Mayor Karen Bass’ next pick for Metro’s board is being closely watched

Good morning, and welcome to L.A. on the Record — our City Hall newsletter. It’s Dakota Smith, Rachel Uranga and David Zahniser at the helm.

The San Fernando Valley is getting ready for a transit boom.

A light rail line is planned along Van Nuys Boulevard, part of an effort to revitalize a key Van Nuys commercial strip. A north-south rail route linking the Valley and the Westside is being planned for the Sepulveda Pass.

And the 18-mile Orange Line is getting a massive overhaul, including grade separations and gates, to speed up the bus.

Now, Mayor Karen Bass is poised to appoint a board member to the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, the county agency that oversees transit. Bass, who serves on the 13-member voting board herself, gets three appointees. She now has a vacancy because one of her appointees, former City Councilmember Paul Krekorian, faced council term limits.

San Fernando Valley leaders say Bass has no choice but to replace Krekorian, who represented the east Valley, with another Valley resident.

Metro’s board does have two county supervisors who represent parts of the San Fernando Valley, although neither lives there. Glendale’s Ara Najarian is also responsible for the Valley and other areas.

With more than 1.8 million residents, the San Fernando Valley makes up nearly one-fifth of the county’s population, said City Councilmember Adrin Nazarian, who took office on Monday, replacing Krekorian.

That makes it crucial for L.A. to have a Valley representative, said Nazarian, a former state lawmaker who worked to secure funds for Van Nuys Boulevard light rail.

Nazarian said the region’s transit system needs to be much more user-friendly. And he argued that the county’s rail network should extend much deeper into the Valley.

“Our rail system looks like a starfish, with fingers pointing in five different directions” out of downtown, he said. “It needs to look like a web.”

Stuart Waldman, president of the Valley Industry and Commerce Assn., a business group, said picking a Valley person is a no-brainer. “You can’t have four representatives from the city of L.A. and none of them representing the Valley,” he said.

Councilmember Imelda Padilla, who represents neighborhoods in the central and east San Fernando Valley, seems a likely candidate for the slot. Van Nuys light rail and a portion of the Sepulveda Pass project are being planned in her district. And her environmental work for community group Pacoima Beautiful could be an asset as Metro seeks to transition to clean energy buses.

Still, Bass and Padilla were recently at odds over the approval of a controversial lease at Van Nuys Airport.

Asked about a potential appointment, a Padilla aide referred questions to a Bass spokesperson, who declined to comment on the board seat.

Last year, Bass appointed Councilmember Katy Yaroslavsky, who has made fleet electrification a top issue. Bass’ other appointee, board member Jacqueline Dupont-Walker, is a holdover from Mayor Eric Garcetti.

By law, only one of the appointees of the mayor has to be a council member. So Bass isn’t required to select a council member for the open seat.

Last year, two other council members — Monica Rodriguez and Eunisses Hernandez — sought the post, which went to Yaroslavsky. Representatives from both said nobody from the mayor’s office had reached out.

Rodriguez, in a brief interview, said she saw a “lack of diversity” on the Metro board, which she called “problematic.”

Helen Sanchez, a public affairs consultant, suggested the selection of a Latino person, saying Latinos have been “horribly underrepresented” on the board. The vast majority of Metro riders are Latino, according to agency data.

“The mayor has opportunity to make sure that the Metro board truly represents the people that they serve,” Sanchez said.

Another possible candidate for the seat, though not a Valley resident, is Councilmember Heather Hutt, who chairs the city’s transportation committee. Hutt, a champion of the ballot measure known as Healthy Streets L.A, which requires the city to build bus and bike lanes, didn’t respond to a request for comment.

Eli Lipmen, executive director of advocacy group MoveLA, called for a member who would be a “watchdog over what Metro spends and ensure that it fulfills the wishes of the voters.”

Channing Martinez, co-chair of Bus Riders Union, said Bass’ support for more police officers on transit lines is an ongoing concern. Martinez said he hopes her next board member challenges that approach. He also wants the incoming member to “double and triple” bus service, including in the Valley.

Metro’s next board meeting is in January.

State of play

— BIG WIN FOR LABOR: The City Council voted to hike L.A.’s hourly minimum wage for tourism workers to $30 by mid-2028, when L.A. hosts the Summer Olympic and Paralympic Games. Councilmember John Lee, Monica Rodriguez and Traci Park cast the dissenting votes. The ordinance comes back for another vote next year, with the first wage increase scheduled for July 1.

