Good morning and welcome to LA on the Record, our newsletter bringing you the travails of LA city government (and sometimes county government!). Rebecca Ellis of the Times staff, with help from her colleague David Zarniser, rounds up the last week's news stories.

How many politicians represent America's largest county?

Depending on who you ask, this question has either been thoroughly studied or barely studied at all.

LA County Supervisors Lindsay Holbert “We already know enough,” she said.This November, she plans to put a measure on the ballot asking voters to reform county government, specifically expanding the five-member commission to nine.

“These are numbers that have been studied for decades. They are numbers that are familiar to residents of Los Angeles County,” Holbert said in an interview. “They've been tested. They've been measured. They're not extreme.”

Not everyone is in agreement.

“Who is it from? Where is the research?” the supervisor said. Holly Mitchell“That's easier said than done.”

This week, as an expansion plan Increased speedThe county's administrative hall became a rare site for sparring.

Typically, weekly board meetings consist of greetings and unanimous votes. But this time was different.

Katherine Berger In provocative language in county government jargon, the proposals to reform the government structure were panned as “far from transparent.” Mitchell agreed.

The proposal passed 3-0, with Berger and Mitchell abstaining, and the supervisors must now vote. planThe proposal, which also includes creating a new ethics committee and an elected chief executive position, is due to be debated two more times before the November vote.

One overarching question from two skeptical Supermen: How did you settle on nine?

“I don't know where the 9 came from and no one can explain it to me,” Mitchell told The Times.

Mitchell said he likes the idea of ​​expanding the board but feels the plan was rushed and risked missing a rare opportunity to choose an organization that would best represent low-income communities of color. He said the plan is unclear on key details, namely the cost and the basis for appointing nine politicians.

Holbert, who worked with his supervisor to create the plan, Janice Hahnsaid they polled two numbers, 9 and 11. Both performed well, but 9 performed better, she said.

“We believe this is absolutely an achievable number,” she said.

Hahn's father, the legendary manager Kenneth HearnA similar sound was heard half a century ago.

At a meeting Tuesday at the county courthouse named after his father, Hahn video In 1972, he argued that counties clearly needed at least one supervisor per million people.

“Study, study, study, there's no need to do that,” he lamented, wagging his finger.

When voters adopted the first county charter in 1912, there was one county supervisor for every 50,000 people. By 1972, there was one county supervisor for every 1.4 million people. Today, there is one county supervisor representing about 2 million people per county supervisor.

Expanding to nine boards would shrink each supervisor's district to about 1.1 million people, a move that supporters say would give new political weight to underrepresented racial and ethnic groups and make supervisors more responsive to voters' demands.

A little over one million people is still a large district even by California standards: the average district per state legislator is just under 500,000 people. State Senator They represent just under 1 million people. California's U.S. House of Representatives members average about 760,000 voters each.

Fernando GuerraJohn F. Kennedy, director of the Center for Los Angeles Studies at Loyola Marymount University, told supervisors on Tuesday that there is no right number and it is up to the board to choose.

“We've studied this for the county and the city,” he told them. “There's no study that shows either number is better than the other.”

But there is a history behind the nine. Raphael SonnenscheinHe is executive director of the Haynes Foundation, which funds research on governance in the Los Angeles metropolitan area.

In 1976, the board asked voters the familiar question of whether they wanted the number of elected executive and board members to increase to nine.

“There seems to be a certain karma around the number 9,” Sonnenshein said.

At the time, a group of city leaders decided to modernize the county government. Recommendation Nine supervisors were hired as the best way to serve a population of seven million.

But voters saw no logic in having more politicians and panned the idea as too costly: About one in three voted in favor of hiring more inspectors.

Since 1926, voters have rejected the idea of ​​adding more supervisors. 8 timesAs recently as 2000, 64% of voters opposed increasing the board to nine members.

“No one could pull the sword out of the stone,” Sonnenshein said.

current situation

— Where does Wilshere go from here? Board Members Eunises Hernandez She announced plans this week to close Wilshire Boulevard through MacArthur Park, part of a larger effort to improve the quality of life in the area. “It's a bold thing to do,” she said. Michael SchneiderWe campaigned to get the bus and bike lane bill passed. Scratching his headHe said road closures are not the most important solution for neighborhoods ravaged by drug use and overdoses.

— Support BidenPresident Biden has reached out to Democratic mayors across the country. Karen Bass — in an interview conducted over a Zoom call aimed at reassuring Biden about his candidacy. Bass declined a request for an interview about Biden's struggles, saying simply: “I support our nominee, President Biden.”

— Struggling with Grants Pass: In the wake of the Supreme Court's decision on Grants Pass, Bass worries that neighboring communities will push their homeless residents into L.A. As it turns out, the feeling is mutual: Some council members from neighboring cities worry that the LAPD will push Los Angeles' homeless residents into their communities.

