Los Angeles Mayoral Candidates Target Restaurant Red Tape Before June 2 Primary
Updated
Updated · The New York Times · May 30
Los Angeles Mayoral Candidates Target Restaurant Red Tape Before June 2 Primary
5 articles · Updated · The New York Times · May 30
Tuesday’s Los Angeles mayoral primary has turned restaurant distress into a central campaign issue, with candidates promising to make City Hall less of an obstacle for small operators.
Jeff Strauss of Oy Bar spent months trying to expand in Studio City, only to see his block sold for a fast-tracked affordable-housing project; he abandoned the restaurant plan and opened a grocery instead.
Restaurants across Los Angeles have been battered in quick succession by the pandemic, Hollywood strikes, wildfires and ICE raids, deepening frustration with permits and other city processes.
The debate has widened because the city wants mom-and-pop businesses ready for a tourism surge from next month’s World Cup and the 2028 Summer Olympics, even as Los Angeles County’s fragmented governance slows change.
With the World Cup just weeks away, can LA's new initiatives save its struggling restaurant scene in time?
As LA fast-tracks housing, can its famed mom-and-pop restaurants survive the city's bureaucratic hurdles?
LA plans to adopt other cities' business policies, but will they actually succeed in filling empty storefronts?