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It's community leadership day on LA Observed, I guess. New York Times bureau chief Jennifer Steinhauer profiles Eli Broad as the "iron checkbook" whose grip on Los Angeles and its arts scene "has never been tighter." Included in the package is an snazzy interactive attempt to map and display Broad's influence on the cityscape, plus photos by Monica Almeida. Story excerpt:
Every American city has its power brokers, but only Los Angeles has an Eli Broad.
Mr. Broad dominates the arts here with a force that has no parallel in any major city. Los Angeles would literally not look the same had Mr. Broad not chosen it as his home 40 years ago, and his business-focused method of managing his giving has earned him a reputation as both a genius and a despot....
A billionaire philanthropist whose beneficence comes with not just strings but with ropes that could moor an ocean liner, he is known to pull his support, resign from a board or, in some cases, decline to fulfill his financial promises when a project comes together in a way he does not like.
“For me there has been no downside,” said Roland G. Fryer Jr., an economics professor at Harvard who has collaborated with Mr. Broad on education projects and whom Mr. Broad, in typical fashion, hunted down one Christmas Eve in Austria, where he was on vacation, to discuss their work. “But I think if you’re not on your game, Eli will crush you.”
The story also surfaces the perennial topic among do-gooders and leaders here: why aren't there more Eli Broads active in L.A.? "His remarkable influence...says much about Los Angeles and its still-adolescent philanthropic culture, diffuse power base and lack of civic investment among many of its richest residents. 'Eli is not the problem,' said Ann Philbin, the director of the Hammer Museum..'The problem is that we don’t have enough Elis in Los Angeles to balance out his generosity and the power of his influence.'"