Editorial: Extorting the city

For more than a year, the AIDS Healthcare Foundation has been on a mission to create a Los Angeles city agency to serve as a counterweight or cudgel to Los Angeles County, which provides public health services and has sparred with the nonprofit over contract and billing issues. The foundation initially proposed a ballot measure that would have forced the city to sever health services contracts with the county and create a city health department at a cost of $260 million.

When the city and county sued to knock the measure off the ballot, the foundation changed course and started gathering signatures for another initiative — this one to create a City Health Commission that would review county health services contracts, set goals for improving health in Los Angeles and study the possibility of creating a city health department. Again, AIDS Healthcare collected enough signatures to qualify for the ballot, giving the City Council two bad options: Spend $4 million to put the measure to voters in November, or forgo the election and create the commission.

The Council on Tuesday gave in to the foundation’s extortion scheme and voted unanimously to create a City Health Commission. That’s understandable but unfortunate. When the city of Los Angeles can’t manage street paving, tree trimming, community plans, police overtime and various other core services, it’s unacceptable that a special interest group can essentially force the city to establish an unnecessary commission. The foundation proposal calls for the 15-member volunteer commission supported by paid city staff to be “revenue-neutral,” but it doesn’t say where the money will come from to pay for the board.

The foundation has argued that city residents make up 40% of the county and should have a platform for input on public health issues. But they are residents of the county too and it’s unclear what a city commission can accomplish. The County Department of Public Health is responsible for disease control and education on a range of health issues, from smoking to lead exposure to sexually transmitted diseases. The county already has a citizen oversight panel that reports to the Board of Supervisors, which has control over department operations. The city commission would report on general public health goals and how well the county is providing services, but the City Council and mayor have little authority over the county agency. The end result will be a powerless panel of volunteers with no real mandate, no clear mission and probably no impact on public health — all the result of a deliberate attempt by a private group to muscle in on city priorities.