Los Angeles mayor Karen Bass backtracked Saturday amid reports that her wildfire recovery emperor Steve Soborov would compensate $500,000 for a 90-day work.
The Los Angeles Times first reported Saturday morning that Soborov, a property developer and longtime civic employee, will be paid $500,000 over three months to work as the city's “Chief Recovery Officer.”
His compensation was to come from a charity, but Bass, who first tapped Soboroff on January 17th, quickly turned the course back by Saturday evening. She said Soborov would now manage the city's reconstruction for free.
“Steve is always there for LA. I spoke to him today, revised his agreement and asked him to work for free, according to the Times.
“We agree that we don't need anything to distract us from the recovery work we're doing.”
Another person, longtime real estate executive Randy Johnson, was to be compensated $250,000 by a charity to support Soborov, but he would now work for free, according to Bus. said.
At Johnson, Bass said he “awesome his generosity and expertise,” but the mayor's office will name the charity and clarify how the funds were raised. I refused to do so.
Los Angeles City Councilman Monica Rodriguez is a member of the five-person committee tasked with recovering, and said it was “infuriating” that the charity calls it “indecent” and that the charity pays the two of them $750,000. Ta.
“Is he paid $500,000 for three months of work?” Rick Grenell, the envoy of President Donald Trump's special mission, wrote about Soborov's X. “And they call this charity. It hurts. Attacks.”
Sitting next to Trump at the Pacific Palisades last month, Grenell added: It's good that California's federal funds have strings. ”
Larry Bain, a resident of Palisades in the Pacific whose home was damaged by smoke, has denounced Soborov's $500,000 compensation and said no one should handle recovery efforts for “financial benefits.” I stated.
Steve Dunton, who lives in a temporary apartment in Marina Del Rey, said Soborov's compensation was in “the hands of money” after the Pallisard fire destroyed his home, and the city said the “leadership crisis” was “in the middle of a leadership crisis.” He added that he has experienced this.
Soborov, who previously served as a volunteer role on the committee that oversees the Police Commission and the Recreation Bureau, defended the $500,000 amount in the Times before Saturday.
He said he will be a wildfire recovery emperor with specialized expertise, taking on drastic responsibilities, including communicating with federal agencies, giving up other real estate and environmental consulting jobs.
“In some of the city of Los Angeles' biggest civic projects, I've been doing this for free for 35 years. But no one ever asked me to drop everything. This time they did that. “Soborov told The Times.
“And I said OK, under the condition that my salary would not be taken from city money or from wildfire survivors who would otherwise benefit from that money.”
Soboroff said he was asked by “thousands of residents,” and advised the city to hire an external project manager and lead the city agency in place of damaged infrastructure.
“At the end, I'm doing what all these other people just study,” he said. “I'm implementing it to help people achieve their goal of returning home and getting their jobs back.”
