How Should LA Spend the Stimulus? By Councilman Eric Garcetti |

HOW SHOULD LA SPEND THE STIMULUS? | FEATURE

How Should LA Spend the Stimulus?

By Councilman Eric Garcetti | May 06, 2009

How Should LA Spend the Stimulus?

Councilman Eric Garcetti, President Los Angeles City Council

Dear Jacqueline,


In preparation for the arrival of funding from the federal stimulus package, I recently announced the formation of the Los Angeles City Council's Ad Hoc Committee on Economic Recovery and Reinvestment. The goal of the committee is to develop strategies to help Los Angeles win the maximum amount of federal stimulus dollars for which we're eligible, while creating a plan for allocating the funding that will most efficiently and effectively meet the needs of the city's businesses and residents.

This committee has established a set of 11 guiding priorities by which we intend not only to ensure efficient allocation of the stimulus funds, but also to make Los Angeles the most accountable, transparent, and effective city in moving economic recovery programs forward. Those priorities are as follows:
1. Projects that are truly shovel-ready
2. Projects that produce or protect jobs
3. Projects that leave a lasting impact or benefit from the community
4. Projects that have the highest level of transparency and public involvement
5. Projects that have the highest level of accountability, including internal city audits
6. Projects that involve partnerships that will leverage federal dollars
7. Projects that have multiple benefits (for example, green affordable housing could clean air, build affordable housing AND put people to work)
8. Projects that promote adopted public policy goals of the city (such as cleaning the air in the Port area, planting trees, promoting transit-oriented development, etc.)
9. Projects that promote strategic industries for long-term growth, such as green jobs in environmental technology
10. Projects that support local small businesses
11. Projects that build infrastructure in the city's older communities for future investment
I have already heard from many of you that one of the best uses of the money is for expansion of our public transportation infrastructure. In that regard, L.A. Metro (formerly known as the MTA) will receive at least $850 million, and that money will be immediately put to use to fund the top priorities in the long-range transportation plan. This will include funding for bus, rail and highways projects. I'll be following this closely as it continues to unfold.

I expect the City of Los Angeles to receive $19 million specifically for community development purposes. While we are limited in what we can fund with this money by federal regulations, we can still prioritize the projects within a set of alternatives. I'd like to hear from you what your top 3 priorities are within that set. We've set up a simple survey on our website to make it easy for you to register your preferences:

Click here to rank your priorities for using federal stimulus funding to develop Los Angeles communities!

With your feedback we can make choices that will get the federal stimulus money where it's needed.

Sincerely,

Eric Garcetti
President
Los Angeles City Council