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VIEWPOINT - Los Angeles today is not the same as it was in the past. Weaknesses in city leadership and in governing institutions have undermined democracy to the point where residents rightfully doubt if the public interest is being served.
In essence, the core inquiry is: can Los Angeles be a governable city? And how? We are six months away from elections for mayor, and this is a fitting time to seek answers from those who seek to lead the city.
But the candidates’ analyses performed cannot be the same commonplace, hackneyed explorations of the past. We demand more than "cookie-cutter" statements. The devastating fires and the mounting challenges we now face have changed all of that. The traditional urban fabric and complexities of our regional mega city must be addressed differently. A stereotype investigation will not do; misconceptions will result.
A new, fresh perspective for the city`s leaders and advocates is offered in a book, titled “Rethinking Los Angeles,” by Michael Dear, H. Eric Schockman, and Greg Hise. The city’s future, the book suggests, will be built not by mimicking past models, but by boldly adapting to its own multifaceted reality. Los Angeles is not a problem to be fixed through old paradigms. Experimentation is encouraged through cross-disciplinary alliances and radical innovation.
In a previous article in this space, I urged Angelenos to ask the mayoral candidates to provide us with the specific actions they will take to address the problems of the city. Now I am asking for their vision. But that image of the city should go beyond the major structural issues, including governance, economic transformation, race and ethnic relations, transportation, housing, policing, and health care.
That vision must reconsider not just the city’s institutions and policies, but the very methods and theories used to analyze it.
This is critically important since Los Angeles has a unique form that breaks sharply from the dominant “Chicago School” of urban studies. Our city is marked by fragmentation, multicultural complexity, and sprawl and therefore demands new metrics, concepts, and solutions.
The candidate’s vision must delve into the city’s transition from a manufacturing base to a service economy, the challenge of multiracial organizing, regionwide environmental justice, and persistent crises of governance and accountability, as suggested by “Rethinking Los Angeles.”
Mayoral candidates must make their views known quickly and I will be happy to include some of their thoughts in my writing. It is time to turn the page. Los Angeles has been investigated, pilloried, and derided in recent times and we must start convincing people that the city is governable.
The crisis of confidence and public trust must end in Los Angeles. Mayoral candidates must prove that their vision of the current structure of governance can work for the public good. And, how needed institutional reforms will be undertaken, and with precise explanations. Sprouting the same watered-down Pablum, offering no real policy solutions will not do.
Can Los Angeles’ eroded trust be restored? These are untrusting times, and it will take a leader who can prove to citizens that they are not disconnected from city government, a transparent, visionary, experienced and talented leader who can serve and empower them and, yes, inspire them.! A leader they can trust.
(Nick Patsaouras is an electrical engineer and civic leader whose firm has shaped projects across commercial, medical, and entertainment sectors. A longtime public advocate, he ran for Mayor in 1993 with a focus on rebuilding L.A. through transportation. He has served on major public boards, including the Department of Water and Power, Metro, and the Board of Zoning Appeals, helping guide infrastructure and planning policy in Los Angeles. He is the author of the book "The Making of Modern Los Angeles.")
