Yesterday, according to the Los Angeles Times, backers of the Neighborhood Integrity Initiative offered to withdraw their measure from the spring ballot in exchange for a promise from Mayor Eric Garcetti to quickly agree to ban real estate developers from meeting privately with city officials and make other changes to city planning rules. The Times reported:
“At a news conference Wednesday outside City Hall, supporters of the Neighborhood Integrity Initiative argued that their measure would stop rampant, out-of-scale development that displaces residents and disrupts neighborhoods.
However, they said they would stop pursuing the ballot measure if Garcetti makes key concessions in the next week. Earlier this year, the mayor had joined with City Council members to announce that he was seeking reforms to the development process in Los Angeles.
“You said that you want to fix the broken system in City Hall, yet you have done nothing of note to achieve that goal, and time is running out,” initiative backers wrote in a letter to Garcetti.”
“It’s an overture to the Mayor,” Windsor Square resident Jack Humphreville, one of signatories of the letter, told the Buzz this morning. “It would save everyone a lot of money and headaches for everyone and it’s not unreasonable what we are asking for…like meeting times that are convenient for the community, updating the general plans and community plans and no more spot zoning.”
According to the website of Preserve LA, the group behind the Neighborhood Integrity Initiative, it has given the Mayor until August 21 to agree to the offer.
