LA City Council Real Estate Scam

Every now and then a reader comment gets bumped up as a blog post. This one's a doozy:

fourthfloorstaffer said:

This post will:

(a) Be the first in a series of exposes on just how much money the City of Los Angeles has, and how much it wastes.

(b) Pose a question to our councilmembers, in some cases, our bosses, regarding these funds.

(c) Hopefully be reposted, so that it reaches several sets of eyes.

OK, here goes.

When city property is sold in any council district, 1/2 of the proceeds go to the General Fund, and 1/2 go to ...

The council office for that district.

To spend ... as the member desires.

Yes, that's right. When the Dept. of Sanitation decides to sell a small, defunct, old processing plant along some busy corridor, the Councilmember invariably brokers the sale.

He or she makes money (of the campaign or illicit variety) by selling it to a campaign supporter or rich developer.

It is in the interest of that Council member to sell and sell quickly (not to get the best price for the property or anything), because, in case you didn't hear be correctly the first time, that member gets half the money, to be spent in his or her district, as he or she sees fit.

Yes, there are some members who don't take advantage of this. Mostly those whose districts have no public buildings.

But the rest? Ought to join the National Association of Realtors.

How do they spend this money? That's a topic for another post.

In the meantime, blog away dumb dumbs.