities that every neighborhood presents and the common challenges that each community faces, whether gang violence or poor air quality. We discussed how the power of the council as a whole can be used to articulate policies and programs that will address these issues on a citywide basis. We thought through strategies to make the council more effective and more accessible to residents. From being more proactive in setting budget priorities to solutions to gang violence, this council's record in getting things done was highlighted by the retreat, as was its recognition that we are standing at a crossroads in this city's history. As representatives of the people, we have been entrusted to work the raw materials of Los Angeles's human and natural resources and turn it into the model for a 21st-century city.

What's next? In the coming months, we will be setting up visits to each council district. We will have in-council broad-view policy discussions on the highest-profile issues that confront our city: public safety, the environment, and mobility, to get started. I think we will become an even more effective body at advocating for the residents of Los Angeles.

99

Garcetti accepts the Council Presidency
Originally uploaded by CD-13

Under Rule 1 of the Los Angeles City Council, every two years, the city clerk takes the president's chair to open the first council meeting of the new fiscal year. By a voice vote, the councilmembers select the council president, whereupon the elected councilmember commences the two-year council session.

This morning, I received the votes of my colleagues, and I thank them for electing me to continue holding the Council Presidency. I took this job on with the hope of helping each member of the council address the big issues confronting our city that he or she has taken on. In the spirit of continuing to work on those issues in ever closer cooperation, I begin the 99th session of the Los Angeles City Council.

I am pleased to continue working with Councilmember Wendy Greuel as President pro tempore and with Councilmember Jan Perry as Assistant President pro tempore. Below the fold, the remarks I gave upon accepting the Council Presidency.

Thank you, City Clerk Martinez.

And thank you to my colleagues for this honor of serving as your council president.

I accept this position with purpose.

Our purpose is reflected in the very firmament of this building, where in 1928, our predecessors laid a cornerstone filled with sand from every county and water from every mission in this state.

Our families come here from different places.

Our professional backgrounds are wide-ranging and diverse.

And we represent very different parts of Los Angeles.

But we serve one city.

Just as we take an oath to serve our city and its people, I promise to do everything in my power to serve you for the next two years.

Each of us around this horseshoe is blessed—we serve in the most open, robust, and vibrant legislative body anywhere in this country.

In a nation where people feel increasingly isolated from their government and from their elected officials, our course runs counter to that.

People come to council chambers to share their joy, their anger, their tragedies, and their hopes with this body and, in turn, with this city.

The challenges our city faces and the accomplishments it realizes can be an inspiration to the world.

There is no city on this earth exactly like ours—mosaic neighborhoods that are home to the city’s newest residents, a strong and always-evolving economy, the creative capital of the world.

Against this backdrop, our duty is to enable all the people of our city to achieve a good life—an affordable place to call home, a safe neighborhood with good schools, clean air and water, an opportunity to work hard and be able to support your family.

We face serious issues that have real consequences.

But this council has the power to confront and resolve these issues and to leave our mark on this great city for future generations.

We are literally changing the course of a river.

We are making communities safer and creating new opportunities for our city's youth.

We are balancing this city’s budget, and protecting vital city services.

We are building new busways and rail lines.

We are cleaning our waterways and preserving more of our resources.

We are expanding shelter beds and building more units of housing than we have seen in decades.

And as councilmembers, we are responding to crisis, whether in the wake of a neighborhood shooting or a fire that ravages our city’s hills.

We have shown we have the power and purpose to lead.

But the council’s leadership does not reside in me, or even in the president pro tempore, the assistant president pro tempore and me. It resides in fifteen individuals around this horseshoe.

What makes this body great is not any one of us; it is the collective wisdom, experience, and passion of us all.

In fact, the next great idea for moving this city forward will come from the person in the chair right next to you.

So in the next two years, let us not only lead but let us listen.

Let us listen to each other.
Let us listen to our constituents.
And let us listen to this great city.

Thank you for electing me to lead this body for the next two years.

Today we begin the 99th session of the Los Angeles City Council. We are the inheritors of a proud tradition stretching back to this city's ayuntamiento, the original town council that first met in 1812.

But we are also the inheritors of a great story—the growth and evolution of one of the greatest cities in human history.

In this 99th session of our council, in our city’s 226th year, let us write a proud chapter in that history.

