MARY D. NICHOLS
1323 Hershey Hall
Los Angeles, CA 90095-1496
P: 310-825-5008
F: 310-825-966

May 11, 2005

Councilmember Ed Reyes, Chair
Planning and Land Use Management Committee
Los Angeles City Council
City Hall

Dear Councilmember Reyes,

Thanks to you and your committee for scheduling an informational hearing on the issues facing the next Planning Director for the City of Los Angeles. I’m sorry I can’t be with you in person, and I fully endorse the Planning for a Livable City statement, but I want to add a few comments to the documents you have already received.

Even if the Council fully endorses these principles, Los Angeles will not be able to recruit and retain the caliber of professional we need unless the Mayor and Council are willing to give the Department of Planning a mandate to do its job. In recent years, the Department has fallen woefully behind in updating community plans, staff and budgets have atrophied, and the vital task of producing City-wide policies and planning guidelines has been largely abandoned. As a trained planner yourself, you know that processing development proposals is not the same as planning.

Planning costs money and requires leadership that can cross special interest and jurisdictional boundaries to identify sites for necessary public services and create incentives for the private sector to develop in places where development is needed. But the failure to plan is even more costly. Constant CEQA lawsuits, allegations of back-room lobbying, and disgruntled communities—not to mention a growing crisis in housing and transportation gridlock—all have their roots in outmoded, vague and unenforceable land use plans.

In considering what qualifications and priorities you want the new Planning Director to have, I urge you to also look for a person with the vision, stamina and drive to work with you and the Mayor to produce plans that can guide the City’s toward the “three E’s” of sustainable development—economy, environment, and equity.