In the coming years, countless disasters could hit the city of Los Angeles: wildfires. flood. Soil and rock flow. Drought. Of course, big guy.
However, this month, Los Angeles leaders once again significantly increased the city’s emergency management budget, even as the office coordinated recovery from Palisades Fire and was responsible for helping prepare for a variety of disasters and high-profile events such as the 2028 Summer Olympics.
Faced with a budget shortage of nearly $100 million, the Los Angeles City Council voted 12 to 3 last week to pass a budget that rejected EMD leaders’ request for increased funding to hire more workers and repair damaged safety equipment around its facilities.
EMD’s only budget increase will be through bureaucratic restructuring. The department will absorb five people’s emergency mobilization office, with Mayor Karen Bass canceling the budget deficit in her initial proposal.
EMD’s funding allocation (approximately $4.5 million in operating budget) left the department with a lack of similar big cities in California and beyond.
As the 2022 audit of Ron Galperin, then-city controller Ron Galperin, San Diego ($2.46), Long Beach ($2.26) and San Francisco ($7.59) spent more on emergency management than Los Angeles, which spent $1.56 more than residents at the time. Although Los Angeles has about 30 staff, New York has more than twice the population of Los Angeles, with 200 people in its emergency management team, while Philadelphia has less than half of Los Angeles, with 53 people.
EMD’s current leader, General Manager Carol Park and Assistant General Manager Jim Featherstone specifically requested funds this spring to build an internal recovery team to better restore Palisades’ recovery and future disasters for New York City.
Fetherstone told the Los Angeles City Council’s budget committee April 30, “We are one of the most populous and highest risk jurisdictions in the country. I wouldn’t say it’s negligent, but it’s not in the city’s best interest. [not] Have recovery capabilities similar to the disaster we just experienced. ”
Bass spokesman Zach Seidl opposes the idea that EMD’s funding levels would hinder Palisades’ fire recovery or prepare for the Olympics and the 2026 World Cup football match.
“During a tough budget year, Mayor Beth focuses on emergency management to ensure Angelens’ safety – which definitely includes ensuring EMD continues to be staffed and resources,” Seidel said in a statement. “We will continue to drive one of the fastest recovery efforts in state history.”
Councilman Traci Park, representing Palisades, is one of three in the city council trio who opposed the budget passed last week, citing public safety as one of her main objections.
“We will inevitably have another disaster and we are still not ready for it,” said Parker spokesman Pete Brown.
“We have a horrible smell of how we look when we are not ready, and we haven’t learned a lesson from it yet, and we’re doing the same,” Brown said.
Rick Caruso, a developer who Bass defeated in the 2022 mayoral campaign, said the bass’ budget proposal and the city council-approved spending plan “blatantly displaying mismanagement and poor judgment”, expressing doubts about the justification for the EMD’s funding level.
Caruso said in an interview: “We’re in the earthquake zone. We’re in the fire zone. Come on.
Bass spokesman Seidl said on what Los Angeles didn’t learn from Palisades firefighting and stressed that spending on emergency management includes “continuous and new investments” in the EMD and the city’s police and firefighting agencies.
Emergency management experts, city-mandated audits, and current EMD leaders warned that the department lacks the staff and funds to complete its mission in one of the most prone areas in the United States.
“The department may be the world leader in emergency management, which may be the standard for the rest of the country, but because it is impossible, it is one-third of the staff and one-tenth of the budget.”
EMD’s general manager and agent spokesperson did not answer written questions about the approved budget last week.
In a recent public statement, Parks revealed that her budget request this year has been opposed and appears to have been weakened.
She told the Los Angeles Recovery Commission’s interim committee in March that she had sought another 24 employees at EMD, but she refused at her request at the request of city administrators.
Featherstone, who is now coordinating fire recovery in Palisade, said Parks’ request received a “qualitative negative reaction” and suggested a lack of understanding or appreciation of the EMD role imports.
“There is a qualitative opinion that does not support Ms. Parker owning these positions, not the person who emergency management considers the value or value of these positions,” Featherstone said.
Parks said her requests cut “below the current financial situation in the city,” adding: “I need at least 10 positions. Parks said in a memo that these 10 positions will cost about $1.1 million a year.
When Bass announced her budget proposal, it excluded 10 other positions; EMD is still in about 30 positions, similar to previous years, and costs about $7.5 million when it includes pensions, health care and other expenses. Bass’ budget proposal touts her ability to retain all positions in EMD, while other departments face steep staff and funding cuts.
Both Parks and Featherstone argued that they had established a designated internal recovery team that EMD lacked. When the Palisades fire broke out in January, no one in EMD recovered full-time and had to transfer its limited staff to the recovery unit. Bass also retains Hagerty Consulting, a private company, to improve EMD and provide instant expertise on one-year contracts of up to $10 million, with many of Bass’ spokespersons saying the Federal Emergency Administration can reimburse.
Still, Featherstone told the City Council that since Los Angeles does not have internal recovery expertise, the need to train and build an internal team accounted for the majority of the original Palisades fire recovery efforts.
According to a memo prepared by city administrators, the internal recovery and reconstruction department of 10 employees is gradually estimated that 10 employees will pay an additional $1.5 million next year. Hiring another 21 employees will cost nearly $3 million to prepare for the Olympics and other major events.
Parks also asked $209,000 to repair the video system at the emergency operations center, saying the lack of surveillance cameras poses a threat to city employees.
“There were multiple incidents and the security and security of the facility were compromised by the failed camera system,” Parks wrote in a budget memo filed this spring.
The request for replacement camera funds was also rejected.
Los Angeles officials have long warned that EMD lacks resources. The 2022 audit by former city controller Galperin found that Los Angeles provides less emergency management funding than peer cities, and the Covid-19 pandemic “EMD tight resources and staffing have caused several existing preparation plans to lag behind, which could impact the city’s readiness for future emergencies.”
A later report on EMD’s handling of Covid-19, written by Emergency Management Consultant Lowe, found that the agency was “undervalued, misunderstood, underfunded and derogatory.” Parks took over the general manager after the time period covered by the Lowe report.
The lack of training and funding was evident at the budget hearing in April 2024. Councilman Katy Yaroslavsky asked the park directly at the meeting: “With your current budget, can you serve your people. [emergency] Response center 24/7 during an emergency? ”
“The answer is no,” Parks said. “If we need to activate the emergency operation center for several days, we don’t have enough staff.”
In the Palisades fire, EMD said it must introduce other emergency management officials in other cities to maintain the emergency operation center throughout the day.
Lowe said Los Angeles leaders failed to realize the role of EMD in the city’s wider public safety infrastructure.
“I’m not sure the city understands and appreciates the purpose of emergency management and department, which reduces the department’s budget and size,” Lowe said.
