This past Tuesday, VICA gathered over 60 participants at The Garland for a roundtable discussion on land use and development within the San Fernando Valley. It is a rare opportunity to get land developers, Los Angeles civil servants, legislative staff, and real estate advisors all in the same room - this meeting provided a space for individuals to represent their differing interests and engage in a collaborative conversation.

One of the major points was a shared frustration with the complex, bureaucratic process development plans must go through - a process many argued can and should be streamlined. Maya Zaitvesky, Principle City Planner for LA City Planning, pointed out that the most important part in a successful project, large or small, is the accessibility and flow of information. Recommendations were made by many in attendance to improve the flow of information, including the implementation of case managers, coordination between various city departments to ensure land development is pushed along with less hinderance, and improved communication between staff at all levels.

Staffing was another hot topic, particularly for representatives from city departments. Lisa Webber, Deputy Director of Project Planning for LA City Planning, stated that staff numbers are low as a result of the pandemic, people moving to the private sector, and high rates of retirement. Bertram Moklebust, Principle Civil Engineer for the LA City Bureau of Engineering, echoed this sentiment. He shared that when he entered the Bureau, there was more than 200 applicants for one position. Now, you can barely get four applicants for one job posting.

As the discussion drew to a close, Land Use Committee Chair Jack Rubens (Sheppard Mullin) brought up recent state legislation that has passed with the intent to promote development. This legislation is less about forcing cities to build new housing, and more about ending unnecessary hinderance to new development projects, a goal that was in the shared interest of nearly all those in attendance.

VICA thanks The Garland for hosting. Thank you to the following guests for attending: Lisa Webber, Maya Zaitzevsky, Blake Lamb, Rosanna D'Antonio, Hani Malki, Osama Younan, Bertram Moklebust, Emil Abdelshehid, and Bradley Calvert.

The VICA Board has voted to support Senate Bill 1410 (Caballero), which would require the Office of Planning and Research (OPR) to establish a grant program for local jurisdictions to implement guidelines for analyzing transportation impacts and conduct and submit a study on those guidelines to the Legislature by 2025.

Under the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA), cities, counties, and other public agencies must analyze transportation projects to determine potential environmental impacts. Traditionally, these impacts have been evaluated using Level of Service (LOS) analysis, a method that examines whether a project will cause increased congestion and traffic delays. Past legislation changed this methodology, requiring future projects to evaluate transportation impacts using a new metric that measures how much actual auto travel (additional miles driven) a proposed project would create on California roads - a metric known as vehicle miles traveled (VMT).

SB 1410 would utilize this new method of analysis, shedding light on the statewide implementation of VMT as the new standard of measuring transportation impacts through CEQA. In areas with limited access to reliable public transit and other alternative transportation options, developers must consider how to mitigate VMT in their projects, likely through fees that will ultimately drive up costs. For housing development, particularly in rural areas where public transportation is sparse, if not non-existent, increased project costs are passed down to the homebuyer or renter.

This bill would task the OPR with conducting a study of the implementation and impact of VMT for new development to ensure the adoption of this new standard is fair, equitable, and achieving its proposed goals. The VICA team will work to urge State Legislators to pass SB 1410.

VICA is pleased to promote its continued partnership with the California Paid Family Leave (PFL) Grant. The program awards grants to assist California's small businesses impacted by the Paid Family Leave (PFL) Program.

California’s Paid Family Leave (PFL) program, which the Employment Development Department (EDD) administers, provides eligible employees with up to 8 weeks of wage replacement benefits when an employee is off work for certain qualifying reasons.

Businesses with employees using PFL may have increased costs such as cross-training existing staff and hiring and training new and/or temporary employees to cover for employees on leave. This may be particularly true for small employers. The California Employment Training Panel and California Labor and Workforce Development Agency funded a grant program for small employers to assist with these issues.

The PFL Grant Program allows eligible small businesses in California with 1-100 employees with at least one (1) employee utilizing California's Paid Family Leave program to apply for grants up to $2,000 per employee to offset the increased costs associated with the employee out on leave.

