L.A. County planning chief fired, claims retaliation

Bruce W. McClendon, Los Angeles County's chief land use planner, was called into the office of County Chief Executive Officer William T. Fujioka this morning and told he was fired.

Fujioka said that personnel rules barred him from publicly disclosing the reason behind the termination, effective immediately. McClendon was head of the Department of Regional Planning for two years and earned $191,028 annually. He will receive severance pay for the equivalent of six months of work, Fujioka said.

McClendon, reached by telephone at his downtown apartment, said that he believed the firing was likely in retaliation for becoming a whistle-blower against the Board of Supervisors.

He said he had provided information to Fujioka that supervisors' aides routinely sought to improperly influence hearing officers' decisions on whether to permit development plans. "It was illegal, and they can go to jail for doing it," McClendon, 62, said.

Fujioka denied that he received such information. Aides to Supervisors Michael Antonovich, Don Knabe, Gloria Molina and Zev Yaroslavsky declined to comment on the allegations. McClendon said that he also protected his staff from day-to-day interference from supervisors' aides, an occurrence that was supposed to be reduced by the implementation in 2007 of a new county structure.

Under the structure, Fujioka was meant to manage day-to-day affairs, and supervisors' offices were to turn their attention to broader policy issues. A report by a citizens watchdog group last year said that transition had not yet occurred and that the number of bosses intervening in department affairs had actually multiplied as a result of the new structure.

McClendon arrived two years ago from Orange County, Fla., and is a past president of the American Planning Association. He is the author of five books, including "Customer Service in Local Government: Challenges for Planners and City Managers." In Los Angeles County, he is credited with working to update the master planning document for the county, which had been largely unchanged for 35 years. He also worked to increase community involvement in planning decisions in areas including Baldwin Hills and Hacienda Heights.

The Department of Regional Planning performs all land use planning functions for the unincorporated areas of Los Angeles County. Services include long-range planning, land development counseling, project review, environmental review and zoning enforcement for each of the county's unincorporated communities.

--Garrett Therolf

Photo of Fujioka / Los Angeles Times file

Comments

[Reader]

Fujioka has been a disaster. Those of us in the animal rescue community recall well when the Board of Supervisors, prodded by the rescue community, ordered an investigation into the death of a ten month-old puppy in County custody, as well as various charges of neglect and mismanagement against Marcia Mayeda, then (and still) head of the Los Angeles County Department of Animal Care and Control.

Who did Fujioka turn to (excluding all other relevant parties) for this "investigation"? Marcia Mayeda. Not surprisingly, Mayeda found that Mayeda did nothing wrong. The report was accepted with virtually no comment by both Fujioka and the Board. Subsequently, last year, Mayeda was found to have ordered her staff to delete emails pertaining to a Federal probe of Department mishandling of federally controlled drugs, by email, to wit:

"i agree that everyone did an outstanding job on this matter! However, we do not need a paper trail on this. Everyone, please delete these e-mails from your computers and empty the trash files."

Fujioka didn't deny the email was genuine, nor that it was written by Mayeda to her staff, but then proceeded to deny that ordering public employees to delete evidence from County computers was wrong, much less criminal.

Wiiliam Fujioka is being paid a six-figure salary of our money, and he needs to go, immediately.

[Larry Brown]

YAROSLAVSKY has been telling us for years that the HESCHEL WEST SCHOOL PROJECT fits into the parameters of the North Area Plan for land use in the Santa Monica Mountains when THAT IS AS FAR FROM THE TRUTH AS anything COULD BE. No wonder any planner with the slightest bit of integrity would be hard pressed to do Yarolslavsky's bidding without puking. In my view Yaroslavsky is as corrupt as the day is long and will look you in the eye and tell you black is white to service his constituents no matter what.

[calwatch]

Not surprising. The Board offices continue to contact County departments like the CEO never existed. The commission is right that the addition of the CEO structure has done basically nothing other than extend the time for Board letters to take to go through the system. And "deputies" for the SDs have always just picked up the phone and called the Director of whatever department they want to meddle in. I think that the meddling in lower level affairs has gone on for some time too, but McClendon was the first to see that it was an ethical violation and not just business as usual.

[SEIU 721 Member]

Sounds like this guy was too honest to work for LA County.

