Los Angeles MayoR Karen Bass was withdrawn on Saturday in the middle of a report that her Emperor for a fire recovery, Steve Soboroff, would make up for $ 500,000 for 90 days of work.
Los Angeles Times He first reported on Saturday morning that Soboroff, a real estate developer and a longtime civic official, will pay $ 500,000 for work as a city “recovery director” over three months.
His fee was to come from charity organizations, but Bass, who first touched Soboroff for Job on January 17th, quickly turned the course until Saturday night. She said Soboroff would now manage the city’s renovation for free.
“Steve is always there for La. I talked to him today and asked him to change his agreement and work for free. He said yes,” Bass said, according to The Times. “We agree that we need nothing to distract from the recovery we do.”
Mayor Karen Bass and Steve Soboroff talk about efforts to recover during a press conference in Pacific Palisades on January 27. (Drew A. Kelley/Medianews Group/Long Beach Press Telegram via Getty Images)
The second person, longtime real estate director, Randy Johnson, was supposed to make up for $ 250,000 from the Philanthropic Soboroff help, but he would now do the job for free, Bass said.
At Johnson, Bass said she was “grateful for his generous and expertise”, but the mayor’s office refused to appoint a charity organization or clarify how the financing was collected, according to The Times.
Los Angeles City Council Woman Monica Rodriguez, member of the Committee for five people in charge of recovery, she told the Times that she was “angry” that the Philanthropic Group would pay two people $ 750,000, calling the amount “obscene”.
“He was paid $ 500,000 for 3 months of work?” President Donald Trump’s envoy for special missions, Ric Grenellwrote on X from Soboroff. “And they call it a charity organization. Bruto. Multiple.”
The helicopter lowers water as the Palisades fire grows near the neighborhood of the Mandeville Canyon and Encino, California, January 11, 2025. (Patrick T. Fallon/AFP via Getty Images)
Grenell, sitting next to Trump while discussing a round table in Pacific Palisade Last month he added: “I was paid $ 0 – like many people. It’s good that there will be wires on federal money for California.”
Larry Vein, a resident of Pacific Palisades, whose home suffered from smoke, condemned Soboroff’s $ 500,000 fee, saying that no one should make efforts to recover for “financial gain”.
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Steve Danton, who is in a temporary apartment in Marina Del Rey, after his home was destroyed in the Palisades fire, said the compensation of Soboroff was “capturing money”, adding that the city is experiencing a “leadership crisis”.
Soboroff, who had previously served in volunteer roles in the Police Commissioner Committee and in the Commission, which oversee the recreation and park department, defended the amount of $ 500,000 at a time before Saturday.
Extinguished houses and burned cars in the fire pacific Palisades Bowl Mobile Estates in Los Angeles on January 13, 2025. (Agustin Paullier/AFP via Getty Images)
He said he had a specialized expertise, assumes great responsibility, including communication with federal agencies, and gives up other real estate real estate and environmental consultation to become an emperor for a fire recovery.
“I have been doing this for 35 years for free on some of the biggest civic projects for the city of Los Angeles. But no one ever asked me to reject everything. This time he did it,” Soboroff told The Times. “And I said fine, provided my salary would not be taken out of the city money or from any fire survivors that would otherwise use that money.”
Soboroff said he took over questions of “thousands of inhabitants”, made recommendations on the process of allowing the city and advised the mayor to hire an external manager of the project for the leadership of city agencies in Replacement of damaged infrastructure.
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“At the end of the day, I do things that all other people just study,” he said. “I do to help people achieve their goals of returning to their homes and returning their jobs.”
