As it is now, Mayor Riordan is bent on grabbing power from the City Council and the Council is determined to keep an iron grip on the fifteen dynasties that now exist. Decision making authority must shift from the Council to communities, not simply transition to the Mayor Mayor Riordan and the Council will keep planning in the hands of politicians, where it has been for years - and one has only to look around at this city to see the kind of job they have done. Planning during the past decade has been a disaster for Los Angeles residents. They have eroded responsible planning case by case in hearing after hearing. Each zoning case has become an urban planning battlefield, with residents badly outflanked.
Developers seeking to build in already over congested areas fire very heavy artillery.
They enlist lobbyists, who have already softened the opposition with liberal campaign contributions, and since our Planning Commission is made up of political appointees, it is no surprise that no's become yeses. Community plans become twisted and mangled in the process. Los Angeles has taken on all of the worst qualities of Manhattan, without its redeeming features. It is not too late, though, to stop or even reverse the Manhattanization of our city. What is needed are community planning boards made up of residents with decision making authority over community plans, zoning matters and the delivery of services.