In an attempt to prevent corruption, the Los Angeles City Council voted Tuesday to create a criteria for “high value” projects that would be diverted from the City Council Planning and Land Use Management Committee and instead go directly to the council.
“The city has been plagued with a series of corruption scandals related to how we deal with the approval of development projects,” Council President Nury Martinez said during Tuesday’s meeting.
“These incidents have seriously eroded public trust in this body and in the city as a whole … Lobbyists and land use attorneys and consultants make huge sums of money blocking projects, getting projects approved and getting benefits that serve their interests.”
The motion — which passed with nine yes votes, five no votes and one council member absent — instructed the City Planning Department and chief legislative analyst to report back to the council in 30 days on developing criteria for high value projects and amending the planning process to divert those projects from the PLUM Committee and to the full City Council.
“We have to eliminate the ability of one person to say thumbs down on a major project and then be able to use that leverage for personal gain,” Councilman Paul Krekorian said during the meeting.
Several council members cited the corruption scandal surrounding Jose Huizar, the former chairman of the PLUM Committee who is accused of accepting $1.5 million in bribes from developers in exchange for his support of downtown building projects. He has pleaded not guilty and faces an upcoming trial.
Councilman Mike Bonin, who voted no on the motion Tuesday, said he was concerned that sending high value projects directly to the City Council would eliminate scrutiny.
“I’m concerned about actually reducing the level of scrutiny and the level of public comment on high value projects by moving them out of the committee and directly to council,” he said. “By taking it out of committee, we actually lose an opportunity for deeper scrutiny and don’t add any of it.”
Councilman Gil Cedillo also voted no, citing his worry that it would “begin the slippery slope towards the elimination of committees.”
“How will we do the research, how will we do the amendments … this is a disservice to the city and I have yet to be made aware of the problems this will solve,” he said.
The motion passed with an amendment added by Councilman Bob Blumenfield, to specify that while the high value projects will go directly to the City Council, the PLUM Committee is not prohibited from providing an extensive hearing and adding extra scrutiny to the projects.
Councilwoman Nithya Raman, who voted no on the motion, said she thinks the discussion about preventing corruption should be opened up to all committees, not just the PLUM Committee.
Krekorian, however, said, “As far as I know, no other committee, other than the PLUM Committee, has that unique ability to single-handedly cause a very wealthy, moneyed interest to have to accommodate that committee chair.”