The Los Angeles Chamber of Commerce discusses 12-2 program with new building and safety general manager

The Los Angeles Chamber of Commerce discusses 12-2 program with new building and safety general manager 

Newly appointed L.A. Department of Building and Safety General Manager Bud Ovrom discussed his plans Wednesday for implementing development reform in Los Angeles at the Land Use, Construction & Housing Committee. "I'm going to stick around awhile longer to get this done, because this is an opportunity to make the kind of structural changes that are needed in this time of crisis," said Ovrom, who had planned to retire after serving as Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa's deputy mayor for economic development. Ovrom will focus his energy on the "12-2" program, which will streamline the entitlement and permitting process and cut the number of departments a developer has to go through from a dozen to two. Contact Beverly Kenworthy, 213.580.7531 or bkenworthy@lachamber.com. 

AIA|LA Practice Committee Meeting - February 10 - The County of LA, Architecture Evaluation Board

Dear AIA|LA Practice Committee:

Please make plans to attend the upcoming meeting, which will feature guest speakers Mark Gangi and Seraphima Bennett from the County of Los Angeles Architecture Evaluation Board.

AIA|LA Practice Committee meeting...

Guest Speakers:  Mark Gangi and Seraphima Bennett

The County of Los Angeles, Architecture Evaluation Board

Wednesday, February 10 (8am-9:30am)

AECOM Design

515 S. Flower Street, 8th Floor

Los Angeles, CA  90071

RSVP at will@aialosangeles.org

The AIA|LA Practice Committee invites you to attend a roundtable discussion with architects Mark Gangi and Seraphima Bennett, who presently serve on the County of Los Angeles Architecture Evaluation Board.  This discussion will serve as an excellent opportunity to get a better understanding of the County's methods of architectural selection and will better enable AIA|LA to make recommendations to LA County Department of Public Works on how best to augment the selection panel experience.

THE AIA/LA PRACTICE COMMITTEE

The AIA Los Angeles Practice Committee has been organized by representatives from architecture and engineering firms with an established presence in the Los Angeles area and a focus on large-scale public and institutional building projects.  The purpose of this committee is to interface with various agencies and significant client entities to facilitate exchange of information/ideas with respect to technical, design and business issues affecting our industry.  The committee anticipates focusing on business issues relating to A/E contracting practices, technology related to the delivery of A/E services, and conditions affecting project delivery & design excellence within our industry.

Chair: Ted Hyman, AIA
ZGF Architects
thyman@zgf.com

Co-Chair: Kelly Olson, Affiliate AIA/LA
AECOM Design
kelly.olson@aecom.com

Staff contact: Will Wright – will@aialosangeles.org

Very truly yours,

Will Wright | Director of Government & Public Affairs

AIA / los angeles

A Chapter of the American Institute of Architects

3780 Wilshire Blvd., Suite 800, Los Angeles, CA 90010

213.639.0777 phone | 213.639.0767 fax

will@aialosangeles.org | www.aialosangeles.org

AIA|LA and City of LA Department of City Planning - Hillside Mansionization Ordinance - February 2 (6pm)

Please make plans to attend a working group session with City Planners Erick Lopez and Jennifer Driver, who are currently drafting the City of LA Hillside Mansionization Ordinance, which will effectively limit Floor-Area-Ratio for single family residential homes built in the hills of Los Angeles.

Your leadership, expertise and critical input is being sought after from the Department of City Planning to ensure that the ordinance drafted represents reasonable public policy that provides incentives for design excellence, while at the same time provisions to protect the natural character of our City's hillsides in an ecologically sustainable manner.

This is an opportunity to help influence and shape public policy through the lens of design.

AIA|LA Political Outreach Committee presents...

The City of LA HILLSIDE MANSIONIZATION ORDINANCE 

 - a working group session - 

Tuesday, February 2 (6pm)

AIA Los Angeles

3780 Wilshire Blvd., Suite 800

Los Angeles, CA  90010

Please RSVP to will@aialosangeles.org

Very truly yours,

Will Wright | Director of Government & Public Affairs

AIA / los angeles

A Chapter of the American Institute of Architects

3780 Wilshire Blvd., Suite 800, Los Angeles, CA 90010

213.639.0777 phone | 213.639.0767 fax

will@aialosangeles.org | www.aialosangeles.org

streamline the permitting of construction projects that already have a completed environmental impact report

CALIFORNIA JOBS. In his State of the State address earlier this month, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger outlined the California Jobs Initiative – a new program aimed at creating jobs and improving the economy. Included in this five-step plan is a measure to streamline the permitting of construction projects that already have a completed environmental impact report. The proposal would grant the Business, Housing & Transportation Agency the right to select and expedite a specified number of shovel-ready projects. Projects can be private or public, and need to be close to certification of their environmental impact report. Let the Chamber know if your company has projects that qualify for this permit streamlining opportunity. Contact Beverly Kenworthy, 213.580.7531 or bkenworthy@lachamber.com. 

