CORRUPTION WATCH-The City of Los Angeles and the City of Inglewood have both proposed to create a new set of laws for major building projects that they support. The new proposal would exempt those that they designate, for whatever reason, from the fundamental laws that apply to all development within the city.
While making an addition to your home you encounter numerous boards, committees and departments that require you to file applications for the work that you seek to do. They want to know what impact your improvement would have upon your neighbors. This process can take up to a year for a single-family residence. Developments, such as NFL stadiums, that may encompass hundreds of acres of property can be exempted by local governments from complying with the laws that have been created for the protection of the public.
The stunning development is more audacious because it seeks to allow elected officials to exempt large contributors from standard requirements for projects with major public impact. Current elected officials seem to think that they are able to negate the laws that already exist. Once again they believe that they are above the laws they are sworn to uphold. If they disagree with the existing law they have every right to begin to change in the legislative process. They seek to minimize public concerns and their right to attend public hearings.
Government officials are insistent upon exempting projects with major impacts upon the communities. The impact upon the living conditions of persons within those communities can be extreme. Safety, traffic and crime are only three of the important issues to be considered before any major project with such a dramatic impact can go forward.
Government officials don’t seem to have the same concern and consideration regarding the development of affordable housing that is desperately needed in these communities. There are no exemptions for that which has an immediate and dramatic need.
The effective action in the city of Inglewood would be for the city Council to override the requirement of voter approval. Under what legal theory do they propose to take the rights that belong to the public? It is a dangerous precedent to allow such exemption from the law in the application and enforcement of existing building codes and requirements within any municipal jurisdiction.
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Why should it be more difficult to build a single-family residence or even to add on to your residence than it is building an 80,000 seat football stadium that will certainly impact the lives of those for miles around during its use and development. The impact is well beyond any one city.
The applicable laws cannot simply be avoided based upon each city councils personal feelings and political contributions from the developer. The impact upon traffic patterns and density will be substantial and must be evaluated to determine if the streets are equipped to handle such level of traffic and the impact on side streets. How many more accidents will occur within a community with the movement of 80,000 people twice in a four-hour period?
We must carefully examine the impact that such major projects will have upon any given community. There are certainly laws that could stand to be changed but simply exempting the large developer from them is not the answer to existing laws. Once again, if elected officials disagree with existing laws they must change them by legislative process. The absence of doing that is to effectively allow laws to be altered each election cycle by whoever may be elected.
If you wish to add a garage to your house you must go through a series of hearings and required filings with the local government before they allow construction to begin on your project. This process can easily take a year.
The purpose of environmental impact reports is to determine the effect upon a community when substantial changes are being done on a piece of land. To exempt those who are making the most substantial changes is to simply avoid the law without the proper legislation. I do not believe the local governments possess the legal power to override laws without the legislative process being properly followed.
Things, which require voter approval, must have voter approval or they are illegal, regardless of what any local City Council may choose to say. To allow them to continue to violate the laws that they are sworn to uphold is to support the blatantly illegal behavior of these elected officials.
(Clinton Galloway is the author of the fascinating book “Anatomy of a Hustle: Cable Comes to South Central LA”. This is another installment in an ongoing CityWatch series on power, influence and corruption in government … Corruption Watch. Galloway is a CityWatch contributor and can be reached here. This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. Mr. Galloway’s views are his own.)
-cw
CityWatch
Vol 13 Issue 14
Pub: Feb 17, 2015
