Amir Sedadi had a rough run as Interim General Manager of the LADOT. Between near revolts in Venice over the city's homeless policy and the San Fernando Valley over a plan to try and stop drivers from killing people on Wilbur Avenue, the long time civil servant seemed to always be on the hot seat. Add in the mini scandals involving parking meter cops appearing in porn films and the "Gold Card" scandal, and he probably isn't going to miss being in the top seat.
But now comes Jaime De La Vega to take the reigns. Reaction to his appointment has been positive in the first few hours with Mayor Villaraigosa's praise leading off most news accounts, an anonymous source in LADOT singing his praises and even Comptroller Wendy Greuel, who is emerging as LADOT's foil, expressing cautious optimism. Greuel's full statement appears after the jump, for those interested.
Now it's your turn. You tell me, is De La Vega the right man for this tough, high profile, position?
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City Controller Greuel's Statement Regarding Management Changes at LADOT
LOS ANGELES – Los Angeles City Controller Wendy Greuel issued the following statement regarding the appointment of Jaime de la Vega as General Manager of the Los Angeles Department of Transportation:
“I hope the appointment of Jaime de la Vega to acting general manager will bring some stability to the Department and that he will be able to tackle some of the serious problems my audits and recent investigations have uncovered.”
Greuel said she spoke to de la Vega earlier this morning regarding his appointment and added:
“I am pleased he is embracing my call for transparency and accountability. We’ll be working together to conduct a department-wide management audit. In doing so, we are committed to supporting the hard working men and women at the Department who have been overcoming some of the management challenges that have recently plagued DOT.”
This appointment falls on the heels of recent audits conducted by Controller Greuel which have revealed fiscal mismanagement and lack of accountability and cooperation. Earlier this week, Controller Greuel had to go to the extraordinary effort of issuing subpoenas to compel top officials at the Department to cooperate with an ongoing audit.
During Greuel’s tenure as Controller, more than 35 audits have been conducted which have uncovered nearly $100 million in waste, fraud and abuse.
