The Los Angeles City Council Tuesday approved an ordinance to formally consolidate three city departments into a single entity.
In a 12-2 vote, council members gave final approval to consolidate the departments of youth, aging and economic development into a revamped Community Investment Department. Council members Monica Rodriguez and Traci Park voted against the matter, with Councilman Tim McOsker absent during Tuesday’s meeting.
The matter was approved without council discussion.
Last week, the council gave preliminary approval to the ordinance. It required a second vote to be finalized.
Mayor Karen Bass called for the consolidation last year as part of her budget for fiscal year 2025-26. The final revised budget addressed a nearly $1 billion deficit caused by overspending, a decrease in tax revenue, an increase in liability payouts and the January 2025 wildfires, among other challenges.
In the budget summary, the Mayor’s Office wrote that current programs under the departments were “not strategically aligned” and could be improved under one entity. The consolidation was expected to save the city more than $1 million.
In September 2025, Bass fired Jaime Pacheco-Orozco and Carolyn Hull, the general managers of the Department of Aging and Department of Economic and Workforce Development, respectively, LAist reported.
Rodriguez has been a vocal critic of the consolidation effort, arguing that Los Angeles should not be folding its economic workforce development department into a stand-alone one with a larger bureaucracy.
“At a moment when cities across the country are aggressively competing for investment, employers, tourism and economic opportunity, LA should not be weakening the very department responsible for advocating on behalf of economic development,” Rodriguez said on May 19.
She said LA is experiencing serious challenges to its business community as stores and restaurants struggle, and many have had to close shop due to rising costs, inflation, permitting delays and public safety concerns.
“A stand-alone economic development department serves as a very specific purpose to wake up every single day focused on job creation, business retention, workforce opportunities, and attracting investment, supporting entrepreneurs and helping industries grow here in Los Angeles,” Rodriguez said last week.
“That mission deserves its own voice and its own leadership.”
The councilwoman has also been highly critical of eliminating the department focused on youth development.
Bass and top city officials have defended the consolidation, saying services can be provided more cost-effectively. They argue there is a greater risk to service levels and operational sustainability if economic development were a smaller, stand-alone department.