[Laila Biscaldi]

Of course Zev Yarovslovsky and Gloria Molina have no comment. Agoura Hills is the victim of Z.Y.'s 'abuse of power'. And for anyone who has ever attended a Counsel meeting, you'll notice Ms. Molina doesn't pay any attention to what's going on-she gets up from her chair and talks to people behind the Supervisors' chairs. Even when the proposal is in her district! She behaves as if she's bored w/the whole thing! Then when she's caught w/no comment (because she wasn't listening), says she'll consider it later. Their minds are made up regardless of the negative impact of their dictatorship. Pathetic leadership!

[lim]

The Japanese are evil people who bayoneted millions of Asians during WWII. Now they claim they are leaders among Asians.

[juan]

Hmmmm. Sudden termination of an administrator could be retaliation from somewhere but is legal as long as details remain secret. Lack of transparency can be used as an attempt to hide corruption. Legal corruption exists. Meanwhile, our imaginations can devise many interesting reasons for this.

[Ron Troncatty]

In my opinion, Zev Yaroslavsky will ultimately be named in this collusion with county staffers..........

Regarding the Heschel project he got a senior management Fireman to sign off on the project when he in fact had never seen or visited the site, and made his decision only based on the plans submitted, where as every other fire department official that was all familiar with the area said it would be basically insane to build a achool in that location beings how it is a very active fire lane.

[Nona Green]

I have been more than just a casual observer of the Board of Supervisor's decision to ignore recommendations by their own Regional Planning Department, specifically on the issue wheter to approve Heschel West Day School for a west Los Angeles county location immediately adjacent the city of Agoura Hills. Since I distribute a neighborhood newsletter I have attmepted to get all the facts straight surrounding the issue. I feel strongly that the Fire Dept. has shirked their responsibilty of protecting the public by yeilding to the Board's pressure to give Heschel the green light. Zev Yarozlavky's personal interest in getting Heschel approved seems to fly in the face of the Einvironmental Impact Report, the North Area Plan, and the City of Agoura Hills tesitmony about how the project will create a traffic and safety nightmare.

[Agoura Hills home owner]

This will add fire to our fight, to expose Zevs corrupt ways.

[Tara Farkash]

It's about time we had some insight to the corruption and lack of respect to the constituants from the "Bored" of Supervisors. They have been safe in their seats for too long. They sit up there on their throne and look down at anyone that addresses them. They already have an agenda as to who and what makes the best offer to boost them. I have never seen such a disgusting display of abusive of power as I did at a board public hearing. I hope this snowballs and roasts all of them for what they've done in all their districts.

[Planner]

There is a lot to this story - I hope the L. A. Times digs deeper into this issue. And not just into the firing, but into the shady dealings of the Board offices and Board planning deputies. They literally run amok and have their hands in everything at the planning department. The staff and County constituents deserve a lot better.

[Wondering]

Why do LA County constituents allow the BOS to continue without term limits? It's not 100% about the elected officials, it's also related to the lack of active citizens who demand that the kingdoms and queendoms not be allowed to continue forever!

[br]

If he does not like the decision then he should recall Zev since he is part of the lawsuit against Prop 8. He knows the internal operation of the unions which also oppose Prop 8. Put the cross back in the seal, balance the budget, and fire the unions I would support him.

[Jon Nahhas]

Garrett (the writer) is new to the County Supervisor's scene and I hope he continues to get more material on this story. The Times is still in need of strong investigative stories and should have a committment to its readers to help with corruption in our County government. Our President, in his first executive orders, has called for an end to lobbying in the executive branch and praised the Freedom of Information Act. Let us all hope that the LA Times and other whistle-blowers can stand up against our County's "puppeterring".

[Ooops! I Did It Again]

I worked in the County Planning Office some years ago. It was common practice for the planning deputies from the various supervisory districts to run interference on many aspects of planning administration. The deputies had the last word on planning matters, not the planning director. I hope McClendon files a complaint with the FBI. The DA's office couldn't (or perhaps wouldn't) give the planning staff the protection to speak open and honestly about what goes on at DRP.

[David Ewing]

The County government is like our own little slice of Eastern Europe nestled into sunny Southern California. Even its monotlithic grey office building downtown looks like it belongs in Bellarusse or Poland.

The only thing transparent about the county government is the floor-to-ceiling bulletproof lucite wall that protects the supervisors' 8th floor office suites from potential invasion by the public. I went up there once to report an incident of corruption to Yaroslovski. His deputy told the armed guard that if I had anything to report, I should put it in a letter. No entry.

[Equal Justice For All]

Disgusting. Fujioka should be fired for lying.. What must we do to receive fair and honest services in this county??? Someone needs to go to jail and lose their pension..