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ERIC PREVEN’S NOTEBOOK - One has to wonder if George Clooney gives a shit about local government. I'm guessing not so much.
The County Board of Supervisors was reviewing an old chestnut about the limitations of the Brown Act on Tuesday. It would have been nice to have the Clooney POV.
Still, there were only thirteen general public comments including comments on about 75 of the 85 items that were not held by Supervisors taken, and the fab five were once again in rare fighting form.
The new and energetic leadership of Lindsey Horvath SD3 was once again on full display. "Hostile and snotty," said one participant who was once again blocked from giving general public comment.
Holly J. Mitchell, County Supervisors SD2: My motion today, asks county counsel to return with an analysis of our board's authority to create a committee structure and how many board members can be on each committee... I spent last night rereading the Brown Act. I think that it is often misquoted or only a portion of the Brown Act is pulled out. And the reality is, you know, the Brown Act requires public notice of meetings, which would allow us to discuss policy issues. The Brown Act also does not prevent an employee of a local agency or official from engaging in conversation about the policy in the context of answering questions so I think that we often get stuck with what can't be discussed with whom. It is really imperative that we understand the nuances and what is allowed under the Brown Act. Again, with a committee infrastructure, I think that it would allow for policy ideas and motions to be in print and to be discussed in a legislative context before a final decision is actually made in a committee of the whole, which is a full board meeting. I appreciate you clarifying that within the Brown Act. That is the nuance, I think that we think that the Brown Act says we can't. Brown Act says it must be noticed in public. And you can have the conversation but has to be public.
Sup. Lindsey Horvath, County Supervisor SD3: I've been on Brown Act bodies I was advised by counsel. By the majority of our counsel at the time. I know what I was advised, previously. This is new information. So we will see what county counsel's interpretation of the Brown Act is.
Smart Speaker: Hostile and snotty.
Chair Supervisor Lindsey Horvath and Supervisor Kathryn Barger SD5 discussed the urgency of implementing ethics reforms. Supervisor Barger emphasized the need for immediate action, arguing that the board can establish an ethics commission and related measures without waiting for a charter amendment. She highlighted the importance of addressing issues like cooling-off periods for former employees to prevent corruption, criticizing the board's past decisions as reflecting poor governance rather than structural issues.
Supervisor Horvath responded by acknowledging that some reforms could be implemented without a charter amendment but stressed the importance of codifying certain changes to ensure their longevity. She argued that embedding these reforms in the charter would prevent future boards from easily reversing them and emphasized the importance of a transparent public process in decision-making. Horvath also pointed out that some frustrations stem from procedural constraints like the Brown Act, which limits the board's ability to deliberate publicly.
The core disagreement lies in the approach: Barger favors immediate, actionable steps through policy changes, while Horvath supports a more structured, long-term strategy involving charter amendments to enshrine ethics reforms and ensure they endure beyond the current board's tenure.
Sup. Kathryn Barger: Madam Chair, since you are responding, I want to say, I know [ethics] was put in there because polling matters. It is not a scientific poll. It is a poll of what voters are going to vote for, in order to get passed. Ethics and transparency. I know why it is in your proposal, I know why you put it in there. And you put it in there to get this passed. Polling shows that a bigger government is not going to sell. Neither is an elected executive. Ethics will. I am here to say, if you are serious about the ethical side of it, let's bring that forward now.
Ethics, Older than the Wind (but not sleepy):
Also, you better hurry, before old Robert "Bob" Stern cashes in his chips over at City Hall, sometimes called Huizar's Casino. The Los Angeles City Council has confirmed reform expert Robert Stern as the newest member of the Ethics Commission. New, not young, and inexperienced. Stern is wise and ... very wise.
As I wrote last week, "Maybe we can ask Robert Stern the grand poobah of California Corruption, who Paul Krekorian said was... "one of the greatest champions of government reform in the history of California.”
Smart Speaker: Don't be modest, sir, you put him in there. How old is Bob? I feel a birthday coming on."
Now, aides close to the president and not so close are seeking a semi-current photo of Mr. Stern and would like confirmation of his age.
Jeffrey Daar, the past president of the commission served under four different mayors and must be pushing seventy. Stern, at eighty-something...is he too old? Some might wonder if his age makes him out of touch with the sharp young elected criminals he's meant to oversee. Critics argue that in a world of fast-paced digital schemes, the last thing we need is a mushy-thinking octogenarian upstairs in ethics.
Others, however, think that is exactly what is needed. They suggest that his seasoned perspective and experience could bring much-needed wisdom to the commission. Is it possible that in the age of instant tweets and rapid-fire scandals, a slower, more deliberate approach from someone older is exactly what's needed?
Smart Speaker: Sir, you're snoring.
Bold Supervision:
Lindsey Horvath, County Supervisor SD3: I want to be clear, this is a structural problem. The county workforce works incredibly hard day in, and day out, to serve Angelenos and they deserve better than what they have to work with today. We need a structure that gives our county workers the clarity and alignment they need to continue to the important work that they do. We need more diverse voices to have a seat at the table. We need a government that truly meets our communities where they are. So today we share with you our plan for governance and ethics reform for Los Angeles County.
