LOS ANGELES, CA — Today, Councilmember Eunisses Hernandez introduced a motion demanding a comprehensive analysis of the funding, staffing, and resources needed to bring Los Angeles’ public right-of-way infrastructure maintenance up to industry standards set by the City.
The Councilmember emphasized that the crisis residents face today — year-long wait times for streetlight repairs, nearly two decades between tree-trimming cycles, broken sidewalks, and neglected storm drains — is the direct result of decisions made in the wake of the Great Recession, when the City slashed funding to its core services. Those cuts were never fully restored, leaving public works bureaus unable to keep pace with the basic needs of Los Angeles’ neighborhoods.
“For years I have been sounding the alarm that budget mismanagement and short-term thinking are degrading our City and putting Angelenos at risk,” said Councilmember Eunisses Hernandez. “Our constituents shouldn’t have to wait a year for a streetlight to be fixed or risk injury walking down a broken sidewalk. These delays are unsafe, unsightly, inconvenient, and cost the City millions of dollars in legal settlements every year."
Throughout her tenure, Hernandez has consistently worked to protect the core services Angelenos rely on and pushed for a budget that prioritizes frontline services. During the latest budget process, as a member of the Budget and Finance Committee, she led the charge to save over 1,000 City jobs, as well as funding for graffiti removal, afterschool programs, and legal aid for immigrants, and fought back against proposals that would have gutted public works staffing and made already unacceptable wait times for repairs even longer. Beyond her work in the citywide budget, Hernandez has put her own office’s resources on the line to meet the infrastructure needs of her constituents. Earlier this year, she invested $200,000 of her discretionary funds to pay for overtime at the Bureau of Street Lighting to help chip away at the massive repair backlog. That commitment builds on the millions her office already dedicates annually to directly administering seven Clean Teams across CD1.
“The work of this motion and the Mayor's Executive Directive 9 set clear standards and goals that will build trust through transparency and deliver results through thoughtful planning,” said Miguel Sangalang, Executive Director and General Manager of the Bureau of Street Lighting. “I look forward to working with the City team on this effort, because we all know that improving city services directly enhances the quality of life in Los Angeles.”
Her new motion aims to finally force the City to reckon with the true scale of the problem. It directs all Bureaus within the Public Works Department, and the Department of Transportation, with support from the City Administrative Officer, to report on what it would actually take to bring Los Angeles’ infrastructure maintenance to the City’s industry standards — including staffing levels, equipment, fleet capacity, yard facilities, and a phased, five-year plan to restore basic services. The motion also requires the Department of General Services to analyze fleet maintenance, repair, and storage needs so that bureaus have the facilities and capacity to meet these goals.
“This is about accountability and responsibility,” Councilmember Hernandez said. “We cannot keep pretending we are saving money by deferring maintenance when in reality we are creating unsafe conditions, driving up long-term costs, and leaving Angelenos literally in the dark. The people of Los Angeles deserve a City that works. To not fight for that is a dereliction of duty."
Read the full motion here.