— HIGH-DENSITY HOUSING: The council moved forward with a rezoning plan aimed at adding 255,000 homes, mainly along major boulevards and in higher-density residential neighborhoods. Councilmember Nithya Raman made a last-ditch effort to allow certain types of apartments in some single-family neighborhoods. But that effort was rejected on a 10-5 vote. The city must have its rezoning plan in place by mid-February to comply with state law.

—LOVE TO SEE IT: Mayor Karen Bass, marking her second year in office, announced that gang violence declined dramatically this year, with double-digit drops in homicides, nonfatal shootings and slayings stemming from gang disputes. L.A. has seen a 15% decrease in homicides so far this year, compared with the same period in 2023. The two-year drop has been even more dramatic, down 28%.

—HATE TO SEE IT: A new report found 1,350 reported hate crimes in L.A. County in 2023 — up 45% from the year before. It’s the highest number since the Commission on Human Relations began counting in 1980. Jewish and transgender people saw some of the biggest increases.

— RETHINKING A RESIGNATION: L.A. County probation chief Guillermo Viera Rosa sent a note Wednesday saying he planned to retire at the end of the year, only to reverse course days later. Viera Rosa did not say why he changed his mind but insisted he’s “fully committed” to the county. His U-turn came as Los Padrinos Juvenile Hall lurches from one crisis to the next.

—DEFIANT IN DOWNEY: Meanwhile, Kimberly Epps, second in command at the county’s Probation Department, said in a recording obtained by The Times that the agency had no plans to move roughly 260 youth out of Los Padrinos — even though the state is demanding the county shut it down.

— NO MORE NITROUS? City Councilmembers Imelda Padilla and Eunisses Hernandez are looking to ban the sale of nitrous oxide, which is being consumed in little canisters called whippets. Padilla and Hernandez are hoping to follow the city of Rialto, which was the first city in the nation to ban sales of nitrous oxide.

— MIXED MESSAGES: The fate of the Venice Dell, a hotly contested affordable-housing project planned for several years in L.A.’s Venice neighborhood, remained murky this week. A state commission cleared the way for its approval, but a city commission left it all but dead.

— JURADO MAKES SOME HIRES: We told you last week that Councilmember Ysabel Jurado was planning to hire Lauren Hodgins, a longtime lobbyist with the Santa Maria Group, as her chief of staff. On Tuesday, she confirmed that news and announced two more big hires: Krista Kline, who has handled intergovernmental duties for the mayor, and Steve Diaz, a former deputy director of the Skid Row-based Los Angeles Community Action Network. Kline will serve as senior advisor, while Diaz will oversee homelessness and housing strategies.

— MORE MIDTERM MOVES: Former City Councilmember Kevin de León’s press spokesperson, Pete Brown, now has a new job working for Park, the council member who represents part of the Westside. He will handle media duties there as well.

— HALL BRAWL: County Supervisor Janice Hahn is ready to throw down in the fight over whether to demolish the Kenneth Hahn Hall of Administration. Preliminary county plans call for razing the administrative offices while preserving the auditorium where the Board of Supervisors meets.

— RISING PRICES: Faced with threats of a pullout by some of its nonprofit contractors, the council on Friday hiked the rate it pays for services at dozens of interim housing facilities for the city’s homeless residents. The rate will go up on Jan. 1, and even higher six months later.

— OLD HOME WEEK: The council gave a City Hall sendoff to U.S. Rep. Tony Cardenas, who is retiring from public office after nearly 30 years in politics. Before working in Congress, Cardenas spent roughly a decade on the council, plus several years in the state Assembly. The ceremony was attended by Sen. Alex Padilla, another former state lawmaker and L.A. council member, along with former Councilmember Ed Reyes and former City Controller Wendy Greuel. The event took place a week after the council recognized retiring L.A. Unified school board member Jackie Goldberg, yet another former council member and state lawmaker.

QUICK HITS

• Where is Inside Safe? The mayor’s program to combat homelessness went to a stretch of Franklin Avenue at Cahuenga Boulevard, an area that was the subject of the city’s first Inside Safe operation. The north side of Franklin is part by Raman’s Silver Lake-to-Reseda district.

• On the docket for next week: Savor these moments! The City Council begins its three-week holiday recess, returning on Jan. 7.