Kumbaya Attitude May Well Cause Planning Dept. Chaos Some 40 L.A. City planners have expressed early interest in taking the retirement buyout being offered in the wake of City budget cuts. The CAO has apparently said that the layoffs would happen by February and probably no later than April. There is reportedly no plan to deal with any new projects, even those already in the pipeline, even those already paid up. If people have paid, they expect to move forward. And there may be no one to move them forward. At least without a huge, expensive delay. People get bank loans based on expected timetables, they hire contractors, they rent something to live in while their work is being done. And now who knows if their projects will even see the light of day. City Planning, as well as every department in city government,
Transcript
Kumbaya Attitude May Well Cause Planning Dept. Chaos
Some 40 L.A. City planners have expressed early interest in
taking the retirement buyout being offered in the wake of City
budget cuts. The CAO has apparently said that the layoffs would
happen by February and probably no later than April.
There is reportedly no plan to deal with any new projects, even
those already in the pipeline, even those already paid up. If
people have paid, they expect to move forward. And there may be no
one to move them forward. At least without a huge, expensive
delay.
People get bank loans based on expected timetables, they hire
contractors, they rent something to live in while their work is
being done. And now who knows if their projects will even see the
light of day.
City Planning, as well as every department in city government,
has known layoffs were probably coming for at least a year. But
City Planning is not ready -- they haven't even STARTED to get
ready!
The head of the department, Gail Goldberg, has asked volunteers
to come to a series of brown bag lunches to see who has an idea of
how to proceed! If there's anyone who ought to be ready, it is City
Planning, one would assume.
She apparently has no plans of her own on how to transition if
40 or so senior level planners leave. Though there is the vague
idea there ought to be some kind of "knowledge transfer." Duh.
The people who are leaving do cases, hold hearings, deal with
entitlements. All of that is up in the air with the senior staff
leaving. It's ridiculous to think that a "knowledge transfer" of
the magnitude and sophistication needed could happen 1) by
February, and 2) over brown-bag lunches attended by
"volunteers."
What the heck kind of leadership is that? Asking for volunteers
to deal with such a problem is such a drop in the bucket. It's a
kumbaya attitude that will come back to bite the city very
quickly.
City Planning is supposed to be streamlining the permit process,
per instructions by the mayor, but it is going to be slowing it