[Cue: Four crates of mushy organic, sustainably grown ripe fruit and vegetables to be handed out to the public here.]
Lindsey Horvath, County Supervisor SD3:...Good government is one with checks and balances which is why the third key component is ethics reform. This includes creating an independent ethics commission to increase transparency and build public trust. The independent Ethics Commission will enhance accountability and integrity within the county's governance, holding our elected representatives to the highest levels of ethical conduct with protocols to root out corruption. The proposal also creates a publicly searchable lobbyist database and extends the revolving door policy to prevent county officials from lobbying the county until two years after leaving their service. This reform package also requires open budget hearings by departments each year, because our communities deserve to know how their tax dollars are spent and how our 46 billion dollar budget directly impacts them.
Smart Speaker: Did you say, Budget Hearings?
Bob Blumenfield CD3, known for draconian rollbacks in public participation at City budget hearings believes that the entire budget is ONE item.
Kathryn Barger, County Supervisor, SD5: Ironically, the charter reform amendment, that pledges to raise no taxes will sit side by side with a ballot, another measure that does ask voters to raise taxes to address the homeless crisis, because of concerns I have. Again the need to address the unhoused is I believe, going to be an ongoing struggle, and Measure H dollars not going to take us where we need to go. To have something on the ballot, at the same time that we are advocating to increase, continuing, but to increase the financial stability for our Fire department, which is in a structural deficit and facing a cliff, and we are asking our voters to allocate a half-cent sales tax for housing and homelessness, I just, I'm concerned about the timing on it quite frankly.
Sara Sadwhani (an assistant professor of politics specializing in Asian American and Latino voting behavior): Yeah, the first thing is, this will not solve a lot of issues. It hopefully prepares the governance to be able to address these issues to a much better respect. I would say that the City of Los Angeles has a challenge in issue areas where they don't have complete control.Homelessness, where they have to share that responsibility with the county is one of those. But where the city has complete and total control I would say things are headed in the right direction. Whether it is air quality that has been greatly improved, whether it is water availability. I could go on and on about, you know, we tend to say government is not successful, but there are many, many success stories in the City of Los Angeles ...
Nithya Raman, CD2, delivering messaging on multiple platforms
Sara Sadwhani: ...and there are many, many success stories in the County of Los Angeles. (Yay!) And there are more, many more success stories than horror stories. We tend to focus on the horror stories. Local government works. And if you have the structure, it works even better.
Lindsey Horvath, County Supevisor SD3: We are going to do this at no additional cost to the taxpayer. We will take our existing budget and reallocate the funds to implement the measure. Colleagues, we cannot allow another 100 years to go by.
Smart Speaker: Thank you, it's been 3 1/2 hours. This is Eric Preven. This is laudable to go in this direction. But it is too fast, it's hastily conceived and prioritizing political expediency over real improvement. The point about the ethics commission, I don't want to get behind a big ethics commission, as it's utterly ineffectual at the City, but it raises the issue of the person, Barger was saying, as opposed to the number of positions.
The desire to expand is not what you need: service-minded thinking is what you need. We have so many problems with DCFS, Probation, under your immediate purview. And all that's happening is we've replaced public meetings with policy hearings and fought to keep our triple-A bond rating, as we sink deeper into a hole of homelessness. It's unfortunate, what I suggest we do is set up a way to move forward with this, once we've found a way to make election campaigning free to interested county residents. In other words, the way Janice Hahn took built a way to post digital candidate statements at the Registrar's office but forgot to resolve how the statements could be shared. On the County Channel? No, silly the county channel is for promoting Supervisor Horvath!
If we have money that we can find to set up four new district supervisorial districts, we can certainly find the money to allow county candidates to participate in publicly funded elections, right? You know, to have a candidate statement in the ballot that doesn't cost the candidate over $50,000 for English and Spanish?
Executive officer: Your time has expired, Next speaker, please.
Moderator: The next participant is Eric Preven. Unmute and speak directly into your phone. You may begin.
Smart Speaker: Thank you. I support this. And I think that there does need to be some ground rules for corporate leasing because it is hard for small business tenants to just up and move... immediately if a landlord, cuts you loose. Now, one little thing we have to be clear, there are serious problems with some of these initiatives. What could possibly be wrong with the recent victory that will limit to one month the amount a landlord can require in security deposit? Well, it does sound like a great idea to protect tenants, but some of us mom and pops will get screwed by that change. We need a balance at all times. Hopefully, Supervisor Hahn will wake up on this, and Barger will come back from the buffet to remind everybody, that the mom and pops --
Executive Officer: Thank you. Next speaker, please.
Smart Speaker: Thank you. As an internationally recognized Brown Act expert and a very good swimmer, unfortunately, I'm not going to be able to weigh in on this, because I was driving through the canyon and missed a chunk. But I understood that it is about the green sheet. And Holly Mitchell's obsession with transparency. Timely transparency.