Sticker ShockRatepayer advocates for the Department of Water and Power are warning that the city's efforts to achieve 100% clean energy by 2035 could lead to skyrocketing electricity prices over the next decade. Fred PickelHe is due to step down later this year and has called for the DWP to extend the renewable energy deadline.

— Sparring in Venice: Housing advocates sued the city this week, blaming the council members. Tracy ParkThe City Attorney's Office and other authorities say the building violated the Fair Housing Act. Proposal for an affordable housing development in VeniceChief Assistant City Attorney. John Heath The city denied those allegations and said it has been continually working to “identify a viable path forward” for the project to move forward.

— State Bar Association StrikeA former DWP commissioner has been reprimanded by the California State Bar for receiving more than $30,000 in pro bono legal services from an attorney who won a $30 million contract from the DWP commissioner. Bill FunderburkI worked for the mayor Eric GarcettiLawyers prosecutors said Funderburk lied about accepting legal services during interviews with the U.S. Attorney's Office in 2020. Funderburk has denied any wrongdoing through his lawyer.

— Looking for something less lethal: The Los Angeles Police Department continues to fire its guns at people who carry knives and suffer from mental or behavioral disorders, according to a Times analysis of 56 such incidents since 2018, despite the department making de-escalation a priority.

– Lights off: In the Pico Union neighborhood, thieves have stripped the copper wire from streetlights, leaving many stretches in darkness and residents fearing for their safety. “I had a guy point a gun at me one night,” said Albert Robles, owner of Robles Carburetors at Hoover and West 18th Streets. Hernandez, who represents the neighborhood, acknowledged that repairs to streetlights are taking too long.

— Buyer beware: Real Estate Tycoon Leo PustilnikovThe company, which owns expensive properties from Beverly Hills to Redondo Beach, is considering buying 17 buildings owned by the financially troubled Skid Row Housing Trust, a 1,200-unit portfolio that is one of Los Angeles' largest collections of supportive housing units, housing formerly homeless tenants.

Delayed Justice: Two key players in federal corruption case involving former council members sentenced Jose Huizar It was postponed this week. Molly Goldman Former City Planning Commissioner Justin Kim It is scheduled to be released in November.

Photo fight with Feldstein Soto

Los Angeles City Attorney. Heidi Feldstein Soto She's been a somewhat elusive figure at City Hall and has largely avoided the spotlight in her first year and a half in office, so her appearance as a last-minute representative for the City Council at the Los Angeles Current Affairs Forum on Wednesday came as a surprise. Tim McCoskercanceled due to exposure to COVID-19.

Feldstein Soto, who filed papers to run for reelection this week, spoke about her office's efforts to combat sex trafficking in South Los Angeles. Soto defended the city's handling of the district attorney system and disputed the notion that it has been abolished. She also vowed to return to Sacramento with a different proposal that would allow cities to avoid having to turn over photos of city employees, a move critics say would weaken California's public records law.

Feldstein Soto, speaking before about 50 people, said she sees the bill as a way to prevent harassment of public servants, including cleaners who clean up homeless camps.

“The requests we receive from random, anonymous accounts are outrageous and designed to intimidate and endanger public servants,” she said.

Feldstein Soto tried unsuccessfully to change the state's public records laws last year. At the time, she Her Efforts The case was prompted by the LAPD's mistaken publication of a mugshot of an officer, which led to Feldstein Soto filing two lawsuits against the journalists who obtained the photos, one of which recently resulted in the city offering to pay $300,000 in legal fees.

Mohammed TajsarA senior attorney for the American Civil Liberties Union of Southern California said the organization would fight any attempt to revive her proposal, which he sees as an attempt to curry favor with powerful police unions.

“If this is anything like what she has attempted in past councils, this would be a disaster for the public and their right to know about the important business of city government,” he said.

Feldstein Soto didn't sound like she was trying to shy away from a fight, telling the lunchtime audience that she continues to oppose the release of photos of rank-and-file city employees, including her own.

“I ran for office. Do you want to plaster my face everywhere? Feel free to do so,” she said. “My prosecutors … are not going to do that. They are public servants and they are doing their jobs.”

Quick Hit

• Where is Inside Safe? The mayor's homelessness response program has not reported any new encampments opening this week, but a mayoral aide said about 15 people were moved indoors at former Inside Safe locations in Koreatown and the San Fernando Valley.

• Next week's plan: The Hollywood Chamber of Commerce State of the State Luncheon On Tuesday, a panel featuring members of Congress will be held. Miguel Santiago and Rick Chavez Zuber and state senators. Maria Elena Durazo and Ben AllenThe committee will look at the state's budget shortfall and its impact on homelessness.