Good morning, and welcome to L.A. on the Record — our City Hall newsletter. It’s David Zahniser, giving you the latest news and developments. For nearly a year, Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass has placed a huge emphasis on the need for low-cost housing, ordering city agencies to tear down bureaucratic hurdles that slow the approval of new, affordably priced apartments.
'Shutting site plan review down is a way of saying they don't want to know at City Hall what the impacts will be, and how you might make it a better project,' said Laura Lake, co-founder of Friends of Westwood. Lake's organization sued the city in 1986 over a proposed office tower on Wilshire Boulevard and prevailed — a legal victory that led to the creation of the site plan review process under Mayor Tom Bradley.