Meeting Regional Infrastructure Needs: The Role of Leadership
Impact Report
THERE IS virtually no systematic research on local leadership in greater Los Angeles. Through polls, roundtables, and lecture series, the Center for the Study of Los Angeles aims to fill the void of understanding concerning how our leaders view contemporary Los Angeles, the opportunities and constraints they face, and the conditions that facilitate leadership. As part of this research, the Center has developed a methodology for surveying local elected officials and other leaders that consists of face-to-face structured interviews with batteries of open- and closed-ended questions.
The failure of local officials to reach a compromise on southern California’s aviation bottlenecks is one illustration of the barriers to regional collaboration and the critical importance of leadership in overcoming those barriers.
Research Summary
Last year’s defeat of a modernization plan for Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) is instructive. The LAX master plan, six years and $60-to-$100 million in the making, called for reconfiguring the airport’s four existing runways and adding new access taxiways, ground traffic improvements, a new passenger terminal, expanded parking, and more efficient cargo facilities. Los Angeles World Airports (LAWA) enjoyed the legal jurisdiction and financing authority to complete the improvement blueprint, and the plan had the backing of the mayor, the majority of the city council, and airport commission, as well as airline industry and the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). Prominent local business interests with a material stake in the region’s economic competitiveness approved of the plan, as did labor unions that looked forward to thousands of new construction jobs. In sum, the LAX master plan faced all but certain approval under the formal structures of Los Angeles government. Nevertheless, Mike Gordon, mayor of the tiny LAX-adjacent City of El Segundo, was able to ground the master plan by assembling a region-wide coalition of city, county, and congressional officials representing communities across southern California capable of influencing those with direct decision-making authority over LAX.
Together with Gordon’s experience, the Center’s survey of the region’s city council members indicates that despite the fragmentation of formal authority in southern California, local officials are receptive to calls for regional cooperation. A series of focus groups and interviews with nearly 70 city council members from across southern California suggests local elected officials are willing to be mobilized for regional causes on the basis of direct, personal appeals tailored to their particular interests. Through informal political practices, local leaders can overcome the region’s governmental fragmentation.
Community Presentations
The study’s findings have been presented to LAWA, the Southern California Association of Governments, officials at the California Contract Cities Association, and the Los Angeles Economic Development Corporation.
Use in the Classroom
Students participating in the Urban Leadership Seminar used the elite survey methodology for course research projects. In addition, guest lecturers including Airport Commissioner John Agoglia, El Segundo Mayor Mike Gordon, and Los Angeles Economic Development Corporation analyst Greg Freeman expanded on the findings of the study.
Academic Conferences
The research for this study was presented at the Annual Meeting of the Western Political Science Association, the Annual Meeting of the Public Choice Society, and the Haynes Foundation Conference on Governance Reform.
Scholarship
An article based on the research was published in the Journal of California Politics and Policy, and the research will be the basis of a chapter to appear in a forthcoming book, Reform, Los Angeles Style: The Theory and Practice of Urban Governance at Century’s Turn.