2010 Issues Survey from AIA|CC

January 20, 2010 Dear Will, With Your Ideas...AIACC Delivers! Information, Resources, Continuing Education In this difficult economic climate, we know the architectural profession in California is struggling. It has never been more important for the AIA to provide resources and information that will have a direct impact on your practice and prosperity. In addition, the AIACC is having its own challenges in maintaining the financial health of its annual conference, focusing on practice issues. In lieu of offering a Practice Conference this year, the AIACC is developing a series of whitepapers to address issues affecting members and firms. We need your assistance in establishing the topics that will be the focus of these publications, and hope you can help us determine issues on the horizon; issues that others may not be discussing yet; issues that will make the architectural profession and firms want to learn more.  The survey will only take a few minutes to complete, and will assist us in fulfilling your needs. Please click here to participate (responses due by January 27, 2010).

Forward Newsletter This email was sent to will@aialosangeles.org by mclark@aiacc.org. Update Profile/Email Address | Instant removal with SafeUnsubscribe™ | Privacy Policy. The AIA California Council | 1303 J Street | Suite 200 | Sacramento | CA | 95814

AIA|LA COTE meeting - Thursday, January 21 (6:30pm)

Please make plans to attend this planning and brainstorming session to discuss programming ideas, goals and objectives for the AIA|LA Committee on the Environment.  Your leadership, participation and insight is encouraged as the new Committee chairs begin the process of developing a series of robust programs and advocacy initiatives for the year ahead.

AIA|LA Committee on the Environment...

"Building the Sustainable City"

planning the Committee's 2010 programs and objectives

Thursday, January 21 (6:30pm)

AIA Los Angeles

3780 Wilshire Blvd., Suite 800

Los Angeles, CA  90010

RSVP at will@aialosangeles.org

Notes for your additional consideration:

1.  the theme for 2010: "Building the Sustainable City".  The Committee will look for opportunities to interface with the AIA|LA Political Outreach Committee, and implement opportunities to expand this year's theme to develop advocacy issues that might be presented to the city at the yearly "Legislative Day at City Hall".

2.  The theme, "Building the Sustainable City", will be explored through a series of presentations that roughly fall into 3 categories:

a.  Infrastructure.  Presentations may be organized around subjects such as water and power, mobility, sewage, etc.

b.  Economics, Politics, and Regulations.  Presentations may be organized around such subjects as city green building incentives, federal green building incentives, and on the various alternate green building rating systems (ie. alternates to the USGBC's LEED programs).

c.  Buildings and Housing.  Presentations may explore such topics as alternate housing systems, green building materials, urban farming, etc.

3.  The committee will have a planning and organizational meeting this month, then a series of 20/20 slide presentations (20 slides/20 seconds per slide) in the month of February, with the themed presentations starting in March.

4.  Committee members will be asked to participate and/or to propose and help to organize the various presentations to follow the theme and general categories listed above.

5.  For each of the themed presentations, it may be advantageous to start with an invited presenter from the current city administration who can discuss the "state of the city" with respect to the month's topic.

Will Wright | Director of Government & Public Affairs

AIA / los angeles

A Chapter of the American Institute of Architects

3780 Wilshire Blvd., Suite 800, Los Angeles, CA 90010

213.639.0777 phone | 213.639.0767 fax

will@aialosangeles.org | www.aialosangeles.org

City of LA Business Tax Advisory Committee announced

Thursday, January 07, 2010

Business Tax Advisory Committee reconvenes

Yesterday the Business Tax Advisory Committee had its first meeting to begin the process of reviewing and recommending business tax reforms that will help Los Angeles attract and retain jobs and businesses.

LA's unemployment rate is four points higher than the national average and our efforts must focus on getting people back to work and fighting for every job in this city. The Business Tax Advisory Committee has been assembled to develop ideas that will jump start our local economy and create jobs.

The first BTAC was created in 1999 and proposed several tax exemptions and administrative changes that helped Los Angeles become more business-friendly, including the Garcetti-Greuel reforms that now save businesses more than $90 million annually. The Business Tax Advisory Committee was reinstated with nine members who will meet during the next 18 months.

