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VOL. 13,
NO. 179
LA County supervisors back government revamp, including board expansion
New program aims to help LA foster youth at risk of homelessness
By Anusha Shankar, City News Service
By Staff
| Screenshot courtesy of Los Angeles County - Board of Supervisors
L
os Angeles County supervisors Tuesday advanced a proposal for revamping county government, in part by expanding the Board of Supervisors from its current five members to nine and making the CEO an elected position. The package of proposed County Charter changes, which ultimately needs approval from voters, advanced on a 3-0 vote, with Supervisors Holly Mitchell and Kathryn Barger abstaining. With the board vote, county attorneys will draft ordinances that will return to the board to be formally placed on the November ballot. During a lengthy and sometimes impassioned discussion, Mitchell questioned whether the package of proposed changes had been fully vetted, and how the motion had settled on the number of nine for the expanded board. She also
questioned whether the changes could, as the proposal contends, be enacted with no cost to taxpayers. "I just think there's too much at risk for us to take a bite of the apple that's not absolutely ideal," Mitchell said. Barger expressed concern that the motion considered by the board Tuesday was brought forth by Supervisors Lindsey Horvath and Janice Hahn, with the involvement of Mitchell -- who introduced the original motion in early 2023 that led to studies on ways of overhauling county government. Barger said Mitchell appeared to have been "cut out of the process," and the process of introducing the proposed changes was "not transparent." In a statement after the vote, she also insisted that "bigger government doesn't necessarily mean better government," saying that
regardless of size, board decisions "repeatedly get stuck in bureaucracy and an unwillingness to make tough decisions." The proposal OK'd by the board Tuesday also calls for the establishment of a Director of Budget and a Legislative Analyst, and creation of an independent ethics commission. Barger said she doesn't believe the county has to wait for voter approval to create an ethics commission, and she plans to bring forward a motion next week to do so. "I wholeheartedly support creating an Ethics Commission now, so we can immediately tackle improving both transparency and Board accountability," Barger said. Hahn said Tuesday transitioning from an appointed CEO to an elected CEO is "the most fundamental difference" in the proposal.
"For too long, this board has served both the legislative and executive power for the county," Hahn said. "That may be the form of government we're all most comfortable with, but it's not what most experts agree is the best." The motion stated that an elected CEO would also be directly accountable to the voters and would significantly reduce the potential for parochialism, prioritizing the diverse regional population. Horvath insisted that the proposed changes would not involve any sort of tax hike, saying, "We're going to do this at no additional cost to taxpayers to implement. We will take our existing budget and reallocate the funds to implement the measure." Mitchell questioned that idea, noting that adding four more board members will
See Government revamp Page 28
LA City Hall looms over an encampment. | Photo courtesy of Ron Reiring/Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 2.0)
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program to help Los Angeles residents facing eviction with resources will be expanded to assist young adults leaving foster care, Mayor Karen Bass announced Monday. Bass along with the Mayor’s Fund for Los Angeles, Children’s Law Center of California and The RightWay Foundation have partnered to help connect young adults leaving the foster care system with services that include housing navigation, job readiness, job placement and financial education. “Homelessness impacts people with experience in the foster care system at a disproportionate rate to their peers, which is why today’s announcement is See Homelessness Page 13
so important,” Bass said in a statement. "The Mayor’s Fund’s We Are LA program is expanding again to serve young adults aging out of the foster care system. We know that we cannot solve this crisis with housing alone — we also need services tailored to the specific needs of those who want to come inside. These critical services and opportunities for stable housing for Angelenos leaving foster care will further our efforts to prevent people from falling into homelessness in the first place.” Homelessness disproportionately impacts LA residents who have spent time in the child welfare system, according to the mayor's office. When a foster