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The wrong-headed decision by the five Los Angeles County supervisors to push aside the chief executive officer and consolidate power in their own hands comes at the worst possible time, just as the county is facing a homeless crisis of epic proportions
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As described by Abby Sewell in the Los Angeles Times earlier this month, the board unanimously voted to assume the power to hire and fire department heads “and work more directly within county government’s myriad agencies.” In other words, supervisors and their staffs will stick their noses into the minute details of health care, such as running county hospitals and clinics, overseeing immunizations and providing health care for the poor. You’ll have five supervisors and their assistants, each with their own agendas, telling department heads and mid level bureaucrats who to hire and fire and how to program their computers.
The homeless crisis is a powerful example of the harm the supervisors are causing by making themselves more inefficient.
There are 44,359 homeless women, men and children in the county, 31,018 of them living on the streets or in cars.
The county tries to provide health care, treatment and, the worst option, jail for the homeless. Los Angeles city has the largest number of homeless, and the city and the county collaborate in the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority, run by a commission whose 10 members are appointed in equal numbers by the Los Angeles mayor and city council and the county supervisors. The city, with Mayor Eric Garcetti as chief executive, is centering city government on the problem and exerting leadership on the authority. The county, with five bosses, each with their own agenda, isn’t doing this. That is too bad. The county departments have many people experienced in providing social services to the poor and troubled.
Collaboration is a stranger in the county building. Don’t expect suburban supervisor Don Knabe to share the concerns of his urban colleague, Hilda Solis, whose district includes Skid Row, with its sidewalks crowded with homeless.
In 2007, the supervisors, criticized for micro managing, gave the unelected chief executive officer more power, including managing departments and hiring and firing department heads. But the supervisors immediately regretted giving up power. They continued to meddle in the small details of running departments. Finally, they made it official, returning this month to the old system.
When it comes to the rapidly increasing number of the homeless and other complexities, the old system won’t work. Former Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky favors an elected county executive to take charge. But even when confronted with the grave homeless crisis, the five supervisors aren’t about to surrender any authority.
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