For more information, eligibility details, and to apply, visit CaliforniaPFL.com

All nominee forms must be submitted via email to Cathy@vica.com by Friday, September 2, 2022.

If you or someone you know is interested in participating on the VICA Board in 2023 or Chairing a committee, please don't hesitate to click on the nomination form below and submit via email at Jessica@vica.com no later than Friday, September 2, 2022.

VICA thanks our Presenting Sponsors, Sunhill Properties/Hilton Universal City, Medtrans, and Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield.

Supervisor Kathryn Barger serves the residents of the 5th District — Los Angeles County’s largest — spanning over 2,785 square miles, which includes 20 cities and 83 unincorporated communities in the Antelope, San Gabriel, San Fernando, Crescenta, and Santa Clarita Valleys.

VICA thanks our Presenting Sponsors: Anheuser-Busch & Comcast NBCUniversal

Sponsored by Amazon, Comcast NBCUniversal, Los Angeles Department of Water and Power, SoCalGas, and Wells Fargo.

Sponsored by History for Hire

Sponsored by Hospital Association of Southern California

Sponsored by Verdugo Hills Council and Boy Scouts of America

Los Angeles Times | August 5

Los Angeles Daily News | August 5

Spectrum News 1 | August 5

Business Insider | August 7

City Watch | August 8

News Nation | August 8

California City News | August 9

Forbes | August 10

Senate Democrats on Sunday passed a sweeping healthcare, tax and climate change bill that will allow Medicare to negotiate prescription drug costs — a significant political win as the party tries to send a message before the midterm election that it is delivering on its promises. The drug-price plan is the centerpiece of the Democrats’ bill, the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022. The measure would also establish incentives to combat the climate crisis, impose new taxes on corporations and provide $4 billion for the Bureau of Reclamation to combat drought in the West — a last-minute addition.

After months of steadily climbing to a 40-year high, the pace of inflation slowed notably in July as gas prices fell sharply and Americans got relief on the cost of clothing, used cars and some other necessities. The price index for all consumer goods and services was unchanged over the month. And the annual rate of inflation in July edged down to 8.5% from 9.1% in June, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics in a report issued Wednesday. The June inflation figure, the highest since November 1981, is now looking like it may have been the peak of of the price surge that began in spring 2021.

A Los Angeles City Council meeting erupted into chaos on Tuesday, with a public speaker climbing over a bench and onto the council floor to confront council President Nury Martinez, prompting police to fill the chamber. Officers apprehended a second member of the public on the council floor moments later, while activists screamed at police and at least one audience member sprayed water from a bottle on officers. One audience member was arrested, police said.

In a revised playbook guiding University of California admissions, the system’s nine undergraduate campuses accepted a record number of California first-year students for fall 2022, while significantly narrowing entry to out-of-state and international applicants amid widespread demands to preserve coveted seats for state residents, according to preliminary data released Wednesday. The UC system admitted 85,268 California first-year applicants — a 1.2% increase of 1,045 students over last year. Offers to out-of-state applicants declined by 19%, or 5,359 students, and those to international students decreased by 12.2%, or 2,442 students.

With California enduring a historic drought amplified by global warming, Gov. Gavin Newsom on Thursday released a new plan to adapt to the state’s hotter, drier future by capturing and storing more water, recycling more wastewater and desalinating seawater and salty groundwater. The governor’s new water-supply strategy, detailed in a 16-page document, lays out a series of actions aimed at preparing the state for an estimated 10% decrease in California’s water supply by 2040 due to higher temperatures and decreased runoff.

All-time tennis great Serena Williams on Tuesday said she's walking away from the sport after the U.S. Open, writing that she's in the midst of a "transition" from the court. In an essay posted by Vogue, Williams said she has "never liked the word retirement" and that it "doesn’t feel like a modern word to me." However, she said in no uncertain terms that she's about to leave the sport she's dominated for decades.

VICA members can promote their business, events and news in VICA Weekly. Member messages are available for $50 per week or $175 for four weeks. Messages are text-based and may not contain more than 70 words. A logo may be added for an additional $5 per week. For more information or to schedule your member message, contact cathy@vica.com or call (818) 817-0545.