From UN4LA President..Casey Maddren....

THIS THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 19: THREE MOTIONS L.A. RESIDENTS SHOULD BE CONCERNED ABOUT..

Just three months ago, LA City Council President Nury Martinez introduced three planning motions which she claimed would benefit Angelenos by simplifying and streamlining the planning process. Remarkably, while it often takes a year or more for a motion to be considered by committees and move to the Council, these three motions have already cleared the Rules & Elections Committee, and on Thursday they will be heard by the Planning & Land Use Management (PLUM) Committee. Here are the three items: ITEM NO. (3) Creation of a measure to be placed on the ballot to revise the City's Zoning Code. ITEM NO. (4) Amend the planning process so that "high-value" projects are diverted from the PLUM Committee and go directly to the City Council. ITEM NO. (5) Revising the Processes & Procedures Ordinance with additional criteria in regard to entitlements, and "restricting actions from moving forward unless it can be established that they are in the public interest or otherwise adhere to established policies of the City." All three are problematic, but Item 3 will take a long time to take shape, so the biggest concerns right now are Items 4 and 5.

Because of the recent FBI investigations and Department of Justice prosecutions related to LA's deeply corrupt planning process, the City Council is trying extra hard to make it look like they want to do something about it. In her motion Martinez says that the developers behind "high value" projects, "hire teams of consultants and lobbyist [sic] who often targets [sic] members of the PLUM Committee." Her solution? Have these "high value" projects bypass PLUM and go straight to City Council. The likely result? All those consultants and lobbyists who used to fling campaign cash at PLUM Committee members will now be flinging it at every member of the City Council. This proposal would also reduce the amount of time that members of the public have to submit comments on a project. Item 5 may sound like a good idea, but in spite of the language, there's no reason to believe this motion will actually serve the public interest. It seems like an odd coincidence that Martinez would float a motion to revise the Processes & Procedures Ordinance, when the draft Ordinance was just recently released for public review. City Planning has said they will hold public meetings this winter to discuss revisions and answer questions, but the new language Martinez is proposing won't be added until later. And there's really no indication of what this language will be, aside from the claim that it will serve the public interest. If Martinez wants to revise the proposed Ordinance, it needs to be withdrawn until the revisions have been added, so that the public has a clear idea of what's being proposed.

The PLUM Committee will meet this Thursday, November 19 at 10:00 am. If you'd like to comment on these items, here's a link to the agenda. The agenda contains instructions for members of the public who wish to comment. Click link.... https://ens.lacity.org/.../clkcommitteeagend26145356... Click "ITEM #' alongside agenda items to go to the city file and read motions, ordinance, and to submit comments..upper right hand icon with pencil.

Agenda has info. to dial in to listen and/or join public speakers at meeting.