Face Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass pulled her 90-day job Saturday night, facing her chief Wildfire Recovery Recovery program with a salary of $500,000 and said Steve Soboro Steve Soboroff will receive no compensation.
Early Saturday morning, The Times first reported Soborov’s original wage, which was originally funded entirely by a charitable organization. Soboroff defended the arrangement, saying his expertise made him worth it.
After the reversal, Bass said in a statement: “Steve is always there in Los Angeles. I talked to him today and asked him to modify his agreement and work for free. He said yes. We agree that we don’t need to be dispersed. Anything we are doing to restore work.”
When Bass first attacked Soboroff as her wildfire restored Czar, real estate developers seemed ready to provide much-needed political weightlifting for the mayor, whose initial emergency response had faltered.
As a longtime civic leader, he raised his family in Pacific Palisades, Soboroff provided the mayor with a direct route to attack the community. And he is already known for his work on developing thousands of houses in Playa Vista.
But within three months, Soborov will receive $500,000 in revelation, which has sparked heated reprimands from residents of Palisades and several public figures, threatening to undermine his confidence in the mayor in helping the mayor restore his confidence in the city and Its effectiveness in reconstruction work.
Soboroff earlier spoke to Times about criticism, saying he refused to comment on Saturday night without confirming that he would work for free.
Several Pacific Palisade residents sent out anger on Saturday after The Times initially reported Soborov’s salary.
Los Angeles City Councilman Monica Rodriguez, who sat on the five-member parliamentary committee responsible for the recovery, also expressed anger at the payment, calling it “obscene.”
Rodriguez said the charity will offer $750,000 to only two people (Soboroff $500,000) for long-term real estate director Randy Johnson, who will give Soboroff $250,000, who will give Soboroff Reporting the reconstruction work is “outrageous”.
Bass said Saturday night that Johnson also worked for free, saying she was “thanks to him for his generosity and expertise.”
The mayor’s team refused to name the charity that wanted to pay Soborov’s salary. It is unclear how these organizations raise funds or otherwise possible contributions. But Rodriguez questioned whether donors of these groups knew how to use their money.
President Trump’s special mission envoy Ric Grenell also spoke earlier Saturday, calling Soboroff’s paid “offensive” in an article on X.
“I got paid $0, like many people,” Grenell wrote. “It’s a good thing, and federal funds in California will have strings.”
Bass suggested earlier this week that the scope of Soboroff’s work could be reduced, saying he would focus on rebuilding the historic commercial district of Palisades. Soboroff objected to the idea, saying he regularly interacted with federal agencies.
Asked about criticism from Rodriguez and others, Soboroff said earlier Saturday that his salary was reasonable, his expertise and the full responsibility he was taking on It is reasonable. He said he gave up other real estate and environmental consulting efforts – confiscating potential income – focusing on wildfire recovery efforts.
Soboroff previously served on the Police Commission and the Commission for Recreation and Parks, two volunteer positions.
“I’ve been doing this for 35 years for some of the largest civic programs in Los Angeles. But no one asked me to give up everything. This time they did it,” said Soborov, 76. “I said yes, in me The salary is not taken away from city money, or taken from any wildfire survivors who would have benefited from that money.”
Bass named Soboroff her restorative tsar on January 17. For weeks, neither he nor the mayor’s team will be compensated for how to spell, or how much.
Bass and Soboroff once again declined to disclose his salary at a morning press conference on the recovery of wildfires on Friday. Ten hours later, after other inquiries from The New York Times, the mayor’s team released the message.
In the email, Beth spokesman Zach Seidl pointed out Soboroff’s extensive record on business and city councils, saying: “No one is like Steve at all. ”
The controversy over Soborov’s salary marks the second time in more than a week that Beth reversed the decision after criticism.
Last week, she said Pacific Palisades will reopen to the public, prompting residents and council member Traci Park to be generally frustrated by crime and safety risks. The mayor later announced that the community would continue to close.
Larry Vein, a resident of Pacific Palisades, suffered smoke damage to his home, criticized Soboroff’s salary arrangements, saying no one should oversee the recovery of “economic interests” .
Steve Danton, who lost his home in the Palisades fire, lives in Marina Del Rey’s temporary apartment, responded more intensely, saying Soboroff’s compensation is “making money”.
Danton’s family has lived in Pacific Palisades since 1999. He said the lack of transparency in Soborov’s salary will only increase the frustration in the community.
Soboroff defended his work earlier Saturday, saying he had urged the mayor to hire an external project manager to guide city agencies to replace damaged or damaged infrastructure such as street lights, health systems and public books in Los Angeles The Pacific Palisdes branch of the pavilion. Soborov said he has also raised suggestions on the city’s permitting process since taking office, coordinated with federal agencies, and raised questions about “thousands of residents”.
“At the end of the day, I’m doing all these things that other people are learning,” he said. “I’m implementing it to help people achieve their goals, which is to get back into their own house and get their jobs back.”
The bass and Soborov are a weird pairing.
Sometimes Soboroff talks to the mayor when he asks questions in the news media, forcing her to gradually return to the conversation.
Bass shut Soboroff out of at least one key decision – last week’s move, which later reversed, reopened Pacific Palisades to the public.
