2011 Policy Councils Kick-Off with Land Use & Mobility's "Triple Play for 2011"

by Jessica Duboff

The revamped Land Use & Mobility Policy Council met for the first time today and featured three speakers highlighting the Council's priorities for the year.

Renee Fraser, President and CEO of Fraser Communications and Co-Chair of the Business Leaders Task Force on Homelessness spoke about Home For Good, a collaboration between the LA Chamber and the United Way. Home for Good is an action plan to end chronic and veteran homelessness by 2016. Renee outlined the plan with regards to re-allocation of current resources, new ways to track the chronically homeless and policy recommendations. She ended by urging the Council attendees to work within their own communities to advocate for permanent supportive housing.

Jeremiah Jackson, a Director in the Mayor's Office of Economic & Business Policy, is taking the lead on development reform in the city on behalf of Austin Beutner. He spoke to how development reform should ideally be modeled after the Zappos customer service model with an emphasis on predicatability, transparency and efficiency. Jeremiah discussed the private sector advisory committee that developed nearly 100 items, both large and small, that could impact reform and how the City has hired a consultant to research best practices across the country. Council participants noted that in the last few months, they have seen department silos begin to break down and urged Jeremiah and the reform team not to lose momentum.

The final speaker, Jaime de la Vega, Deputy Mayor for Transportation, discussed updates to the Westside Subway and Regional Connector in the New Starts process and strategy changes with regards to the new 112th Congress, including highlighting private company involvement and parallel funding for highways. He noted that the Mayor will be in DC next week to meet with new House leadership. Jaime also touched on a number of other local transportation issues including light synchronization and the Wilshire rapid busways.