The Business Tax Advisory Committee appointees are:

• Lloyd Greif (BTAC Chair), Entrepreneur/Finance Expert (Garcetti)
• Michael Banner, Small Business Owner (Parks)
• Kathy Faulk, Checkers Hotel Hilton (Hahn)
• Dwayne Gathers, Business Development Consultant (Perry)
• Saul Gomez, State and Local Tax Services, Ernst & Young (Mayor)
• Mel Kohn, CPA and Former BTAC Chair (Alarcon)
• Craig Morris, Tax Expert, KPMG (Garcetti)
• Melissa Patack, Vice President State & Government Affairs, Motion Picture Association of America (Mayor)
• Mel Wilson, Real Estate Broker, former NFL Player (Wesson)

will@aialosangeles.org has sent you an invitation to help re-shape Los Angeles's financial landscape.

Dear friends, family, and colleagues: I just took the Los Angeles Budget Challenge and I learned more about the Los Angeles budget and how this links to the future of Los Angeles. I want you to take the Los Angeles Budget Challenge too. Please make sure you send me your results when you finish!

Below is a summary of my policy choices. Category Status Quo My Policy Choice Budget Impact Pension Reform No. The City should not seek to redesign the retirement systems for new employees. Yes. The City should seek to redesign the retirement system for new employees. (requires voter approval for sworn employees) $0M Capital Construction No. The City should continue to use General Fund monies to construct hazard abatement projects and large capital construction projects. No. The City should continue to use General Fund monies to construct hazard abatement projects and large capital construction projects. $0M Furloughs Discontinue furlough days for all civilian employees. Require 26 furlough days next fiscal year for all civilian employees. -$75.0M Admin & Support M! ake no reductions to General Administration and Support. Reduce funding to General Administration and Support by 15%. Significant position cuts and layoffs would be required. -$90.0M Transportation Make no funding reductions to Transportation and Infrastructure. Make no funding reductions to Transportation and Infrastructure. $0M Fire Department Continue reduced daily staffing from 1,104 personnel to 1,017 personnel but do not make any additional reductions to the Fire Department. Continue reduced daily staffing from 1,104 personnel to 1,017 personnel and further reduce the Fire Department budget by an additional 10%. -$50.0M Rec and Parks Make no funding reductions to Recreation and Parks. Make no funding reduction! s to Recreation and Parks. $0M Library Make no funding reductions to the Library. Make no funding reductions to the Library. $0M P3s No. The City should not pursue any P3 initiatives. Yes. The City should pursue a P3 agreement for City parking structures and City parking meters. $200.0M Fees & Fines No. The City should not pursue increases to licenses, permits, fees and fines. Yes. The City should aggressively pursue full cost-recovery on licenses, permits, fees and fines. $15.0M Clean Water No. The City should not pursue a Clean Water Initiative that would increase to the Stormwater Pollution Abatement fee. Yes. The City should triple the current Stormwater Pollution Abatement Charge through a Clean Water Initiative to cover the GF subsidy and to fund new stormwater abatement activities. (requires voter approval) $25.0M Parking Tax No. The City should not pursue an increase to the Parking Users' Tax. Yes. The City should pursue an increase to the Parking Users' Tax rate from 10% to 15%. (requires voter approval) $40.0M This shows the budget I built compared with what the budget would look like if no policy changes were made. Spending Categories 2006-07 Adopted Budget Status Quo My Choices Community Safety $1,775.0M $1,775.0M $1,725.0M Comnty Env & Econ Asst $81.0M $81.0M $81.0M Transportation $211.0M $211.0M $211.0M Cultural, Edu & Rec Services $269.0M $269.0M $269.0M General Admin & Support $737.0M $737.0M $572.0M Employee Benefits $1,302.0M! $1,302.0M $1,302.0M Capital Improv Expenditure $234.0M $234.0M $234.0M Revenue Categories 2006-07 Adopted Budget Status Quo My Choices Property Tax $1,353.0M $1,353.0M $1,353.0M Licenses, Permits, Fees & Fines $703.0M $703.0M $718.0M Utility Users Tax $653.0M $653.0M $653.0M Business and Sales Tax $680.0M $680.0M $680.0M Power Revenue Transfer $220.0M $220.0M $220.0M Misc Revenue $600.0M $600.0M $865.0M Totals       Spending $4,609.0M $4,609.0M $4,394.0M Revenue $4,209.0M $4,209.0M $4,489.0M Deficit/Surplus -$400.0M -$400.0M $95.0M   To take the Los Angeles Budget Challenge, go to:   This message has been sent to you from the Los Angeles Budget Challenge system. If this message is spam, please contact us: .