Facing severe budget challenges, Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass and the City Council are considering raising waste collection fees, implementing massive layoffs, and postponing essential infrastructure maintenance.
Instead of restructuring city departments to cut costs and redefining their roles, the officials are choosing the more straightforward and politically safe route.
A proposed 54 percent increase in trash collection fees aims to address a staggering $1 billion budget deficit, a move that some critics believe shifts the financial burden onto homeowners while accommodating special interests that finance political campaigns.
The inefficiencies in the city’s management of public works are glaring. The Department of Public Works, initially envisioned as a unified entity to handle the city’s infrastructure, has morphed over the years into a bloated organization that struggles to address a wide range of tasks, from constructing bridges to maintaining street lighting.
Nationally, the federal government recognized the need for transformation early on, opting to create specialized departments for various public infrastructure tasks. California followed suit, breaking down its larger departments into more focused entities.
Since 1949, numerous reports from consultants and citizen commissions have urged the city to reorganize the Department of Public Works, underscoring its inefficiency.
One significant proposal is to merge the Bureau of Street Services (BSS) with the Los Angeles Department of Transportation (DOT) to streamline operations and save costs.
A report from the Chief Legislative Analyst highlights that the DOT, established in 1979, has never fully integrated its planning, policy, design, construction, and maintenance responsibilities, resulting in a fractured system.
This dysfunction has stymied the implementation of critical transportation plans and policies, including the Bicycle Plan and the Mobility Plan, demonstrating the need for comprehensive reforms.
Mayoral efforts such as Great Streets and Vision Zero have struggled to progress beyond pilot programs, indicating a systemic failure to effectuate real change in transportation safety and livability.
Currently, the oversight of sidewalks and crosswalks falls outside the purview of transportation planning, complicating coordination and the allocation of resources.
The divisions between DOT and BSS often lead to contradictory actions, with one department engaging in activities that hinder the objectives of another, such as widening streets to outdated standards while others work to narrow them for enhanced safety.
Moreover, the Los Angeles Daily News pointed out that an audit revealed the city is lagging behind its goal to eliminate traffic fatalities by 2025, partly due to political misalignment and inter-departmental inefficiencies.
An audit released by KMPG in April 2023 indicated that nearly half of the actions outlined in the Vision Zero Action Plan remained incomplete, revealing a lack of leadership and prioritization.
In recognition of historical operational inefficiencies, the city council acknowledged in 2018 the need for reform, particularly the problematic division of responsibilities between DOT and BSS.
Los Angeles stands out as the only significant city where key planning, operations, and maintenance functions are distributed across multiple departments, causing confusion and mismanagement. For instance, DOT manages traffic signals, while BSS is responsible for street resurfacing.
A motion introduced in the city council emphasized the absurdity of having one department responsible for paving and another for the lane striping that follows, highlighting systemic inefficiencies.
Proposals have also surfaced for the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power (LADWP) to take over the Bureau of Street Lighting, which is a major concern for residents.
Currently, approximately 10 percent of the 233,000 street lights in the city are out of order, which contributes to neighborhood safety issues.
Despite homeowners’ contributions of $44 million per year for streetlight maintenance, the Bureau of Street Lighting lacks the resources to make necessary repairs and improvements.
Adding to the complexity, LADWP has been owed over $78 million from the Bureau of Street Lighting since 2016 for work already completed.
Back in 1998, Mayor Richard Riordan recommended that LADWP take over street lighting responsibilities, but vested interests within the Bureau succeeded in maintaining the status quo.
Despite repeated calls for change and numerous studies highlighting the need for reform, city leaders continue to allow wasteful spending of tax dollars.
Former Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa lamented the state of the city, remarking on its aimlessness and inevitable decay.
A recent headline declared that Los Angeles is in danger of becoming the “next Detroit,” capturing the profound fiscal uncertainty the city faces.
As catastrophic wildfires escalate challenges, ineffective leadership compounded by a lack of vision raises alarming questions about the city’s future, indicating that drastic measures must be taken to address the existing crises and prevent further decline.
image source from：https://www.sgvtribune.com/2025/04/22/los-angeles-mayor-and-city-council-need-to-reshape-outdated-departments/