Obviously, everybody respects the West Hollywood process, madame chair. And all of the great Brown Act advisories that have been issued over there by Mr. Duran, the part-time nutjob. You know, this comes down, again, to the participant. Party rules. Double entendre.
Supervisors do not have to put things on the agenda on Friday. They don't have to take contributions from Arnie Berghoff's wife and Briana Knabe, Matt Knabe's wife.
But the law provides that you can conduct a special meeting with an agenda posted 24 hours before if you promise to let the public speak on every item on the special meeting agenda. General public comment is not required at a special meeting, but nothing prevents the body from taking it anyway.
Most of this type of reform can be done with two votes. I don't know if you want to amend the board rules over late posting. Maybe you do. It certainly has been used as a sneaky back door. If you try to shut the back door, you can do that. Sometimes you need a back door to properly take care of business.
I don't know. I would say, once again, rise and shine! Let's get moving. I will be happy to write a robust report for a reasonable going rate, containing a plan to get the county on the right track. Thank you for your diligence.
Moderator: The next participant is Eric Preven. Please unmute and speak directly into the phone. You may begin.
Smart Speaker: Thank you. It is a little upsetting to hear that people are having a hard time still getting in. I remember when the Hahn doggie waiver was sought to get dogs and people in and out of these facilities. I want to thank the chair for scheduling this after the great expansion discussion. People said, "Maybe we should have, instead of one head of probation, nine heads of probation".
That might make the situation better. Or one dedicated department head for every bungled situation. I don't know. I feel like, this one is, it is something that we are managing as best we can. Thanks, Mitchell for this motion.
Executive Officer: Thank you. Next speaker, please.
Moderator: The next participant is Eric Preven. Please unmute and speak directly into the phone. You may begin.
Smart Speaker: Thank you. We are getting near the end I assume. Very important. These vouchers, you know, nobody wants to do show and tell on how great our various voucher programs work, ffs. Federal money, however, for transition-aged youth who need help is worth getting. All transition-aged youth, people in and out of the foster system, have a hard time. This is obviously coming from the right place. I wonder if we had nine supervisors would this situation be better? No.
So instead of these five supervisors working on this, we will be working on how to add four more supervisors. I wonder, maybe that is not what -- I don't know. It's worth meditating on whether or not, let's not run at full speed until we can start walking, you know, then trotting a little. Thank you for this good work.
Executive Officer: Thank you, your time has expired. Next speaker, please.
Moderator: Our next participant is Eric Preven. You may begin.
Smart Speaker: Thank you to Supervisor Solis for bringing this up. Supervisor Molina spent a lot of energy chasing county counsel. Where is Steve Robles? These liability matters come before the board -- and for which the board would be perfectly right to look down its noses and be like, "Hey, what the "f" is going on? This is not a good strategy at all." Unfortunately, thanks to Sheila Kuehl, the enemy of the people, now all of the reports she fought for, are buried annually since she made it: Receive and File.
This was a huge like a slap in the face and pinch on the ass. Not nice at all. So thank you for bringing it up and the Sheriff certainly needs Holly Mitchell to look at any point system rating deputies. She wondered who should determine if a deputy gets a point. How about Supervisor Mitchell and the staff?
As for not hitting people if we allow officers to drive over 100 miles an hour,... we can't. And we have to helicopter chases from TV. That's a good start. Thank you.
Executive Officer: Thank you, next speaker, please.
Some of our concerns include the training and appointment of officers, and how officers will be assigned to cases. To maintain impartiality and avoid conflicts of interest. Also increasing notice periods to be realistic for working families, access to representations, translation and interpretation, and hardship
Metro Gangs:
Enhancing existing security measures, investing in community-based programs, and improving coordination with current law enforcement, including introducing a gang department, could effectively improve safety on the LA Metro system. This approach is more practical and budget-friendly than launching a new police force.
Let's try a more innovative and community-driven approach. Launching such a force during a budget crisis could strain finances and exacerbate recruitment and training challenges. Coordination with existing law enforcement agencies might also prove complex, leading to potential inefficiencies and interagency conflicts. Moreover, there's a risk of encountering significant community resistance and trust issues, which are crucial for effective policing efforts.
Conversely, establishing a gang department and contracting with local gangs under organized crime-style agreements (minus violence) presents a compelling alternative. This approach capitalizes on gangs' deep-rooted local knowledge and influence, enabling them to swiftly address safety issues within their communities. By formalizing their roles as community guardians through clear contracts, gangs can contribute to violence prevention and conflict mediation, thereby enhancing overall safety on the Metro.
This unconventional strategy not only leverages existing resources but also empowers marginalized groups by providing them with legitimate roles and responsibilities. It fosters community ownership and trust, crucial elements for sustainable safety initiatives. Despite potential skepticism from traditional law enforcement quarters, this approach has the potential to build bridges between communities and authorities, promoting cooperation rather than conflict.
In conclusion, this balanced strategy addresses immediate safety concerns while laying the groundwork for long-term community resilience and safety and providing a more practical, community-focused, and financially sustainable path to enhancing and refreshing the LA Metro system.
(Eric Preven is a longtime community activist and is a contributor to CityWatch.)
