Top Official Recommends Council Takeover of Redevelopment Agency

A top-ranking bureaucrat at the city of Los Angeles has recommended a massive overhaul of the government’s economic development efforts in which the City Council would take over the controversial and quasi-independent Community Redevelopment Agency.

In a 20-page report, Chief Legislative Analyst Ron Deaton echoes what many in City Hall have said for years about the city’s attempts to spur business activity and revitalize dilapidated neighborhoods: “No one is in charge.”

To address the diffuse, disjointed array of programs, Deaton suggests the creation of an Economic Development Department that would include the current portfolios of the CRA as well as the city’s housing and community development departments, and the mayor’s office of economic development.

While taking control of the CRA’s $400-million budget, the council would also create an advisory commission for redevelopment, similar to the 40-plus citizen panels that oversee everything in the city, from police and fire to libraries and parks.

The report, which will be considered by a special joint committee, reflects long-standing concerns among council members about the CRA, but it may meet strong opposition from Mayor Richard Riordan because it would wrest from his control several signature economic development projects.