Peter Ostroff
A Voice for Beverly Hills — Past, Present, and Future
Los Angeles County/City Dysfunction
The article critiques the dysfunction between Los Angeles City and County officials, particularly highlighting their failure to effectively address homelessness and the aftermath of recent fires. It emphasizes the lack of accountability and transparency in the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority, the resignation of its CEO amid controversy, and the chaotic recovery efforts following the Palisades fires, all exacerbated by personal conflicts among elected leaders.
Los Angeles County/City Dysfunction
The elected officials of the City and the County of Los Angeles have taken all the fun out of dysfunction while dealing or attempting to deal with the most serious current issues that they face. I am referring to addressing the plight of the unhoused and the recovery from the Eaton and Palisades fires.
Without attempting to assess blame, it is apparent that the cause or the effect is an escalating inability of the Mayor of Los Angeles, Karen Bass, and the County Board of Supervisors to work constructively together. And Mayor Bass often cannot seem to get out of her own way. Actually, there is plenty of blame to go around.
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HOMELESSNESS
Approximately 30 years ago, the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority (LAHSA) was formed to address homelessness issues. Several years ago County residents voted to add a 1/4 cent sales tax to fund LAHSA among other agencies. More recently the 1/4 cent sales tax was increased to 1/2 of a cent and the money poured in to LAHSA. This has been an agency managed jointly by Los Angeles city and Los Angeles County. Therefore no one was in charge and no one was “watching the store.”
LAHSA became a bloated bureaucracy with a multi-billion dollar budget. There has been little transparency and even less accountability regarding its massive resources of taxpayer funds. Most importantly, we have depressingly little to show for it. Homelessness remains at staggeringly high levels.
Now, Los Angeles County has announced that it will withdraw its share of the funding for LAHSA and create a new county agency to deal with homelessness issues in the county. Similarly Los Angeles city will now create its own agency. These developments are giant steps in the wrong direction to address a county-wide, or even regional, problem.
At the same time, LAHSA CEO La Vecia Adams Kellum has resigned. It was recently disclosed that Ms. Adams Kellum had personally signed a $2 million contract with a company that employed her husband in a leadership role. Ms. Adams Kellum‘s explanation was that she had no involvement in the selection of the company as a LAHSA contractor and inadvertently signed the contract when a stack of documents calling for signatures was presented by a LAHSA employee to her. Think about that — is it too much to ask that our public servants read what they sign?
Now, the Los Angeles United States attorney has announced the creation of a task force to investigate fraud and corruption at LAHSA. None of this inspires confidence that Los Angeles County homelessness issues are competently being addressed. And we see and experience the results all over Los Angeles County.
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THE FIRES
And then there are the efforts to deal with the aftermath of the Palisades fires. You will recall that even before the fires were contained, Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass announced the appointment of prominent businessman Steven Soboroff as the City’s Chief Recovery Officer. That announcement was followed immediately by one hiccup after another.
First it was explained that Mr. Soboroff would have a three-month $500,000 contract to direct the recovery efforts. When that announcement proved controversial because of the contract amount, it was explained that the funds would come from a charitable donor. Then it was announced that Mr. Soboroff would not charge for his services. But wait, there’s more. Almost immediately disputes arose between Mr. Soboroff and the Mayor. There was controversy regarding just what he would do. Then, the Mayor announced that the burn area would be reopened. She backtracked when Mr. Soboroff and Pacific Palisades Councilmember Traci Park objected. Then the Mayor hired a firm to manage recovery efforts, such as debris removal, without consulting Mr. Soboroff. So, the role of the Chief Recovery Officer was diminished if not eliminated before he got started. And many others, including the Governor of California, the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors, Councilmember Park and several prominent businessmen (all working independently) stepped into the breach. All seem to be working at somewhat cross purposes.
More recently at the end of the three-month term of his contract, Mr. Soboroff explained that he had been ignored for the last several weeks and criticized what was and was not being done. Unfortunately, what appears to be the underlying cause of this dysfunction is that some members of the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors do not like on a personal level or respect Mayor Bass and vice versa. This is unacceptable. Regional issues can be properly addressed only on a regional cooperative basis. Our elected representatives should get over their differences where existential problems persist and do their jobs.
Peter Ostroff is a long-time Beverly Hills resident of over 50 years who retired in 2017 after a distinguished 50-year career as a trial lawyer. Since 2018, he has served on the Beverly Hills Planning Commission. In addition to his work on the Commission, Peter has chaired the BHUSD 7-11 Surplus Property Committee and contributed to planning efforts for the District Offices site on S. Lasky Drive and future uses of the Hawthorne School property. He also served as Co-Chair of the Citizens Advisory Committee for the City's Climate Adaptation and Action Plan.
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The article discusses the unexpected resignation of BHUSD Superintendent Dr. Michael Bregy, highlighting the need for the Board of Education to address the circumstances surrounding his departure while focusing on finding a suitable replacement to improve the district's academic performance. Additionally, it covers the annual Los Angeles Homeless Count, where volunteers, including the author, found a surprisingly low number of unhoused individuals in their assigned area, raising questions about the effectiveness and scientific accuracy of the counting process.