Office of the Los Angeles City Controller
Ron Galperin is Los Angeles City Controller. A former chairman of the LA City Council's Ad Hoc Commission on Revenue Efficiency, he formerly practiced law in Century City and is a member of the Bel Air-Beverly Crest Neighborhood Council.
The effort to ban developer donations Photo by Tim Ahem There's a development boom underway in Los Angeles. Big commercial and residential projects are being built across the city. Not everyone is happy about this growth and Angelenos opposed to these projects argue that developers have too much clout in City Hall. So some Los Angeles elected officials have called for a ban on political campaign contributions from developers who have projects pending before City Hall. The proposed ban comes just two months before voters will decide on Measure S, a ballot initiative that would place a two-year moratorium on new development projects that require zoning variances or other special exemptions. Is such a ban legal, or is it "misdirection" from the real problem -- a dysfunctional planning process that ill serves a city in need of smart, optimistic thinking about how to grow for the future? DnA talks to developers and critics of money in land-use politics.
A "Public Relations Nightmare" for the Department of Water and Power The Job Training and Joint Safety "institutes" at LA's Department of Water and Power were created by the City Council 14 years ago. Since then, they've received about $4 million a year — with no requirement for public accountability. In fact, nobody seems to know what they do.
Why LA’s Streets Are So Bad 25% of Los Angeles streets get a grade of “F” from the City’s own Bureau of Street Services. Rehabilitation would take $4 billion the Bureau doesn’t have. But it has failed to collect $191 million that it is actually owed, and $21 million it has collected have been returned. That’s according to “LA Streets: The Road to the Future,” which reports on an audit by City Controller Ron Galperin.
City Controller Refuses to Pay $4 Million into DWP Nonprofits LA City Controller Ron Galperin has escalated the battle over two controversial non-profit trust funds at the Department of Water and Power. The Job Training and Joint Safety Institutes have refused to reveal how they’ve spent $40 million in city money over the past 10 years. Now Galperin says he won’t pay this year’s allocation of an additional $4 million.
Public Debate Over Public Art When it comes to arts funding, there’s never enough money. But a recent audit by L.A.’s city controller reveals that $10 million for public art has been sitting in an account - unused - for years. That’s almost as much as the entire budget of LA’s Cultural Affairs Department.
Los Angeles Goes Transparent A recent study of 30 cities showed that Los Angeles was seventeenth in transparency, way behind New York, Chicago and San Francisco. LA officials promised for years to open up city records so the taxpaying public can find out how the money's being spent. Now, the newly elected Controller, Ron Galperin, has done it, putting enormous gobs of raw data online at Control Panel LA .
Waste, Fraud, Abuse and Los Angeles Politics San Fernando Valley City Councilman Dennis Zine and Westside attorney Ron Galperin have joined me in the KCRW studios. They are candidates to replace Wendy Greuel as Los Angeles City Controller. But what does the Controller do? We ask Raphael Sonenshein, who was executive director of the Charter Reform Commission that re-designed the Controller's job, then hear from the candidates themselves.
The Race for City Controller Wendy Greuel's campaign for Mayor leaves a vacancy in the office of the Los Angeles City Controller . But it's safe to say that a lot of voters don't know what the Controller does. City Councilman Dennis Zine is the best known candidate for Controller and has raised the most money, but he's made himself unavailable for our program between now and Election Day. His opponents are Ron Galperin and Cary Brazeman .
How was the trip? President Trump's travels got less fun as he went from the Middle East to Europe.
What happens when America retreats from the world? Is President Trump taking his "America First" agenda to extremes, withdrawing the country from the international stage on trade and climate change, distancing America from its traditional allies across the Atlantic and even threatening to physically isolate the country through the building of a wall along its southern border? León Krauze guest hosts.
