http://www.nytimes.com/2014/04/10.../report-finds-a-los-angeles-in-decline.html
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Homeless man on a bench in Downtown Los Angeles
commons.wikimedia.org |
Hello Everyone:
Los Angeles, my hometown, has always been both a complexity and a contradiction. The complexity stems from how this city, sitting on the Western edge of the North American continent, can continue to thrive despite earthquakes, fires, riots, floods, other natural and man-made disasters. The contradiction grows out of the fact that crime is down, a new seventy-three story high-rise just broke ground in Downtown, home prices are up, there's a new mayor, yet it's poised for decline. How, despite all sign pointing to an upswing, is this city poised for decline. This is the topic that Adam Nagourney explores in his
New York Times article, "Report Finds Los Angeles at Risk of Decline." Some of the signs of doom are symbolic, such as the departure of "The Tonight Show" for New York accompanied by Mayor Eric Garcetti's appeal to CBS to move "The Late Show" to Los Angeles when David Letterman retires next year. Some of the signs are more obvious, like the recent earthquakes which were a rather rude reminder just how unprepared we Southern Californian are for the end of the world as we know it but we feel fine. Sorry all you REM fans out there.
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Protestors in Downtown Los Angeles
inside.com |
Perhaps a more ominous sign of impending doom is the harsh verdict pronounced on Los Angeles' civic health, delivered in successive blows by the Los Angeles 2020 Commission
(http://www.la2020reports.org). This commission, composed of lawyers, developers, former elected officials, and labor leaders presented a laundry list of failures that it declared "a unique burden to the city: widespread poverty and job stagnation, huge municipal pension obligations, a struggling port and tourism industry and paralyzing traffic that would not be eased event with a continuing multibillion-dollar mass transit initiative." This was tantamount to a stinging indictment of the City of Angeles, its culture, and as a place described by commission as "...brimming with talent and resources but was nonetheless falling behind other major cities across the globe." Ouch.
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Port of Los Angeles
articles.latimes.com |
According to the findings of the commission, Los Angeles is barely holding its head above water. While the rest of world cruises by, the commission stated, "We risk falling further behind in adapting to the realities of the 21st century and becoming a city in decline." Further the report found, "Year by year, our city-which was once a beacon of innovation and opportunity to the world-is becoming less livable." I definitely agree with all of these statements so far. Rents are high, driving is unbearable, mass transit is non-existent, even grocery shopping can be an expensive proposition.
The first part of the report was released in December 2013 and paints a bleak image of Los Angeles' future. The goal of this grim forecast was to draw attention to the city's plight like "an alarm clock," said Mickey Kantor, former United States Secretary of Commerce and the co-chairman of the commission. Mr. Kantor added the commission wanted to make sure the report did not end up "another report gathering dust on the shelf." As exhaustive as Chapter was in outlining the problem, the follow released this month was, by Adam Nagourney's estimation, less than ambitious and specific, attesting to the prolonged challenges and the difficulty in getting anything accomplished in a community with a less than stellar history of civic involvement and an institutionally weak mayor.
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Los Angeles Flood Control Channel
californiacitynews.org |
The Los Angeles 2020 Commission found that, perhaps, the biggest threat to the long-term financial stability of the city is the crushing costs of pensions and benefits. The commission suggested appointing another commission to deal with this challenge. The reason given for this somewhat strange recommendation was neither Mr. Kantor nor Austin Beuter, a former deputy mayor and Wall Street investment banker and fellow co-chaiman, have the expertise needed to find a solution for this issue. Thus the recommendation for a "Commission for Retirement Security." Mr. Kantor sheepishly admits, "Yeah we did kick the ball to someone else, because we didn't have the staff at the time, the resources to really do what be a professional job in coming up with correct recommendations in this very technical area."
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Do I need to add a clever caption?
allgov.com |
Whatever the intent and purpose of the report, it most definitely provoked a strong reaction from some civic leaders who dismissed it as exaggerations and potentially damaging. According to Mayor Garcetti, "Los Angeles is so good about saying privately what we love about our city and publicly" complaining about what is wrong...I'd like to invert that." I think the first step is to pull some of these civic leaders' heads out the sand and unstopper their ear. Mayor Garcetti added, If we are really going to tackle things, that is going require common purpose...I think it's better to lead with our optimism and strength, rather than going into a corner and being pessimistic." Russell Goldsmith, the president of City National Bank in Los Angeles, describes this grim characterization as, "an unfortunate characterization" of what Los Angeles is presently like. Mr. Goldsmith continues, "It is certainly not in decline...Los Angeles, like many cities, has some serious issues and problems, but it also has remarkable resources and opportunities." If Los Angeles were a person, it could make an appointment with a therapist to discuss its serious issues and problems but it isn't. Los Angeles is a city, and like any other city in crisis, it needs a coherent and cohesive plan to manage its remarkable resources and opportunities.
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Skid Row
losangeles.cbslocal.com |
In one respect, the commission might have made its task more difficult. Both Messrs. Beuter and Kantor wanted unanimous recommendations from the commission. However, in order to achieve that, they needed a consensus from the group that included representatives of two municipal labor organizations that have long been suspicious of deep cuts to workers' benefits that have often been cited as one solution to municipal financial woes. When the first part of the report was published, loaded with criticism, many of the City Hall denizens predicted that the second part would fall flat as a pancake. As it turned out, most of what was contained in the report were procedural suggestions: municipal elections should be in November, not the spring to combat low voter turnout and the city should merge the competitive ports of Long Beach and Los Angeles as well as the competing tourism bureaus.
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Poverty in the shadow of prosperity
publicceo.com |
Some of the other suggestions floated in the report were the creation of an independent budget office that would analyze the financial implications of legislation and an independent rate setting commission that would oversee the perpetually swamped Department of Water and Power. More levels of bureaucracy is certainly not the answer. Perhaps the most contentious part of the report is the image it presents of a city that's quite conscious of the face it shows to world. Mr. Goldsmith says, "Because it points an inappropriately unduly negative picture of Los Angeles, it can't help the image of the city...I'm surprised by it, but I don't why they took such a strikingly negative view. Maybe they felt they had to do this to get attention." Perhaps or maybe this is the side of Los Angeles that civic boosters just want to sweep under the carpet.
Paul Krekorian, a Democrat on City Council, dismissed the whole thing as "an opportunity for a collection of people [like his own constituents] to share all of the things that aggravate them the most, rather than a thoughtful consideration of the status quo of the city right now." Ouch. One-time mayoral candidate Mr. Beutner defended the tone of the report, "It's a bit of a wake-up call...If the report is seriously sobering, maybe it's because the facts are seriously sobering."
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