Council on demand

The city has long provided the option of listening to city council and committee meetings over the phone or watching on Channel 35. Now, you can stream the council meetings on-line live or archived within the last 24 hours. Our new technology employs a number of features including publishing, indexing, search, and closed captioning.

Keeping government open, accessible, and accountable is a vital part of our democracy. This access will give Angelenos an even greater chance to observe and particiapte in issues that affect their lives. Here's a sample, from last month's Pioneer Women awards -- look for Jenny Lewis at the 1:04 mark. Or start using the service on your own.

Richard Alarcón Returns to City Council

Council Chambers welcomed back a familiar face with the swearing in of Councilmember Richard Alarcón, newly elected to represent Council District 7. He began serving the city of Los Angeles as an aide to Mayor Tom Bradley before being elected to the council in 1993 - from there, he went on to serve in the California State Senate, where he championed workers' compensation reform and was instrumental in helping to rebuild the areas throughout the Valley affected by the 1994 Northridge Earthquake. He now rejoins us at City Hall, where he will once again serve the residents of the 7th district and will chair the Education and Neighborhoods committee. A former teacher and long-time supporter of Neighborhood Councils, his background will serve him, and the city, tremendously as we continue to tackle education issues and work to revitalize our communities. Welcome back, Councilmember Alarcón, from all of us here at City Hall.

Even Chickens

I had a visit today in council from a group of students at University Elementary School, my earliest alma mater.

"What class were you in?" one asked.

"1980," I said. The students didn't seem to know exactly what this meant.

"No, what classroom were you in?"

I tried to explain how city council meetings work. At the time, we had just begun Public Comment. "This is the part of the meeting where you can talk to the City Council about anything you want to," I said.

"Even chickens?" one asked.

"Even chickens," I said.

Douglas Barry, Interim Fire Chief

I applaud Mayor Villaraigosa's selection of Douglas Barry to head the Los Angeles Fire Department during the search for a permanent fire chief. Chief Barry is a veteran firefighter and a proven leader. I believe that we as a city can count on him to raise up the best in our fire department and to challenge us where we have fallen down. Mayor Villaraigosa has chosen the right leader at the right time, and I look forward to working with him to move the LAFD forward and, most importantly, to keep Angelenos safe.

Meet the docents

Council docents

Courtesy of John Marshall High School, this week's council sessions will feature yet another improvement to the council-going experience. With the help of Elysian Valley United leader Steve Zimmer, the four students pictured here will be helping visitors to the John Ferraro Council Chambers to navigate the often-confusing council meetings. Look for (from left)Michelle Garcia, Pricila Hernandez, Tracey Molina, Meri Melikjanyan, and their colleague Jose Avila (not pictured) will be available to answer questions you might have about the agenda or public comment, or to deliver a message to a council staffer for you. Don't be afraid to ask them the tough questions—they're getting course credit.

Land use welcomes

The view from the Bradley Room atop City Hall

Atop City Hall in the Tom Bradley Room, I had the honor of welcoming the members of the Urban Land Institute to Los Angeles for their international meeting, which begins today. No other think tank in the world address issue of urban land use and development at the scale that ULI does; a few years ago, they performed a study of Hollywood, roughly bounded by the redevelopment area, and the recommendations they made have helped my office, the CRA, and the Chamber of Commerce think about the future of the area.

It's a good time for Los Angeles to host a group of creative land-use thinkers. We face enormous change and enormous possibility; the Institute's agenda will include workshops on developments planned or proposed for the Staples Center and LA Live, the Port of Los Angeles, and Century City. The Mayor and the Council are both supportive of development, and, more importantly, of development done right. There is unprecedented concentration in the city right now on new and courageous solutions to the housing crisis (which I've discussed here and here.) Mixed-use development, density on transportation corridors, and other smart-growth principles, once wild new ideas, are showing up in plans on file and buildings on the ground. We're literally "growing up"—not just maturing in our thinking about what it means to be a city, but starting to grow vertically instead of just creeping out horizontally over every available patch of dirt. And twenty-odd stories below the ULI's meeting, a new mayor is actively searching for a new planning director who can accelerate our search for solutions.

Also welcome on the land-use front is Curbed L.A., a new region-wide blog addressing real estate, transportation, and development issues. It's great to see more discussion of these issues, which are central like no others to the 21st century in Los Angeles.